20

DECREES, HOW FAR BINDING.

menti respublica caperet. By which decree an absolute power was granted to the consuls, to punish and put to death whom they pleased, without a trial; to raise forces, and carry on war without the order of the people, Sallust. de Bello Cat. 29.

This decree was called ULTIMUM or EXTREMUM, Cæs. de Bell. Civ. i. 4. and Forma SCti ultimæ necessitatis, Liv. iii. 4. By it the republic was said to be intrusted to the consuls, permitti v. commendari consulibus; or permitti consulibus ut rempublicam defenderent, Cic. [Phil. ii. 21.] Sometimes the other magistrates were added, Cas. ibid. Liv. vi. 19. Sometimes only one of the consuls is named, as in the commotion raised by C. Gracchus, Ut L. Opimius Consul videret, &c. because his colleague Q. Fabius Maximus was absent, Cic. in Cat. i. 2. So Liv. iii. 4.

Although the decrees of the senate had not properly the force of laws, and took place chiefly in those matters which were not provided for by the laws; yet they were understood always to have a binding force, and were therefore obeyed by all orders. The consuls themselves were obliged to submit to them. Liv. iv. 26. xlii. 21. They could be annulled or cancelled (induci, i. e. deleri, poterant), only by the senate itself, Cic. pro Dom. 4. Attic. i. 17. Their force, however, in certain things was but temporary; and the magistrates sometimes alleged, that they were binding but for one year, Dionys. ix. 37. In the last age of the republic, the authority of the senate was little regarded by the leading men and their creatures, Cic. pro Sext. 12. who, by means of bribery, obtained from a corrupted populace what they desired, in spite of the senate, Appian. de Bell. Civ. ii. 433. &c. Thus Cæsar, by the Vatinian law, obtained the province of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum, for five years, from the people; and soon after Gallia Comata or Ulterior, from the senate; the fathers being afraid that, if they refused it, the people would grant him that too, Suet. Jul. 22. Plutarch. in Vita Cæs. But this corruption and contempt of the senate at last terminated in the total subversion of public liberty.

Cicero imagined that, in his consulship, he had established the authority of the senate on a solid basis, by uniting it with the equestrian order, Cic. Cat. iv. 10. Pis. 3.; thus constituting what he calls OPTIMA RESPUBLICA; quæ sit in potestatem optimorum, i. e. nobilium et ditissimorum, de Legg. iii. 17. (apioтonрáтeia) and ascribes the ruin of the republic to that coalition not being preserved, Att. i. 14. 16. But it was soon after broken (ordinum concordia disjuncta est, Cic. Att. i. 13.) by the senate refusing to release the equites from a disadvantageous contract concerning the Asiatic revenues, Cic. Att. i. 17. which gave Cæsar, when consul, an opportunity of obliging that order, by granting their request, as he had formerly obliged the populace by an agrarian law, Suet. Cæs. 20. Cic. Att. i. 15. and thus of artfully employing the wealth of the republic to enslave it, Dio. xxxviii. 1. 7. See LEGES JULIE. The senate and equites had been formerly united, Sallust. Jug. 42. and were afterwards disjoined from similar motives. See LEGES SEMPRONIÆ, de judiciis.

Augustus, when he became master of the empire, retained the forms of the ancient republic, and the same names of the magistrates; but left nothing of the ancient virtue and liberty (prisci et integri moris)

PROCEEDINGS OF THE EMPERORS

PRIVILEGIA.

127

Tacit. Ann. i. 3. While he pretended always to act by the authority of the senate, he artfully drew every thing to himself.

Tiberius apparently increased the power of the senate, by transferring the right of creating magistrates and enacting laws from the comitia to the senate, Tacit. Ann. i. 15. In consequence of which, the decrees of the senate obtained the force of laws, and were more frequently published. But this was only a shadow of power. For the senators in giving their opinions depended entirely on the will of the Prince; and it was necessary that their decrees should be confirmed by him. An oration of the Emperor was usually prefixed to them, which was not always delivered by himself, but was usually read by one of the quæstors, who were called CANDIDATI, Suet. Tit. 6. Aug. 65. Hence what was appointed by the decrees of the senate was said to be oratione principis cautum; and these orations are sometimes put for the decrees of the senate. To such a height did the flattery of the senators proceed, that they used to receive these speeches with loud acclamations, Plin. Paneg. 75. and never failed to assent to them; which they commonly did by crying out, OMNES, OMNES, Vopisc. in Tacit. 7.

The messages of the Emperors to the senate were called EPISTOLÆ or LIBELLI; because they were folded in the form of a letter or little book. J. Cæsar is said to have first introduced these libelli, Plutarch. in Vita Cæs. Suet. Jul. 56. which afterwards came to be used almost on every occasion. Suet. Jul. 81. Aug. 53. 84. Tacit. Annal. iv. 39.

But the custom of referring every thing to the senate (Suet. Tib. 30.) was only observed till the Romans became habituated to slavery.

After this the Emperors gradually began to order what they thought proper, without consulting the senate; to abrogate old laws and introduce new ones; and, in short, to determine every thing according to their own pleasure; by their answers to the applications or petitions presented to them (per RESCRIPTA ad libellos); by their mandates and laws (per EDICTA et CONSTITUTIONES), &c. Vespasian appears to have been the first who made use of these rescripts and edicts. They became more frequent under Hadrian: from which time the decrees of the senate concerning private right became to be more rare; and at length under Caracalla were entirely discontinued.

The constitutions of the Emperors about punishing or rewarding individuals, which were not to serve as precedents, were called PRIVILEGIA (quasi privæ legis), A. Gell. x. 20. This word anciently used to be taken in a bad sense; for a private law about inflicting an extraordinary punishment on a certain person without a trial, Cic. de Legg. iii. 19. as the law of Clodius against Cicero, Cic. pro Dom. 17. which Cicero says was forbidden by the sacred laws and those of the twelve tables, Leges privatis hominibus irrogari: id est enim privilegium, Ibid. et pro Sext. 30.

The rights or advantages (beneficia) granted to a certain condition or class of men, used also to be called PRIVILEGIA; Plin. x. 56, 57. 110. as the privileges of soldiers, parents, pupils, creditors, &c.

The various laws and decrees of the senate, whereby supreme power was conferred on Augustus, and which used to be repeated to the

22

LEX REGIA EQUITES CELERES.

succeeding Emperors upon their accession to the empire, ( Tum senatus cuncta, PRINCIPIBUS SOLITA, Vespasiano decrevit, Tacit. Hist. iv. 3.) when taken together, are called the Royal Law, (LEX REGIA, vel LEX IMPERII, et AUGUSTUM PRIVILEGIUM,) probably in allusion to the law by which supreme power was granted to Romulus, Liv. xxxiv. 6.

THE EQUITES.

THE Equites at first did not form a distinct order in the state. When Romulus divided the people into three tribes, he chose from each tribe 100 young men, the most distinguished for their rank, their wealth, and other accomplishments, who should serve on horseback, and whose assistance he might use for guarding his person. These 300 horsemen were called CELERES, (Taxes ènì à eрya, ad opera veloces, Dionys. ii. 13, vel a xéns, eques desultorius; vel a CELERE, eorum præfecto, Festus ;) and divided into three centuries, which were distinguished by the same names with the three tribes; namely, RAMNENSES, TATIENSES, and LUCERES.

The number of the Equites was afterwards increased, first by Tullus Hostilius, who chose 300 from the Albans, (decem termas; TURMA, quasi terma dicta est, quod ter denis equitibus constaret, Varro et Festus,) Liv. i. 30. then by Tarquinius Priscus, who doubled their number (numero alterum tantum adjecit); retaining the number and names of the centuries; only those who were added were called Ramnenses, Tatienses, Luceres, posteriores.* But as Livy says there were now 1800 in the three centuries, Tarquin seems to have done more than double them, Liv. i. 30. †

Servius Tullius made eighteen centuries of Equites; he chose twelve new centuries from the chief men of the state, and made six others out of the three instituted by Romulus. Ten thousand pounds of brass were given to each of them to purchase horses; and a tax was laid on widows, who were exempt from other contributions, for maintaining their horses, Liv. i. 43. Hence the origin of the

"The meaning is, that after the Equian war, he united an equal number of Latin cavalry in the field, as was the case with the infantry." - Nieb. i. p. 308.

"Romulus probably added two hundred to each century of Equites, as he added one hundred to the number of the Senators, upon the admission of the Sabines into the city. Dionys. ii. 47.”— Dr. Adam. Niebuhr (1. c.) shows from a passage of Cicero, de Rep. ii. 20. (Prioribus equitum partibus secundis additis, Mac CC fecit equites, numerumque duplicavit postquam bello Æquos subegit), that in Livy 1200 should be written, not 1800: MdCCC in the Florentine MS. comes from MaCC (M ac CC), as it stands in Cicero.

"Ten thousand ases for the purchase of a horse, by the side of the sums at which oxen and sheep were rated in the table of penalties (100 or 50 and 10 respectively), seem to be so unreasonable, that the correctness of the number has been called in question. But, in the first place, it was not to be a common nag; and compared with such a one, at Rome, as elsewhere, a war-horse was naturally very dear; and besides, the equipment was incomplete without at least a groom, a slave, who was to be bought, and then trained to ride.". Nieb. i. p. 380.

The

"The former is called by Gaius, as equestre; the latter, as hordearium. word vidua is to be understood after its original meaning, which is recognised by the Roman jurists, of every single woman generally, maiden as well as widow; and, therefore, of an heiress (iKλnpos): and then Livy has also forgotten the orphans. Cicero, in citing the example of the Corinthians, among whom the

Equestrian order, which was of the greatest utility in the state, as an intermediate bond between the patricians and plebeians.

At what particular time the Equites first began to be reckoned a distinct order, is uncertain. It seems to have been before the expulsion of the Kings, Liv. i. 35. ii. 1. After this, all those who served on horseback were not properly called EQUITES or knights, but such only as were chosen into the equestrian order, usually by the censor, and presented by him with a horse at the public expense, and with a gold ring.

The Equites were chosen promiscuously from the patricians and plebeians. Those descended from ancient families were called ILLUSTRES, SPECIOSI, and SPLENDIDI. They were not limited to any fixed number. The age requisite was about eighteen years, Dio. lii. 20. and the fortune (census), at least towards the end of the republic, and under the Emperors, was 400 Sestertia, that is, about 3,2291. of our money, Horat. Ep. i. 1. 57. Plin. Ep. i. 19. According to some, every Roman citizen whose entire fortune amounted to that sum, was every lustrum enrolled, of course, in the list of Equites. But that was not always the case, Liv. v. 7. A certain fortune seems to have been always requisite, iii. 27.

The badges of Equites were, 1. A horse given them by the public; hence called LEGITIMUS, Ovid. Fast. iii. 130. 2. A golden ring, whence ANNULO AUREO DONARI, for inter equites legi; 3. Angustus Clavus, or Tunica angusticlavia; 4. A separate place at the public spectacles, according to the law made by L. Roscius Otho, a tribune of the people, A. U. 686. Dio. xxxvi. 25. Juvenal. iii. 159. xiv. 324. that the Equites should sit in 14 rows (in XIV gradibus), next to the Orchestra, where the senators sat; whence SEDERE IN QUATUORDECIM, or IN EQUESTRIBUS; or SPECTARE IN EQUITE, for Equitem esse, Suet.

The office (MUNUS) of the Equites at first was only to serve in the army; but afterwards also to act as judges or jurymen (ut judicarent), and to farm the public revenues (VECTIGALIA CONDUCERE). Judges were chosen from the senate till the year of the city 631, at which time, on account of the corruption of that order, the right of judging was transferred from them to the Equites, by the Sempronian law, made by C. Gracchus.* It was again restored to the senate by Sulla; but afterwards shared between the two orders.†

The Equites who farmed the revenues were divided into certain societies, and he who presided in such a society was called MAGISTER

:

horse-money for the knights was paid by rich widows and orphans (de Rep. ii. 20.), as the prototype of the Roman institution, obviously attributes the same extent to the latter and now we have a perfect explanation why the orphans and single women (orbi orbæque) are mentioned separately in the population returns. The common phrase in Livy is, censa sunt civium capita, præter orbos orbasque.” — Nieb. i. p. 408.

* Hence Cicero (de Clar. Orat. 24.) calls the judges in the trial of Opimius Gracchani Judices. About twenty-five years after, Q. Servilius Cæpio procured the addition of a certain number of senators to the three centuries of equestrian judges. See the Ler Plautia or Plotia.

+ Cotta, during his prætorship, divided it equally amongst the two orders, in the same year as Pompey effected the restoration of the tribunitian power.

24 TRANSVECTIO

ADIMERE EQUUM

PRINCEPS JUVENTUTIS.

SOCIETATIS, Cic. Fam. xiii. 9. These farmers-general (PUBLICANI) were held in such respect at Rome, that Cicero calls them Homines amplissimi, honestissimi, et ornatissimi; pro Lege Manil. 7. Flos equitum Romanorum, ornamentum civitatis, firmamentum reipublicæ, pro Plancio, 9. But this was far from being the case in the provinces, where publicans were held in detestation, Ascon. in Cic. Verr. ii. 3. especially their servants and assistants.

A great degree of splendour was added to the Equestrian order by a procession (TRANSVECTIONE) which they made through the city every year on the fifteenth day of July, (Idibus Quinctilibus, Liv. ix. 46.) from the temple of Honour, or of Mars, without the city, to the Capitol, riding on horseback, with wreaths of olive on their heads, drest in their Toga palmate, or trabeæ, of a scarlet colour, and bearing in their hands the military ornaments which they had received from their general, as a reward for their valour, Dionys. vi. 13. Plin. xv. 4, 5. At this time it was not allowable to cite them before a court of justice: such was at least the case under Augustus, Suet. Aug. 38.

Every fifth year, when this procession was made, the Equites rode up to the Censor seated in his curule chair, before the Capitol, and dismounting led along (TRADUCEBANT) their horses in their hands before him, Cic. Cluent. 48. Quinctil. 5. 11. 13. and in this manner they were reviewed (RECOGNOSCEBANTUR).

If any Eques was corrupt in his morals, or had diminished his fortune, or even had not taken proper care of his horse, Gell. iv. 20. the Censor ordered him to sell his horse, Liv. xxix. 37. and thus he was reckoned to be removed from the Equestrian order; hence ADIMERE EQUUM, to degrade an Eques*: but those whom the Censor approved, were ordered to lead along (traducere) their horses, Ovid. Trist. ii. 89.

At this time also the Censor read over a list of the Equites, and such as were less culpable (qui minore culpâ tenerentur) were degraded (ORDINE EQUESTRI MOTI SUNT) only by passing over their names in the recital, Suet. Cal. 16. We find it mentioned as a reward, that a person should not be obliged to serve in the army, nor to maintain a public horse, (ne invitus militaret, neve Censor ei equum publicum assignaret ;) but this exemption could be granted only by the people, Liv. xxxix. 19.†

The Eques whose name was first marked in the Censor's books, was called EQUESTRIS ORDINIS PRINCEPS, Plin. Ep. i. 14. or PRINCEPS JUVENTUTIS; not that in reality the Equites were all young men, for many grew old in that order, as Maecenas and

"The meaning was, that the person thus degraded should refund to the state the outfit money which had been advanced to him, and should procure the means of doing so by that sale."-Nieb. i. p. 381.

"It may be conjectured, that the obligation of those who were registered as horsemen, to serve as such at their own cost, when a knight's horse could not be assigned to them, was determined by a certain fixed amount of their property; and that, if it fell short of this, they would be bound to enter into the infantry. This penal command of the censors continued in use until the latest times of the republic; when the knights had long received pay, and been supplied with fodder in room of that allowance: a change which had already been introduced in the time of Polybius."-Nieb. i. p. 379.