LĒGĀTUM, a part of the hereditas which a testator gives out of it,
from the heres (_ab herede_); that is, it is a gift to a person out
of that whole (_universum_) which is diminished to the heres by
such gift. There were several laws limiting the amount of property
which a person might give in legacies; and it was at last fixed by
the Lex Falcidia (B.C. 40), that he should not bequeath more than
three-fourths of his property in legacies, and thus a fourth was left
to the heres. By the Law of the Twelve Tables a man could dispose
of his property as he pleased, and he might exhaust (_erogare_) the
whole hereditas by legacies and bequests of freedom to slaves, so as
to leave the heres nothing. The consequence was that in such cases
the scripti heredes refused to take the hereditas, and there was of
course an intestacy. Legata were inutilia or void, if they were given
before a heres was instituted by the will, for the will derived all
its legal efficacy from such institution; there was the same rule as
to a gift of freedom.
LĒGĀTUS, from _lego_, a person commissioned or deputed to do certain
things. They may be divided into three classes:--1. Legati or
ambassadors sent to Rome by foreign nations; 2. Legati or ambassadors
sent from Rome to foreign nations and into the provinces; 3. Legati
who accompanied the Roman generals into the field, or the proconsuls
and praetors into the provinces. 1. Foreign legati at Rome, from
whatever country they came, had to go to the temple of Saturn, and
deposit their names with the quaestors. Previous to their admission
into the city, foreign ambassadors seem to have been obliged to give
notice from what nation they came and for what purpose; for several
instances are mentioned, in which ambassadors were prohibited from
entering the city, especially in case of a war between Rome and the
state from which they came. In such cases the ambassadors were either
not heard at all, and obliged to quit Italy, or an audience was given
to them by the senate (_senatus legatis datur_) outside the city,
in the temple of Bellona. This was evidently a sign of mistrust,
but the ambassadors were nevertheless treated as public guests, and
some public villa outside the city was sometimes assigned for their
reception. In other cases, however, as soon as the report of the
landing of foreign ambassadors on the coast of Italy was brought to
Rome, especially if they were persons of great distinction, or if
they came from an ally of the Roman people, some one of the inferior
magistrates, or a legatus of a consul, was despatched by the senate
to receive, and conduct them to the city at the expense of the
republic. When they were introduced into the senate by the praetor
or consul, they first explained what they had to communicate, and
then the praetor invited the senators to put their questions to the
ambassadors. The whole transaction was carried on by interpreters,
and in the Latin language. [INTERPRES.] After the ambassadors had
thus been examined, they were requested to leave the assembly of the
senate, who now began to discuss the subject brought before them. The
result was communicated to the ambassadors by the praetor. In some
cases ambassadors not only received rich presents on their departure,
but were at the command of the senate conducted by a magistrate, and
at the public expense, to the frontier of Italy, and even farther.
By the Lex Gabinia it was decreed, that from the 1st of February
to the 1st of March, the senate should every day give audience to
foreign ambassadors. There was a place on the right-hand side of
the senate-house, called Graecostasis, in which foreign ambassadors
waited. All ambassadors, whencesoever they came, were considered by
the Romans throughout the whole period of their existence as sacred
and inviolable. 2. Legati to foreign nations in the name of the Roman
republic were always sent by the senate; and to be appointed to such
a mission was considered a great honour, which was conferred only
on men of high rank or eminence: for a Roman ambassador had the
powers of a magistrate and the venerable character of a priest. If
a Roman during the performance of his mission as ambassador died or
was killed, his memory was honoured by the republic with a public
sepulchre and a statue in the Rostra. The expenses during the journey
of an ambassador were, of course, paid by the republic; and when he
travelled through a province, the provincials had to supply him with
every thing he wanted. 3. The third class of legati, to whom the name
of ambassadors cannot be applied, were persons who accompanied the
Roman generals on their expeditions, and in later times the governors
of provinces also. They are mentioned at a very early period as
serving along with the tribunes, under the consuls. They were
nominated (_legabantur_) by the consul or the dictator under whom
they served, but the sanction of the senate was an essential point,
without which no one could be legally considered a legatus. The
persons appointed to this office were usually men of great military
talents, and it was their duty to advise and assist their superior
in all his undertakings, and to act in his stead both in civil
and military affairs. The legati were thus always men in whom the
consul placed great confidence, and were frequently his friends or
relations: but they had no power independent of the command of their
general. Their number varied according to the greatness or importance
of the war, or the extent of the province: three is the smallest
number that we know of, but Pompey, when in Asia, had fifteen legati.
Whenever the consuls were absent from the army, or when a proconsul
left his province, the legati or one of them took his place, and then
had the insignia as well as the power of his superior. He was in
this case called legatus pro praetore, and hence we sometimes read
that a man governed a province as legatus without any mention being
made of the proconsul whose vicegerent he was. During the latter
period of the republic, it sometimes happened that a consul carried
on a war, or a proconsul governed his province, through his legati,
while he himself remained at Rome, or conducted some other more
urgent affairs. When the provinces were divided at the time of the
empire [PROVINCIA], those of the Roman people were governed by men
who had been either consuls or praetors, and the former were always
accompanied by three legati, the latter by one. The provinces of the
emperor, who was himself the proconsul, were governed by persons whom
the emperor himself appointed, and who had been consuls or praetors,
or were at least senators. These vicegerents of the emperor were
called _legati augusti pro praetore_, _legati praetorii_, _legati
consulares_, or simply _legati_, and they, like the governors of
the provinces of the Roman people, had one or three legati as their
assistants. During the latter period of the republic it had become
customary for senators to obtain from the senate the permission
to travel through or stay in any province at the expense of the
provincials, merely for the purpose of managing and conducting their
own personal affairs. There was no restraint as to the length of time
the senators were allowed to avail themselves of this privilege,
which was a heavy burden upon the provincials. This mode of
sojourning in a province was called _legatio libera_, because those
who availed themselves of it enjoyed all the privileges of a public
legatus or ambassador, without having any of his duties to perform.
At the time of Cicero the privilege of legatio libera was abused to
a very great extent. Cicero, therefore, in his consulship (B.C. 63)
endeavoured to put an end to it, but, owing to the opposition of a
tribune, he only succeeded in limiting the time of its duration to
one year. Julius Caesar afterwards extended the time during which a
senator might avail himself of the legatio libera to five years.