Birmingham.
_"Salus populi," &c._ (Vol. viii., p. 410.).--The saying "Salus populi
supreme lex" is borrowed from the model law of Cicero, in his treatise _de
Legibus_, III. 3. It is made one of the duties of the consuls, the supreme
magistrates, to regard the safety of the state as their highest rule of
conduct:
"Regio imperio duo sunto; iique præeundo, judicando, consulendo
Prætores, Judices, Consules appellantor. Militiæ summum jus habento,
nemini parento: _ollis salus populi suprema lex esto_."
The allusion appears to be to the formula used by the senate for conferring
supreme power on the consuls in cases of emergency: "Dare operam, ne quid
respublica detrimenti caperet." (See Sallust, _Bell. Cat._ c. 29.)