140

MAGISTER EQUITUM

DECEM VIRS.

that he might be called to an account for his conduct, when he resigned his office, Liv. vii. 4.

For 120 years before Sulla, the creation of a dictator was disused, but in dangerous emergencies the consuls were armed with dictatorial power. After the death of Cæsar, the dictatorship was for ever abolished from the state, by a law of Antony the consul, Cic. Phil. i. 1. And when Augustus was urged by the people to accept the dictatorship, he refused it with the strongest marks of aversion (genu nixus, dejectá ab humeris toga, nudo pectore, deprecatus est), Suet. Aug. 52. Possessed of the power, he wisely declined an odious appellaation, Dio. liv. 1. For ever since the usurpation of Sulla, the dictatorship was detested on account of the cruelties which that tyrant had exercised under the title of dictator.

To allay the tumults which followed the murder of Clodius by Milo, in place of a dictator Pompey was by an unprecedented measure made sole consul, A. U. 702, Dio. xl. 50. He, however, on the first of August, assumed Scipio, his father-in-law, as colleague, Dio. xl. 51. When a dictator was created, he immediately nominated (dixit) a master of horse (MAGISTER EQUITUM), usually from among those of consular or prætorian dignity, whose proper office was to command the cavalry, and also to execute the orders of the dictator. M. Fabius Buteo, the dictator nominated to choose the senate, had no master of horse. [Liv. xxiii. 22.]

Sometimes a master of horse was pitched upon (datus vel additus est) for the dictator, by the senate, or by order of the people, Liv. vii. 12. 24. 28. [viii. 17.]

The magister equitum might be deprived of his command by the dictator, and another nominated in his room, Liv. viii. 35.

The people at one time made the master of the horse, Minucius, equal in command with the dictator Fabius Maximus, Liv. xxii. 26. The master of horse is supposed to have had much the same insignia with the prætor, six lictors, the prætexta, &c. Dio. xlii. 27. He had the use of a horse, which the dictator had not without the order of the people.

II. THE DECEMVIRS.

THE laws of Rome at first, as of other ancient nations, were very few and simple, Tacit. Ann. iii. 26. It is thought there was for some time no written law (nihil scripti juris). Differences were determined (lites dirimebantur) by the pleasure of the kings (regum arbitrio), according to the principles of natural equity (ex æquo et bono), Senec. Epist. 90., and their decisions were held as laws, Dionys. x. 1. The kings used to publish their commands, either by pasting them up in public on a white wall or tablet (in album relata proponere in publico), Liv. i. 32., or by a herald, ib. 44. Hence they were said, omnia MANU gubernare, Pompon. 1. 2. § 3. D. de Orig. Jur. (i. e. potestate et imperio, Tacit. Agric. 9.)

The kings, however, in every thing of importance, consulted the senate, and likewise the people. Hence we read of the LEGES

*

"Magistrum equitum, quæ consularis potestas sit, Liv. xxiii. 11."- T.

LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES.

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CURIATÆ of Romulus and of the other kings, which were also called LEGES REGIÆ, Liv. v. 1.

But the chief legislator was Servius Tullius (præcipuus sanctor legum), Tac. Ann. iii. 26., all whose laws, however, were abolished at once (uno edicto sublata) by Tarquinius Superbus, Dionys. iv. 43.

After the expulsion of Tarquin, the institutions of the kings were observed, not as written law, but as customs (tanquam mores majorum); and the consuls determined most causes, as the kings had done, according to their pleasure.

But justice being thus extremely uncertain, as depending on the will of an individual (in unius voluntate positum, Cic. Fam. ix. 16.), C. Terentius Arsa, [or Terentilius Harsa, Nieb. ii. 277.] a tribune of the commons, proposed to the people, that a body of laws should be drawn up, to which all should be obliged to conform (quo omnes uti deberent). But this was violently opposed by the patricians, in whom the whole judicative power was vested, and to whom the knowledge of the few laws which then existed was confined, Liv. iii. 9.

At last, however, it was determined, A. U. 299, by a decree of the senate and by the order of the people, that three ambassadors should be sent to Athens to copy the famous laws of Solon, and to examine the institutions, customs, and laws of the other states in Greece, Liv. iii. 31. Plin. Ep. viii. 24. *

Upon their return, ten men (DECEMVIRI) were created from among the patricians, with supreme power, and without the liberty of appeal, to draw up a body of laws (legibus scribendis), all the other magistrates having first abdicated their office, Liv. iii. 32, 33.

The decemviri at first behaved with great moderation. They administered justice to the people each every tenth day. The twelve fasces were carried before him who was to preside, and his nine colleagues were attended by a single officer, called ACCENSUS, Liv. iii. 33.+ They proposed ten tables of laws, which were ratified by the people at the Comitia Centuriata. In composing them, they are said to have used the assistance of one HERMODORUS, an Ephesian exile, who served them as an interpreter, Cic. Tusc. v. 36. Plin. xxxiv. 5. s. 10.

As two other tables seemed to be wanting, decemviri were again created for another year to make them. But these new magistrates acting tyrannically, and wishing to retain their command beyond the legal time ‡, were at last forced to resign, chiefly on account of the

See Nieb. ii. p. 303.

As the first decemvirate represented a decury of interrexes, the supreme power was always lodged with one of their body at a time, who was called the custos urbis; he was attended by the lictors, and presided over the senate and the whole republic as warden of the city. The rest, each of whom had merely a beadle at his orders, are said to have acted as judges. There is no imaginable reason why the rotation should have followed any other law than it would have done in a decury of interrexes, where the kingly power remained five days with each and this conjecture is favoured by Dionysius, who speaks in vague terms of a certain number of days, X. 57."-Nieb. ii. p. 311.

:

"It is quite certain that the decemvirs were appointed for a longer period than a year, though the writers, who had no notion of any but annual magistracies, represent their retaining their office beyond this term as a usurpation. Had it been so, it would not have been provided in the compact with the ancient commonalty that the decemvirs were to lay down their office as soon as possible (Liv. iii. 54. Factum

142

TRIBUNI MILITUM, ETC.

base passion of Appius Claudius, one of their number, for Virginia, a virgin of plebeian rank, who was slain by her father to prevent her falling into the decemvir's hands. The decemviri all perished, either in prison or in banishment.

But the laws of the twelve tables (LEGES DUODECIM TABULARUM) continued ever after to be the rule and foundation of public and private right through the Roman world (Fons universi publici privatique juris, Liv. iii. 34.; Finis æqui juris, Tacit. Ann. iii. 27.) [Cic. de Orat. i. 43, 44.] They were engraved on brass, and fixed up in public, (Leges DECEMVIRALEŠ, quibus tabulis duodecim est nomen, in as incisas in publico proposuerunt sc. consules, Liv. iii. 57.) and even in the time of Cicero, the noble youth who meant to apply to the study of jurisprudence, were obliged to get them by heart as a necessary rhyme (tanquam carmen necessarium), Cic. de Legg. ii. 23., not that they were written in verse, as some have thought; for any set form of words (verba concepta), even in prose, was called CARMEN, Liv. i. 24. 26. iii. 64. x. 38., or carmen compositum, Cic. pro Muren. 12.

III. TRIBUNI MILITUM CONSULARI POTESTATE. THE cause of their institution has already been explained (see p. 95.) They are so called, because those of the plebeians who had been military tribunes in the army were the most conspicuous. Their office and insignia were much the same with those of the consuls.

IV. INTERREX.

CONCERNING the causes of creating this magistrate, &c. (see p. 100.)

OTHER EXTRAORDINARY MAGISTRATES OF LESS

NOTE.

THERE were several extraordinary inferior magistrates; as DUUMVIRI perduellionis judicandæ causâ, Liv. i. 26. vi. 29. Duumviri

senatusconsultum ut se decemviri primo quoque tempore magistratu abdicarent): for this expressly acknowledges that they had a legal right to continue in it,” — Nieb. ii. p. 328.

"There can be no doubt that after the time of the decemvirate, the inferiority of the lesser houses in the senate was put an end to, and that all patricians indiscriminately were eligible to every office in the state, and even to the sacerdotal dignities, though the colleges of priests were not enlarged. The curies, though their nature was considerably altered, continued to subsist; but the three ancient tribes are no longer mentioned, except as an obsolete institution. When they had been set aside, the order in which the thirty curies were to be called up to vote would be determined by lot. An innovation of incomparably greater moment, through its consequences, which certainly were not anticipated, was, that all who were ærarians at the time were enrolled in the tribes. That this was a measure of the decemvirs, might be inferred from the design of their legislation, and from the institution of general tribes: and on comparing the plebs on its reappearance, after the decemvirate, with its previous character, we see clearly that the body which now bears this name is no longer the old one of hereditary landowners, but has been altered by the infusion of foreign elements. The clients, too, who in earlier times are distinguished from the plebeians, are now reckoned among them, and make up a large part of the tribes,” — Nieb. ii. p. 317.

TRIUMVIRI, ETC. PROCONSUL, PROPrætor.

143

navales, classis ornandæ reficiendæque causâ, Id. ix. 30. xl. 18. 26. xli. 1. Duumviri ad ædem Junoni Monetæ faciundam, Id. vii. 28.

TRIUMVIRI coloniæ deducenda, Liv. iv. 11. vi. 26. viii. 16. ix. 28. xxi. 25. xxxi. 49. xxxii. 29. Triumviri bini, qui citra et ultra quinquagesimum lapidem in pagis forisque et conciliabulis omnem copiam ingenuorum inspicerent, et idoneos ad arma ferenda conquirerent, militesque facerent, Id. xxv. 5. Triumviri bini; uni sacris conquirendis donisque persignandis; alteri reficiendis ædibus sacris, Id. xxv. 7. Triumviri mensarii, facti ob argenti penuriam, Liv. xxiii. 21.

xxiv. 18. xxvi. 36.

QUINQUEVIRI, agro Pomptino dividendo, Liv. vi. 21. Quinqueviri ab dispensatione pecunia MENSARII appellati, Id. vii. 21. Quinqueviri muris turribusque reficiendis, Id. xxv. 7., minuendis publicis sumptibus, Plin. Ep. ii. 1. Pan. 62.

DECEMVIRI agris inter veteranos milites dividendis, Liv. xxxi. 4. * Several of these were not properly magistrates. They were all, however, chosen from the most respectable men of the state. Their office may in general be understood from their titles.

PROVINCIAL MAGISTRATES.

THE provinces of the Roman people were at first governed by prætors (see p. 113.), but afterwards by proconsuls and proprætors, to whom were joined quæstors and lieutenants.

The usual name is PROCONSUL and PROPRÆTOR; but sometimes it is written pro consule and pro prætore, in two words ; so likewise pro quæstore, Cic. Acad. 4. 4. Verr. i. 15. 38.

Anciently those were called proconsuls, to whom the command of consul was prolonged (imperium prorogatum) after their office was expired, Liv. viii. 22. 26. ix. 42. x. 16., or who were invested with consular authority, either from a subordinate rank, as Marcellus, after being prætor (ex prætura), Liv. xxiii. 30., and Gellius, Cic. Legg. i. 20., or from a private station, as Scipio, xxvi. 18. xxviii. 38. This was occasioned by some public exigence, when the ordinary magistrates were not sufficient. The same was the case with proprætors, Cic. Phil. v. 16. Suet. Aug. 10. Sall. Cat. 19. The first proconsul mentioned by Livy was T. Quinctius, A. U. 290, Liv. iii. 4. But he seems to have been appointed for the time. The first to whom the consular power was prolonged was Publilius, Liv. viii. 23. 26. f. The name of Proprætor was also given to a person whom a general left to command the army in his absence, Sallust. Jug.

36.103.

The names of consul and proconsul, prætor and proprætor, are sometimes confounded, Suet. Aug. 3. And we find all governors of provinces called by the general name of proconsules, as of præsides, ibid. 36.

The command of consul was prolonged, and proconsuls occasionally appointed, by the Comitia Tributa, Liv. x. 24. xxix. 13. xxx. 27.

• Septemviri, commissioners for dividing the Campanian and Leontine land, Cic. Phil. ii. 38.

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PROVINCES, FOR WHAT PERIOD HELD, HOW DETERMINED.

except in the case of Scipio, who was sent as proconsul into Spain by the Comitia Centuriata, xxvi. 18.

But after the empire was extended, and various countries reduced to the form of provinces, magistrates were regularly sent from Rome to govern them, according to the Sempronian law (see p. 105.), without any new appointment of the people. Only military command was conferred on them by the Comitia Curiata. (See p. 74.)

At first the provinces were annual, i. e. a proconsul had the government of a province only for one year; and the same person could not command different provinces. But this was violated in several instances; especially in the case of Julius Cæsar, Suet. Jul. 22. 24. Cic. Fam. i. 7. (See p. 20. 106.) And it is remarkable that the timid compliance of Cicero with the ambitious views of Cæsar, in granting him the continuation of his command, and money for the payment of his troops, with other immoderate and unconstitutional concessions, de Provinc. Consul. & pro Balbo, 27., although he secretly condemned them, Fam. i. 7. Attic. ii. 17. x. 6., proved fatal to himself, as well as to the republic.

The prætors cast lots for their provinces (provincias sortiebantur), or settled them by agreement (inter se comparabant), in the same manner with the consuls, Liv. xxvii. 36. xxxiv. 54. xlv. 16, 17. But sometimes provinces were determined to both by the senate or people, Id. xxxv. 20. xxxvii. 1.

The senate fixed the extent and limits of the provinces, the number of soldiers to be maintained in them, and money to pay them; likewise the retinue of the governors (COMITATUS vel cohors), and their travelling charges (VIATICUM). And thus the governors were said ORNARI, i. e. instrui, to be furnished, Cic. in Rull. ii. 13. What was assigned them for the sake of household furniture was called VASARIUM, Cic. in Pis. 35. So vasa, furniture, Liv. i. 24.

A certain number of lieutenants was assigned to each proconsul and proprætor, who were appointed usually by the senate, Cic. Fam. i. 7., or with the permission of the senate by the proconsul himself, Id. xii. 55. Nep. Attic. 6., who was then said, aliquem sibi legare, Id. vi. 6., or very rarely by an order of the people, Cic. in Vatin. 15. The number of lieutenants was different, according to the rank of the governor, or the extent of the province, Cic. Phil. ii. 15. Thus, Cicero in Cilicia had four, Cæsar in Gaul ten, and Pompey in Asia fifteen. The least number seems to have been three; Quintus, the brother of Cicero, had no more in Asia Minor, Cic. ad Q. fr. i. 1. 3.

The office of a legatus was very honourable; and men of prætorian and consular dignity did not think it below them to bear it. Thus Scipio Africanus served as legatus under his brother Lucius, Liv. xxxvii. 1. &c. Gell. iv. 18.

The legati were sometimes attended by lictors, Liv. xxix. 9., as the senators were when absent from Rome, jure libera legationis (see p. 18.), but the person under whom they served, might deprive them of that privilege, Cic. Fam. xii. 30.

In the retinue of a proconsul were comprehended his military officers (præfecti), and all his public and domestic attendants, Cic. Verr. ii. 10. Among these were young noblemen, who went with him to learn the art of war, and to see the method of conducting