MĂGISTRĀTUS was a person _qui juri dicundo praeerat_. The King was
originally the sole Magistratus; he had all the Potestas. On the
expulsion of the Kings, two Consuls were annually appointed, and they
were Magistratus. In course of time other Magistratus were appointed;
namely, dictators, censors, praetors, aediles, tribunes of the plebs,
and the decemviri litibus judicandis. The governors of provinces with
the title of propraetor or proconsul were also Magistratus. The word
Magistratus contains the same element as _mag(ister)_ and _mag(nus)_;
and it signifies both the person and the office, as we see in the
phrase _se magistratu abdicare_. The auspicia maxima belonged to the
consuls, praetors, and censors, and the minora auspicia to the other
magistrates; accordingly the consuls, praetors, and censors were
called _Majores_, and they were elected at the comitia centuriata;
the other magistratus were called _Minores_. The former had the
imperium, the latter had not. The magistratus were also divided into
curules and those who were not curules: the magistratus curules were
the dictator, consuls, praetors, censors, and the curule aediles,
who were so called, because they had the jus sellae curulis. The
magistrates were chosen only from the patricians in the early
republic, but in course of time the plebeians shared these honours,
with the exception of that of the Interrex: the plebeian magistratus,
properly so called, were the plebeian aediles and the tribuni plebis.
MAJESTAS pretty nearly corresponds to treason in English law; but
all the offences included under majestas comprehend more than the
English treason. One of the offences included in majestas was the
effecting, aiding in, or planning the death of a magistratus populi
Romani, or of one who had imperium or potestas. Though the phrase
_crimen majestatis_ was used, the complete expression was _crimen
laesae_, _imminutae_, _diminutae_, or _minutae majestatis_. The word
majestas, consistently with its relation to _mag(nus)_, signifies
the magnitude or greatness of a thing. Accordingly, the phrases
_majestas populi Romani_, _imperii majestas_, signify the whole of
that which constituted the Roman state; in other words, the sovereign
power of the Roman state. The expression _minuere majestatem_
consequently signifies any act by which this majestas is impaired.
In the republican period the term _majestas laesa_ or _minuta_ was
most commonly applied to cases of a general betraying or surrendering
his army to the enemy, exciting sedition, and generally by his bad
conduct in administration impairing the majestas of the state. The
old punishment of majestas was perpetual interdiction from fire and
water. In the later imperial period, persons of low condition were
thrown to wild beasts, or burnt alive; persons of better condition
were simply put to death. In the early times of the republic, every
act of a citizen which was injurious to the state or its peace was
called _perduellio_, and the offender (_perduellis_) was tried before
the populus (_populi judicio_), and, if convicted, put to death.
_Perduellis_ originally signified _hostis_; and thus the old offence
of perduellio was equivalent to making war on the Roman state. The
trial for perduellio (_perduellionis judicium_) existed to the later
times of the republic; but the name seems to have almost fallen into
disuse, and various leges were passed for the purpose of determining
more accurately what should be majestas. These were a lex Apuleia,
probably passed in the fifth consulship of Marius, the exact contents
of which are unknown, a lex Varia B.C. 91, a lex Cornelia passed by
L. Cornelius Sulla, and the lex Julia, which continued under the
empire to be the fundamental enactment on this subject. This lex
Julia is by some attributed to C. Julius Caesar, and assigned to
the year B.C. 48. Under the empire the term majestas was applied to
the person of the reigning Caesar, and we find the phrases majestas
Augusta, imperatoria, and regia. It was, however, nothing new to
apply the term to the emperor, considered in some of his various
capacities, for it was applied to the magistratus under the republic,
as to the consul and praetor. Horace even addresses Augustus in the
terms _majestas tua_, but this can hardly be viewed otherwise than as
a personal compliment, and not as said with reference to any of the
offices which he held.
MALLĔŎLUS, a hammer, the transverse head of which was formed for
holding pitch and tow, which, having been set on fire, was projected
slowly, so that it might not be extinguished during its flight, upon
houses and other buildings in order to set them on fire: it was
therefore commonly used in sieges together with torches and falaricae.