Abstract

The text entitled “Il testamento segreto romano e il Senatoconsulto Neroniano” [“The Secret
Testament in Rome and the Neronian Senatoconsultum”] is the result of a report I gave during
the X Ionian-Polish Conference on the topic “Il segreto nei sistemi giuridici” [“The secret in legal
systems”], held in Warsaw at Uczelnia Lazarskego University on 31 May 2017. The topic in question
concerns a kind of secret in Roman law that is more significant than ever in will and testament
matters. On the contrary, from a dynamic viewpoint, it presents a characteristic reversal: from
more ancient forms of intended maximum publicity, we switch to the protection of the greatest
possible secrecy surrounding a deed with which the testator manifested and laid down his or her
will. The subject of the report concerns the problem related to a discussion between some scholars
about the secrecy of the will for aes et libram in the classical age: from the exaggeration of believing
that the secrecy of the Roman testament is set per aes et libram by the Neronian senatusconsultum
we then move on to the opposite exaggeration of an unjustified devaluation of the news on the
senatusconsultum, stating that the will could never be secret, because until the final closure and
sealing, the tablets remained open and accessible to the witnesses. Nevertheless, upon reading
the analysed sources, it is quite clear that even in the classical era, the secret “librale” will and
testament was recognised and conferred legal protection thanks to the Neronian Sc. and that the
constitution of Theodosius only sought to restore the caution in ancient law that the inexperience
of posterity and the presumption of the witnesses had gradually changed.