134 CENTUMVIRI PRÆFECTUS URBIS. All these magistrates used to be created by the people at the Comitia Tributa. Some add to the Magistratus Ordinarii Minores the CENTUMVIRI litibus judicandis (vel stlitibus judicandis, for so it was anciently written), a body of men chosen out of every tribe (so that properly there were 105), for judging such causes as the prætor committed to their decision; and also the DECEMVIRI litibus judicandis. But these were generally not reckoned magistrates, but only judges. * NEW ORDINARY MAGISTRATES UNDER THE EMPERORS. AUGUSTUS instituted several new offices; as, Curatores operum publicorum, viarum, aquarum, alvei Tiberis, sc. repurgandi et laxioris faciendi, frumenti populo dividundi; persons who had the charge of the public works, of the roads, of bringing water to the city, of cleansing and enlarging the channel of the Tiber, and of distributing corn to the people, Suet. Aug. 37. The chief of these officers were: I. The governor of the city (PRAEFECTUS URBI, vel urbis, whose power was very great, and generally continued for several years, Tacit. Ann. vi. 11. A præfect of the city used likewise formerly to be chosen occasionally (in tempus deligebatur), in the absence of the kings, and afterwards of the consuls. He was not chosen by the people, but appointed, first by the kings, and afterwards by the consuls, (a regibus impositi: Posteà consules mandabant, Tacit. ibid.) He might, however, assemble the senate, even although he was not a senator, Gell. xiv. c. ult. and also hold the comitia, Liv. i. 59. But after the creation of the prætor, he used only to be appointed for celebrating the Feria Latine, or Latin holydays. [" Tac. Ann. iv. 36.” — T.] † The proper sign of authority, when these judges acted, was the setting up a spear in the forum: - "Seu trepidos ad jura decem citat hasta virorum, Lucan. See p. 112. It So Stat. Silv. iv. 4. 43. Cessat centeni moderatrix judicis hasta. is observed by Grævius, that a spear was the common ensign of power among the ancients, and, therefore, given to gods in their statues; and to kings and princes, till it was succeeded by the sceptre. (Præfat. ii. Tom. Thesaur. Ant. Rom.) "Whenever the kings were in the field, their place at Rome was filled by the first senator, who, like them, decided cases concerning property and occupancy, and provided against sudden emergencies. When any danger threatened from within or without, the deputy was, beyond all question, authorised to raise men and to arm them, to convoke the senate, and to put measures to the vote before the curies. When as yet the senate consisted only of 100 men, one of the ten first was chosen chief of the whole body by the king, and intrusted with the wardenship of the city: so that he not only belonged of necessity to the decury of the interrexes, but the custos urbis, as the deputy was called, was the first in that decury. Hence Sp. Lucretius, who filled that office, held the comitia for electing the first consuls as interrex, Dionys. iv. 84., as præfectus urbis, Liv. i. 60. The kings, whose own authority lasted for life, may probably have also bestowed the lieutenantship for the same term; as in after-times the dignity of first senator abode with the person who had once obtained PRÆFECTUS PRÆTORIO. 135 Augustus instituted this magistracy by the advice of Mæcenas, Dio. lii. 21., who himself in the civil wars had been intrusted by Augustus with the charge of the city and of Italy (cunctis apud Romam atque Italiam præpositus), Tacit. ibid. Hor. Od. iii. 8. 17. Ibid. 29. 25. The first præfect of the city was Messala Corvinus, only for a few days; after him Taurus Statilius, and then Piso for twenty years. He was usually chosen from among the principal men of the state (ex viris primariis vel consularibus). His office comprehended many things which had formerly belonged to the prætors and ædiles. He administered justice betwixt masters and slaves, freedmen and patrons; he judged of the crimes of guardians and curators; he checked the frauds of bankers and money-brokers; he had the superintendence of the shambles (carnis curam gerebat), and of the public spectacles in short, he took care to preserve order and public quiet, and punished all transgressions of it, not only in the city, but within a hundred miles of it (intra centesimum ab urbe lapidem), Dio. lii. 21. He had the power of banishing persons both from the city and from Italy, and of transporting them to any island which the emperor named (in insulam deportandi), Ulpian. de Off. Præf. Urb. The præfect of the city was, as it were, the substitute (vicarius) of the emperor, and had one under him, who exercised jurisdiction in his absence, or by his command. The præfect of the city seems to have had the same insignia with the prætors. II. The præfect of the prætorian cohorts (PRÆFECTUS PRÆTORIO, vel prætoriis cohortibus); or the commander of the emperor's body guards. Augustus instituted two of these from the equestrian order, by the advice of Mæcenas, that they might counteract one another, if one of them attempted any innovation, Dio. lii. 24. Their power was at first but small, and merely military: but Sejanus, being alone invested by Tiberius with this command, increased its influence (vim præfecturæ modicam antea intendit), by collecting the prætorian cohorts, formerly dispersed through the city, into one camp, Tacit. Ann. iv. 2. Suet. Tib. 37. The præfect of the prætorian bands was under the succeeding emperors made the instrument of their tyranny, and therefore that The The it; under an annual magistracy, however, it is extremely improbable that this office should have had such a duration. In the twenty-third year of the consulate, 267, the lieutenantship was elevated into a magistracy, to be bestowed by election. first elective warden, A. Sempronius Atratinus, was appointed by the senate. eligibility was still confined to consulars; every prefect mentioned in history before the decemvirate occurs previously as consul. In the stormy years 292 and 295, the wardens appear as the heads of the commonwealth in the senate and in the forum. After the office became a magistracy bestowed by the burghers, it may soon have been the practice for them to hold a permanent tribunal, before which litigants appeared; an appeal to the higher tribunal of the consuls being left open to them. The same was the case with regard to the prætor urbanus. After the office of the ancient custos urbis was merged, like the consulate, in the decemvirate, the two offices grew up again out of it, each under a new name and we shall find the wardenship sometimes alongside of the military tribunate, sometimes united with it, sometimes swallowed up in it, until it acquires a permanent character and a higher dignity, as the prætorship of the city.”- Nieb. ii. p. 110. : 136 PRÆFECTUS ANNONE, CLASSIS, ITC. office was conferred on none but those whom they could entirely trust. They always attended the emperor, to execute his commands: hence their power became so great, that it was little inferior to that of the emperor himself (ut non multum abfuerit a principatu; munus proximum vel alterum ab Augusti imperio, Victor. de Cæs. 9.). Trials and appeals were brought before them; and from their sentence there was no appeal, unless by way of supplication to the emperor. The prætorian præfect was appointed to his office by the emperor's delivering to him a sword, Plin. Paneg. 67. Herod. iii. 2. lxviii. 33. Dio. Sometimes there was but one præfect and sometimes two. Constantine created four præfecti prætorio: but he changed their office very much from its original institution; for he made it civil instead of military, and divided among them the care of the whole empire. To one he gave the command of the East, to another of Illyricum, to a third of Italy and Africa, and to a fourth, of Gaul, Spain, and Britain; but he took from them the command of the soldiers, and transferred that to officers, who were called magistri equitum. Under each of these præfecti prætorio were several substitutes (vicarii), who had the charge of certain districts, which were called DICCESES; and the chief city in each of these, where they held their courts, was called METROPOLIS. Each diœcesis might contain several metropoles, and each metropolis had several cities under it. But Cicero uses DIŒCESIS for the part of a province, ad Attic. v. 21. Fam. iii. 8. xiii. 53. 67., and calls himself EPISCOPUS, inspector or governor of the Campanian coast, as of a diœcesis, ad Att. vii. 11. III. PRÆFECTUS ANNONE, vel rei frumentaria, who had the charge of procuring corn. A magistrate used to be created for that purpose on extraordinary occasions under the republic; thus L. Minutius, Liv. iv. 12., and so afterwards Pompey, with great power (omnis potestas rei frumentaria toto orbe in quinquennium ei data est), Cic. Att. iv. 1. Dio. xxxix. 9. Liv. Epit. 104. Plin. Pan. 29. In the time of a great scarcity, Augustus himself undertook the charge of providing corn (præfecturam annonæ suscepit), and ordained, that for the future two men of prætorian dignity should be annually elected to discharge that office, Dio. liv. 1.; afterwards he appointed four, ibid. 17.; and thus it became an ordinary magistracy. But usually there seems to have been but one præfectus annona; it was at first an office of great dignity, Tacit. Ann. i. 7. xi. 31. Hist. iv. 68., but not so in after-times, Boeth. de Consol. Phil. iii. IV. PRÆFECTUS MILITARIS ÆRARII, a person who had the charge of the public fund which Augustus instituted for the support of the army, (ærarium militare, cum novis vectigalibus ad tuendos prosequendosque milites, Suet. Aug. 49.) V. PRÆFECTUS CLASSIS, admiral of the fleet. Augustus equipped two fleets, which he stationed (constituit), the one at Ravenna on the Hadriatic, and the other at Misena or -um on the PRÆFECTUS VIGILUM DICTATOR. 137 Tuscan sea. Each of these had its own proper commander (præfectus classis Ravennatis, Tacit. Hist. iii. 12., et præfectus classis Misenatium, Veget. iv. 32.). There were also ships stationed in other places; as in the Pontus Euxinus, Tacit. Hist. ii. 83., near Alexandria, Suet. Aug. 98., on the Rhine, Flor. iv. 12., and Danube, Tacit. Annal. xiii. 30. &c. VI. PRÆFECTUS VIGILUM, the officer who commanded the soldiers who were appointed to watch the city. Of these there were seven cohorts, one for every two wards (una cohors binis regionibus), composed chiefly of manumitted slaves (libertino milite), Suet. Aug. 25. 30. Those who guarded adjoining houses in the night-time, carried each of them a bell (xwdwv, tintinnabulum), to give the alarm to one another when any thing happened, Dio. liv. 4. The præfectus vigilum took cognizance of incendiaries, thieves, vagrants, and the like; and if any atrocious case happened, it was remitted to the præfect of the city. There were various other magistrates in the latter times of the empire, called Comites, Correctores, Duces, Magistri Officiorum, Scriniorum, &c. who were honoured with various epithets, according to their different degrees of dignity; as, Clarissimi, illustres, spectabiles, egregii, perfectissimi, &c. The highest title was, nobilissimus and gloriosissimus. EXTRAORDINARY MAGISTRATES. I. DICTATOR AND MASTER OF HORSE. THE Dictator was so called, either because he was named by the consul (quod a consule diceretur, cui dicto omnes audientes essent, Varro de Lat. Ling. iv. 14.), or rather from his publishing edicts or orders (a dictando, quòd multa dictaret, i. e. ediceret: et homines pro legibus haberent quæ diceret, Suet. Jul. 77.). He was also called magister populi, Sen. Epist. 108., and prætor maximus, Liv. vii. 3. This magistracy seems to have been borrowed from the Albans, or Latins, Liv. i. 23. Cic. pro Mil. 10. [See Nieb. ii. p. 32.] It is uncertain who was first created dictator, or in what year. Livy says, that T. Lartius was first created dictator, A. U. 253, nine years after the expulsion of the kings, ibid. The first cause of creating a dictator was the fear of a domestic sedition, and of a dangerous war from the Latins. As the authority of the consuls was not sufficiently respected, on account of the liberty of appeal from them, it was judged proper, in dangerous conjunctures, to create a single magistrate, with absolute power, from whom there should be no appeal, Liv. ii. 18. 29. iii. 20. Cic. de Legg. iii. 3., and who should not be restrained by the interposition of a colleague, Dionys. v. 70. &c. A dictator was afterwards created also for other causes : As, 1. For fixing a nail (clavi figendi vel pangendi causa) in the 138 CAUSES FOR CREATING A DICTATOR. done in those rude ages (cùm literæ erant rara), to mark the number of years. This was commonly done by the ordinary magistrate; but in the time of a pestilence, or of any great public calamity, a dictator was created for that purpose (quia majus imperium erat), to avert the divine wrath, Liv. vii. 3. viii. 18. 2. For holding the comitia, Liv. viii. 23. ix. 7. xxv. 2. 3. For the sake of instituting holydays, Id. vii. 28., or of celebrating games when the prætor was indisposed, Liv. viii. 40. ix. 34. 4. For holding trials (quæstionibus exercendis), Id. ix. 26. And, 5. Once for choosing senators (qui senatum legeret), on which occasion there were two dictators; one at Rome, and another commanding an army, which never was the case at any other time, Liv. xxiii. 22. &c. The dictator was not created by the suffrages of the people, as the other magistrates; but one of the consuls, by order of the senate, named as dictator whatever person of consular dignity he thought proper+; and this he did, after having taken the auspices, usually in the dead of the night (nocte silentio, ut mos est, dictatorem dixit), Liv. viii. 23. ix. 38. Dionys. x. 23. (post mediam noctem,) Fest. in voc. SILENTIO, SINISTRUM, et SOLIDA SELLA. One of the military tribunes also could name a dictator; about which Livy informs us there was some scruple, iv. 31. A dictator might be nominated out of Rome, provided it was in the Roman territory, which was limited to Italy. Sometimes the people gave directions whom the consuls should name dictator, Liv. xxvii. 5. Sulla and Cæsar were made dictators at the comitia, an interrex presiding at the creation of the former, and Lepidus the prætor at the creation of the latter, Cic. pro Rull, iii. 2. Cæs. Bell. Čiv. ii. 19. Dio. xli. 36. In the second Punic war, A. U. 536, after the destruction of the "Livy (vii. 3.) informs us, that the annual nail was driven in for the first time by M. Horatius, at the dedication of the capitol, and that the ides of September were the day of the dedication. The design of the ordinance was to prevent the loss of years in the record of time; it being impossible that the official years should answer exactly to the astronomical, when the time of the magistrates expired before their successors were elected. The rule seems to have been for the new magistrates to enter upon their office on the calends or ides of a month; whereby, unless extraordinary circumstances called for despatch, the commencement of the official year was put off for half a month, as often as the election was held by an interrex." Nieb. i. p. 225. + Niebuhr (i. p. 499.) contends that he was nominated by the senate, and approved by the populus, or patricians; i. e. according to the old mode of electing the kings, after his appointment he had to obtain the imperium from the curies. (Liv. iv. 17. v. 46. vii. 6. ix. 38.) "Under the old system a plebeian could not possibly be dictator; and as C. Marcius, in the year 399, brought this office into his own order, whereas in 393 it is expressly stated, that the patricians gave their assent to the appointment, it is almost certain that the change took place within this interval. So late as in 444, the bestowal of the imperium was assuredly something more than an empty form; but it became such by the Manian law: thenceforward it was only necessary that the consul should consent to proclaim the person named by the senate. Thus, after that time, in the advanced state of popular freedom, the dictatorship could occur but seldom, except for trivial purposes: if on such occasions the appointment was left to the consuls, they would likewise advance pretensions to exercise it in the solitary instances where the office still had any real importance."— P. 500. |