_Magistrates._
Rome was at first governed by kings, chosen by the people; their power
was not absolute, but limited; their badges were the _trabea_ or white
robe adorned with stripes of purple, a golden crown and ivory sceptre;
the _curule_ chair and twelve _lictors_ with the _fasces_, that is,
carrying each a bundle of rods, with an axe in the middle of them.
The regal government subsisted at Rome for two hundred and forty-three
years, under seven kings--Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius,
Ancus Marcius, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Lucius
Tarquinius Superbus, all of whom, except the last, may be said to have
laid the foundation of Roman greatness by their good government.
Tarquin being universally detested for his tyranny and cruelty, was
expelled the city, with his wife and family, on account of the violence
offered by his son Sextus to Lucretia, a noble lady, the wife of
Collatinus.
This revolution was brought about chiefly by means of Lucius Junius
Brutus. The haughtiness and cruelty of Tarquin inspired the Romans with
the greatest aversion to regal government, which they retained ever
after.
In the two hundred and forty-fourth year from the building of the city,
they elected two magistrates, of equal authority, and gave them the name
of consuls. They had the same badges as the kings, except the crown, and
nearly the same power; in time of war they possessed supreme command,
and usually drew lots to determine which should remain in Rome--they
levied soldiers, nominated the greater part of the officers, and
provided what was necessary for their support.
In dangerous conjunctures, they were armed by the senate with absolute
power, by the solemn decree that the consuls should take care the
Republic receives no harm. In any serious tumult or sedition they called
the Roman citizens to arms in these words, "Let those who wish to save
the republic follow me"--by which they easily checked it.
Although their authority was very much impaired, first by the tribunes
of the people, and afterwards upon the establishment of the empire, yet
they were still employed in consulting the senate, administering
justice, managing public games and the like, and had the honor to
characterize the year by their own names.
To be a candidate for the consulship, it was requisite to be forty-three
years of age: to have gone through the inferior offices of _quaestor_,
_aedile_, and _praetor_--and to be present in a private station.
The office of praetor was instituted partly because the consuls being
often wholly taken up with foreign wars, found the want of some person
to administer justice in the city; and partly because the nobility,
having lost their appropriation of the consulship, were ambitious of
obtaining some new honor in its room. He was attended in the city by two
_lictors_, who went before him with the _fasces_, and six _lictors_
without the city; he wore also, like the consuls, the _toga pretexta_,
or white robe fringed with purple.
The power of the praetor, in the administration of justice, was expressed
in three words, _do_, _dico_, _addico_. By the word _do_, he expressed
his power in giving the form of a writ for trying and redressing a
wrong, and in appointing judges or jury to decide the cause: by _dico_,
he meant that he declared right, or gave judgment; and by _addico_, that
he adjudged the goods of the debtor to the creditor. The praetor
administered justice only in private or trivial cases: but in public and
important causes, the people either judged themselves, or appointed
persons called _quaesitores_ to preside.
The _censors_ were appointed to take an account of the number of the
people, and the value of their fortunes, and superintend the public
morals. They were usually chosen from the most respectable persons of
consular dignity, at first only from among the Patricians, but
afterwards likewise from the Plebeians.
They had the same ensigns as the consuls, except the _lictors_, and were
chosen every five years, but continued in office only a year and a half.
When any of the senators or equites committed a dishonorable action, the
censors could erase the name of the former from the list, and deprive
the knight of his horse and ring; any other citizen, they degraded or
deprived of all the privileges of a Roman citizen, except liberty.
As the sentence of censors (_Animadversio Censoria_,) only affected a
person's character, it was therefore properly called _Ignominia_. Yet
even this was not unchangeable; the people or next censors might reverse
it.
In addition to the revision of morals, censors had the charge of paving
the streets--making roads, bridges, and aqueducts--preventing private
persons from occupying public property--and frequently of imposing
taxes.
A census was taken by these officers, every five years, of the number of
the people, the amount of their fortunes, the number of slaves, &c.
After this census had been taken, a sacrifice was made of a sow, a
sheep, and a bull--hence called _suove-taurilia_. As this took place
only every five years, that space of time was called a _lustrum_,
because the sacrifice was a lustration offered for all the people; and
therefore _condere lustrum_, means to finish the census.
The title of censor was esteemed more honorable than that of consul,
although attended by less power: no one could be elected a second time,
and they who filled it were remarkable for leading an irreproachable
life; so that it was considered the chief ornament of nobility to be
sprung from a censorian family.
The appointment of tribunes of the people, may be attributed to the
following cause; the Plebeians being oppressed by the Patricians, on
account of debt, made a secession to a mountain afterwards called _mons
sacer_, three miles from Rome, nor could they be prevailed on to return,
till they obtained from the Patricians a remission of debts for those
who were insolvent, and liberty to such as had been given up to serve
their creditors: and likewise that the Plebeians should have proper
magistrates of their own, to protect their rights, whose person should
be sacred and inviolable.
They were at first five in number, but afterwards increased to ten; they
had no external mark of dignity, except a kind of beadle, called
_viator_, who went before them.
The word _veto_, I forbid it, was at first the extent of their power;
but it afterwards increased to such a degree, that under pretence of
defending the rights of the people, they did almost whatever they
pleased. If any one hurt a tribune in word or deed, he was held
accursed, and his property confiscated.
The _ediles_ were so called from their care of the public buildings;
they were either Plebeian or _curule_; the former, two in number, were
appointed to be, as it were, the assistants of the tribunes of the
commons, and to determine certain lesser causes committed to them; the
latter, also two in number, were chosen from the Patricians and
Plebeians, to exhibit certain public games.
The _quaestors_ were officers elected by the people, to take care of the
public revenues; there were at first only two of them, but two others
were afterwards added to accompany the armies; and upon the conquest of
all Italy, four more were created, who remained in the provinces.
The principal charge of the city quaestors was the care of the treasury;
they received and expended the public money, and exacted the fines
imposed by the people: they kept the military standards, entertained
foreign ambassadors, and took charge of the funerals of those who were
buried at the public expense.
Commanders returning from war, before they could obtain a triumph, were
obliged to take an oath before the quaestors, that they had written to
the senate a true account of the number of the enemy they had slain, and
of the citizens who were missing.
The office of the provincial quaestors was to attend the consuls or
praetors into their provinces; to furnish the provisions and pay for the
army; to exact the taxes and tribute of the empire, and sell the spoils
taken in war.
The quaestorship was the first step of preferment to the other public
offices, and to admission into the senate: its continuation was for but
one year, and no one could be a candidate for it until he had completed
his twenty-seventh year.
_Legati_ were those next in authority to the quaestors, and appointed
either by the senate or president of the province, who was then said to
_aliquem sibi legare_.
The office of the legati was very dignified and honorable. They acted as
lieutenants or deputies in any business for which they were appointed,
and were sometimes allowed the honor of lictors.
The _dictator_ was a magistrate invested with royal authority, created
in perilous circumstances, in time of pestilence, sedition, or when the
commonwealth was attacked by dangerous enemies.
His power was supreme both in peace and war, and was even above the
laws; he could raise and disband armies, and determine upon the life and
fortune of Roman citizens, without consulting the senate or people; when
he was appointed, all other magistrates resigned their offices except
the tribunes of the commons.
The dictator could continue in office only six months; but he usually
resigned when he had effected the business for which he had been
created. He was neither permitted to go out of Italy, nor ride on
horseback, without the permission of the people; but the principal check
against any abuse of power, was that he might be called to an account
for his conduct, when he resigned his office.
A master of horse was nominated by the dictator immediately after his
creation, usually from those of consular or praetorian rank, whose office
was to command the cavalry, and execute the orders of the dictator.
The _decemviri_ were ten men invested with supreme power, who were
appointed to draw up a code of laws, all the other magistrates having
first resigned their offices.
They at first behaved with great moderation, and administered justice to
the people every tenth day. Ten tables of laws were proposed by them,
and ratified by the people at the _comitia centuriata_.
As two other tables seemed to be wanting, _decemviri_ were again
appointed for another year, to make them. But as these new magistrates
acted tyrannically, and seemed disposed to retain their command beyond
the legal time, they were compelled to resign, chiefly on account of the
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.
The consuls and all the chief magistrates, except the censors and the
tribunes of the people, were preceded in public by a certain number,
according to their rank of office, called lictors, each bearing on his
shoulders as the insignia of office, the _fasces_ and _securis_, which
were a bundle of rods, with an axe in the centre of one end; but the
lictors in attendance on an inferior magistrate, carried the _fasces_
only, without the axe, to denote that he was not possessed of the power
of capital punishments.
They opened a way through the crowd for the consul, saying words like
these--"_cedite, Consul venit_," or "_date viam Consuli_." It was their
duty also to inflict punishment on the condemned.