James Bryce

“ Upon the whole subject of the codification and legislation in which Tribonian bore a part, see Justinian.
Tribonian, from the little we know of him, would seem to have been a remarkable man, and in the front rank of the great ones of his time. There is nothing to show that he was a profound and philosophical jurist, like Papinian or Ulpian. But he was an energetic clear-headed man, of great practical force and skill, cultivated, accomplished, agreeable, flexible, possibly unscrupulous, just the sort of person whom a restless despot like Justinian finds useful. ”

“ In modern times Tribonian has been, as the master workman of Justinian's codification and legislation, charged with three offences, bad Latinity, a defective arrangement of the legal matter in the Code and Digest, and a too free handling of the extracts from the older jurists included in the latter compilation. The first of these charges cannot be denied; but it is hard to see why a lawyer of the 6th century, himself born in a Greek-speaking part of the empire, should be expected to write Latin as pure as that of the age of Cicero, or even of the age of Gains and the Antonines. ”

“ TRIBONIAN, the famous jurist and minister of Justinian, was born in Pamphylia in the latter part of the 5th century. Adopting the profession of an advocate, he came to Constantinople and practised in the prefectural courts there, reaching such eminence as to attract the notice of the emperor Justinian, who appointed him in 528 one of the ten commissioners directed to prepare the first Codex of imperial constitutions. ”