137 



ROMAQNOSI, GIAN DOMENICO. 



ROMAGNOSI, GIAN DOMENICO. 



138 



unwillingly persuaded to become coadjutor in the college of Beauvais. 

 In this situation he passed fifteen years, devoting himself with as 

 much assiduity to the improvement of the system of education there 

 as he had before done in the college of Plessis. In consequence of 

 the disputes between the Jesuits and Jansenists, which latter party he 

 was thought to favour, and the intrigues thence arising in his college, 

 Rollin was compelled to quit hia office at Beauvais. In 1715 he pub- 

 lished his edition of Quiutilian, in 2 vols. 12mo, with a preface and a 

 popular outline of rhetoric, short notes, and summaries of the chapters. 

 The text was not published entire, but selections were made according 

 to the judgment of the editor. 



In 1720 he was again chosen rector of the university, but in con- 

 sequence of the religious feuds already mentioned, he was displaced 

 very shortly by a lettre-de cachet, the university being desired to 

 choose a more moderate rector. From this period till his death, he 

 seems to have withdrawn from public life as much as possible, and 

 devoted himself to study, the fruit of which was given to the world in 

 several works. In 1726 appeared his "Traite" de la Maniere d'Etudier 

 et d'Enseigner les Eelles-Lettres,' a work which presents a popular 

 view of such classical and French literature as he considered suited for 

 the instruction of the young, and contains such a system of education 

 as his own experience in teaching had suggested. This treatise, though 

 deficient in philosophical principles, and inferior to subsequent writings 

 of the same nature, was well adapted for the age in which it was pub- 

 lished, and contributed probably very much to diffuse a general taste 

 for literature throughout France. It was translated into English in 

 1735, under the title of ' Thoughts concerning Education, translated 

 from the French.' Encouraged by the general approbation with which 

 this publication was received, Rollin composed his ' Histoire Ancienne,' 

 an account of the chief nations of antiquity drawn from profane 

 authors, and terminating with the establishment of the Roman empire 

 under Augustus, in thirteen volumes, which appeared successively in 

 the interval between 1730 and 1738. His last work was a ' History of 

 Rome,' which was afterwards continued by Crevier, from the end of 

 the republic to the time of Constantine, in completion of the original 

 plan. 



Rollin's latter years were disturbed occasionally by the religious 

 troubles which agitated his country. His friendship with many 

 distinguished Jansenists drew upon him from time to time the sus- 

 picions of the government, and he was accused of joining in conspi- 

 racies, and his house searched in consequence, though his enemies 

 could not succeed in criminating him. He died 14th September, 1741, 

 having exceeded his eightieth year. 



From the testimony of his contemporaries it appears that Rollin's 

 character was a model of piety and virtue. He was remarkable for 

 his liberality, modesty, integrity, and single-heartedness. This last 

 quality is shown not less in the whole tenor of his actions than in 

 his writings, which please more from a certain simplicity than from 

 any other cause. The merits and defects of his ' Belles-Lettrea ' are 

 of the same kind as those observable in his ' Histoire Ancienne.' 

 There is the same want of profound thought, and the same absence of 

 critical judgment, the same easy style, attractive to a young mind, and 

 pleasing from its very carelessness, while the want of critical judgment 

 is compensated by the love of truth and the morality which pervade 

 the whole. Great praise has been bestowed on Rollin by his contem- 

 porary admirers, among the most illustrious of whom were the Duke 

 of Cumberland and Frederic the Great, who was his frequent cor- 

 respondent. Montesquieu styled him ' the bee of France,' and Voltaire 

 and Rousseau have confirmed this eulogium. Modern readers will 

 perhaps think that Rollin's merits as an author have been overrated 

 by the zeal of personal friendship and esteem for his private character, 

 and that his works are chiefly valuable as having contributed to form 

 the taste and strengthen the moral feelings of his age. His ' Opuscules' 

 were collected and published, 2 vols. 12mo, in 1771 ; they contain 

 orations and poems, written in very classical and graceful Latin, cor- 

 respondence with Frederic the Great, Rousseau, and other distinguished 

 persons, and other smaller compositions. 



Extracts from his works, by M. TAbbe" Lucet, were published in 

 8vo, Paris, 1780, under the title of ' Pense"es sur plusieurs points im- 

 portans de Litterature, de Politique, et de Religion.' He is said to 

 have written a ' History of the Arts and Sciences of the Antients,' 

 London, 3 vols. 8vo, 1768. His 'Histoire Ancienne' has frequently 

 been reprinted. A new edition of all his works was commenced at 

 Paris, 8vo, 1837. This history was edited by Emile Beres, with new 

 maps and plates. 



ROMAGNO'SI, GIAN DOME'NICO, was born near Piacenza in 

 1761. He studied first in the College Alberoni, where he had for a 

 schoolfellow his countryman Gioia, who afterwards distinguished 

 himself as a publicist and a political economist. [GioiA, MELCHIOBRE.] 

 Romagnosi continued his studies at Parma, where he took his degree 

 of Doctor of Law in 1786. He afterwards practised aa an advocate. 

 In 1791 he published his ' Genesi del Diretto Penale,' being an investi- 

 gation of the grounds on which the infliction of punishment for offences 

 is founded. Beccaria, Filangieri, and other Italian jurists of that age, 

 had adopted the French theory of a social contract, by which each 

 member of incipient societies was supposed to have given up a portion 

 of his original independence into the hands of the collective body, and 

 to have thus bound himself and his descendants. Romagnosi rejected 



thia hypothesis, and he derived what he called the right of punishing 

 from the principle of necessity and of self-defence, inasmuch as the 

 whole of society is concerned in an injury which is done to any of its 

 members. His work was well received in France and Germany, but it 

 has been little noticed in Italy until of late years, where it has been 

 republished several times ; and it is now much studied, especially in 

 Tuscany. Soon after the publication of the work, the Prince-Bishop 

 of Trent named him pretor, or chief magistrate, of that town, an office 

 held for one year, but in which Romagnosi was confirmed for three 

 consecutive years, after which the bishop named him his aulic 

 councillor. 



During the turmoil of the French revolution, Romagnosi did not 

 participate in the admiration of many of his countrymen for what were 

 called the new ideas, and he tried to define the just meaning of liberty 

 and equality in two little works, ' Che Cosa e Eguaglianza,' ' Che Cosa 

 e Liberia,' 1793. When the French invaded Italy in 1796, Romagnosi 

 remained in the Italian Tyrol, to whose population he waa greatly 

 attached : he said of them, among other things, that they did not know 

 how to tell a lie. When the French entered the Tyrol, Romagnosi was 

 named secretary of the provisional council instituted at Trent, in which 

 capacity he did all he could to alleviate the evil of foreign invasion. 

 When the French were driven away in 1799, he was accused by some 

 invidious person of disaffection to his legitimate sovereign, and was 

 arrested and confined at Innspriick ; but he was soon released, and the 

 Emperor Francis himself declared him innocent, and banished his 

 accuser. In December 1802 he was appointed professor of law in the 

 University of Parma, where he published his second professional work, 

 ' Introduzione allo Studio del Diritto Pubblico Univeraale,' a treatise 

 on general jurisprudence. Romagnosi maintained that moral and 

 political science is as susceptible of demonstration as the natural and 

 metaphysical sciences. He took for the basis of his system the prin- 

 ciple of moral necessity, saying that men and society tend not only to 

 their preservation, but to their physical and moral improvement, in 

 the quickest and at the same time safest progression. This progression 

 can only be effected by raising the intellectual and moral powers. The 

 understanding and the heart ought to be educated so as to create only 

 wishes and habits consistent with the general welfare, and so that 

 utility and justice shall coincide. A second edition of Romagnosi's 

 work appeared at Milan in 1825, with the addition of five letters by 

 the author to Professor Valeri of Siena, hi which he develops and 

 illustrates his principles. 



In 1806 Romagnosi was requested by the government of the so- 

 called kingdom of Italy, then under Napoleon I., to repair to Milan, in 

 order to assist other distinguished jurists in compiling a code of 

 criminal procedure. Romagnosi attended all the sittings of the Com- 

 mission in which the draught of the new code was discussed. He 

 wished to introduce the jury; but Napoleon put his veto on it, 

 saying that he did not think that the state of Italy allowed of such 

 an institution. Some one proposed to introduce into Italy the 

 ' lettres-de-cachet,' or royal orders for imprisoning individuals for state 

 reasons without trial, which existed in France under Napoleon as 

 well as under the old monarchy ; but Romagnosi strenuously opposed 

 the measure. Perceiving much coldness among his colleagues on the 

 subject, he told them that the crosses and decorations which they 

 wore on their breasts produced on them the effect of Medusa's head : 

 finally he carried his point. He had also the merit of introducing 

 into the code the heada ' rehabilitation ' and ' revision of trials.' The 

 code, as revised by Romagnosi and his colleagues, was adopted, and 

 published under the following title, ' Codice di Procedura Penale del 

 Regno d'ltalia,' Svo, Brescia, 1807. In France it was praised by 

 Cambaceres. The suggestions of Romaguosi during the discussion 

 of the code were published separately under the title ' Ultimo e piii 

 necessarie Aggiunte e Riforme al Progetto del Codice di Procedura 

 Penale,' Milano, 1806. 



Romagnosi was likewise employed in the compilation of a penal 

 code for the kingdom of Italy, which however never became law. In 

 consequence of the numerous revisions to which it was subjected, and 

 the dilatoriness of the Italian ministers, the project had not reached 

 Paris when Napoleon asked for it. Finding that it was not ready, 

 with his characteristic impatience he ordered the French penal code 

 to be forthwith translated purely and simply, and enforced in Italy, to 

 the great regret of the Italians, who complained of the arbitrary 

 character of many of the French criminal laws. The proposed Italian 

 code was conceived in a very different spirit : it was printed, together 

 with the discussions which it had elicited, in six volumes, 8vo : 

 ' Collezioue dei Travagli sul Codice Penale del Regno d'ltalia,' Brescia, 

 1807. These particulars are useful for enabling us to understand the 

 history of those times and the true character of Napoleon's legislation 

 and administration. 



In 1807 Romagnosi was appointed professor of civil law in the 

 University of Pavia, and in 1809 he was recalled to Milan to lecture 

 on legislative science, in order to form a kind of academy of advo- 

 cates and magistrates. As part of his scheme, he published his 

 ' Discorso sul Soggetto ed Importanza dello Studio dell' alta Legis- 

 lazione,' Milan, 1812; and also 'Principii fondamentali di Diritto 

 Amministrativo,' 1814. From his lectures he compiled, in 1820, his 

 " Assunto primo della Scienza del Diritto Naturale,' which may be 

 considered as a continuation of his ' Introduzione al Piritto Pubblico 



