possessing the imperium (usually the Consul), or by the tribunes of the people (tribuni plebis): the magistrate who summoned it also presided, and laid before it (referre) the business for which it was convened. He might at this point give his own judgment. He then proceeded to ask (rogare) the Senators individually their opinions (sententiae). The order was to ask in their turns the consulares, praetorii, and aedilicii (that is, those who sat in the Senate by virtue of having held these offices respectively). It has been disputed whether the senatores pedarii—i.e. those who had held no curule office- had the ius sententiae, or right to debate. There are, however, numerous instances of their having taken part in discussion. If the annual election had already taken place, — which was usually in July, six months before the new magistrates assumed their offices, the magistrates elect (designati) were called upon before their several classes. The princeps Senatus (see note, Cat. iii., sect. 10) was called upon first of all, when there were no consules designati. The presiding officer, however, had it in his power to vary the order, and honor or slight any Senator by calling upon him extra ordinem. For a deliberative oration, delivered in the Senate, see Catiline iv.

As the Senate was primarily a body of councillors, its business was as a rule laid before it in general terms, not in any special form for action: each Senator could, as he chose, give his judgment in full, by argument (sententiam dicere), or by simply expressing his assent to the judgment of another (verbo adsentiri). No Senator had a right to introduce any matter formally by motion, as with us, but it was possible for a Senator, when called on, to give his opinion on any subject not included in the questions referred. The vote was taken by a division (discessio), i.e. the Senators went to one side or the other of the house. When a majority had decided in favor of any sententia, it was written out in proper form by the secretaries (scribae), under the direction of the presiding magistrate, in the presence of some of its principal supporters (adesse scribundo), and promulgated. An example of a formal resolution of the Senate is contained in the last chapter of Cicero's Fourteenth Philippic.

IV. THE EXECUTIVE

THE CONSULS. After the expulsion of the kings, their absolute authority (imperium), both in peace and war, was vested in two Consuls (originally praetores). Gradually, however, these autocratic powers were limited by various checks, so that in one sense a Consul had no more power than the president of a modern republic. He could, it is true, do anything in his year of office without lawful question from anybody; yet, as he could be called to account at the end of his term, any violation of the constitution

was extremely dangerous. Particularly was this true in regard to objections from any one of the ten tribunes.1 The danger of transgressing this limitation was so immediate that it was rarely incurred, and practically in almost all cases the " veto (intercessio) of a tribune was sufficient to stop any action on the part of the curule magistrates. Another limitation on the consular power came from the curious Roman arrangement of co-ordinate magistrates or "colleagues." The objection of one consul was sufficient to annul any act of the other. This principle also applied to other magistracies, so that the wheels of government could be stopped by any colleague of equal rank. To override such an objection was an act of unconstitutional violence, which, however, was often practised when public opinion could be relied on to sustain the illegal action. In practice, the two consuls either took turns in the administration (sometimes alternating month by month) or agreed upon a division of functions.

The consuls were regularly elected in July and entered upon their office on the first day of the following January. They possessed two kinds of authority, potestas, or power in general (which all magistrates had in some degree), and imperium,2 military or sovereign power, as of a general in the field. This imperium was originally exercised by the consuls, not only in the army but in the city, so that they had absolute authority of life or death; but this was limited, early in the history of the republic, by the Lex Valeria, which gave every citizen the right of appeal (ius provocationis) to the comitia centuriata (see p. 52, above) against a sentence of capital or corporal punishment, and later by the Lex Porcia, which forbade the scourging of citizens. By the Lex Sempronia of Caius Gracchus the right of appeal in capital cases was established even against the military imperium. In other respects, however, the military imperium remained practically absolute, but it could not be exercised inside the walls, except by virtue of the senatus consultum, “ Dent operam consules ne quid res publica detrimenti capiat," which revived the ancient powers of the consuls and was equivalent to a declaration of martial law. After the Sullan reforms (B.C. 80) the consuls did not receive the military imperium until their year of office had expired and they were about to set out for their provinces.5 The civil powers of the consuls were analogous to those of any chief

1 See p. 60.

2 Of the other regular magistrates only the prætors possessed the imperium (see p. 57). The imperium was formally conferred on the consuls by the comitia curiata (see p. 54).

8 Orations and Letters, p. 61.

4 See note on Cat. i., sect. 2 (p. 100, l. 12).

5 See p. 59.

magistrate. Most important among them were the right to call together, consult, and preside over the Senate, and the right to convene the comitia centuriata and preside over the election of the higher curule magistrates. For the consular auspicia, see p. 61, below.

PRÆTORS. Praetor was the original Italic title of the consuls, but, as the result of the agitation for the Licinian Laws, in B.C. 366, a special magistrate of that name was elected "who administered justice, a colleague of the consuls and elected under the same auspices." Gradually other prætors were added, until in the time of Cicero there were eight. They were essentially judicial officers, and their functions were assigned by lot.2 As curule magistrates, however, they could on occasion command armies or assist the consuls in emergencies (see Cat. iii. 5), and were assigned as proprætors to provinces abroad after their year of office. Like the consuls, they were regularly elected at the comitia centuriata in July and began to serve on the first of the following January.

QUÆSTORS. The quæstors (quaestores), or public treasurers, were in Cicero's time twenty in number. Two (called quaestores urbani) had charge of the treasury and archives at Rome, while the others were assigned to the several military commanders and provincial governors, to serve as quartermasters and paymasters. The quæstors entered upon office on Dec. 5, when they drew lots to determine their respective places of service.1

CURSUS HONORUM. - No one could be chosen prætor until he had been quæstor, or consul until he had been prætor. These three magistracies, then, formed a career of office the so-called cursus honorum which it was the aim of every ambitious Roman to complete as soon as possible. To be elected quæstor a man had to be at least 30 years old, and the lowest legal ages for the prætorship and the consulship were 40 and 43 respectively. The consulship could in no case be held until three years after the prætorship. Consuls and prætors were curule magistrates, but this was not the case with the quæstor. The office of curule ædile (see below) was often held between the quæstorship and the prætorship, but it was not a necessary grade in the cursus honorum. The minimum age for this office was the twenty-seventh year.

1 He was, however, inferior in rank to the consul, who had maior potestas.

2 See p. 63.

3 See p. 59.

4 They were originally appointed by the consuls, but in Cicero's time were elected by the comitia tributa. The practical management of the treasury was with the clerks (scribae quaestorii), as in our modern civil service. These formed a permanent and powerful corporation. Cf. Cat. iv., sect. 15 (p. 149, ll. 10, 11).

5 In the time of the Gracchi the age was 27.

ÆDILES. The ædiles (from aedes, a temple) were four magistrates, who had the general superintendence of the police of the city, criminal jurisdiction with the power of imposing fines, the care of the games, public buildings, etc. They did not form a board (collegium), but were of two grades, two being necessarily plebeians, while the other two, the curule adiles, who ranked with the higher magistrates, might be patricians. The ædileship was not a necessary step in a political career, but it was eagerly sought, between the quæstorship and the prætorship, by ambitious men, for the reason that the superintendence of the public games gave great opportunity for gaining popular favor. A certain sum was appropriated from the public treasury for these games; but an ædile who wished to rise to higher positions, and not to be thought mean, took care to add a good sum from his own pocket.1

LICTORS, INSIGNIA, etc. - The consuls and prætors were accompanied by special officers called lictors (lictores), who were at the same time a symbol of the supreme power and the immediate ministers of the will of the magistrates. They carried a bundle of rods and an axe bound together (the fasces),2 to inflict the punishment of flogging and death according to the regular Roman mode of execution. Each consul had twelve lictors, each prætor had six. After the right of appeal was established (see p. 56, above), the lictors did not carry the axe inside the city. Besides the "imperial" lictors, all magistrates were attended by ministers of various kinds, viatores (summoners), praecones (criers), and slaves. All the curule magistrates wore as a mark of authority the toga praetexta (white with a crimson border), and the latus clavus (or broad stripe of crimson) on the front of the tunic. As commanders of armies, they wore instead of the toga the paludamentum, a kind of cloak entirely of crimson. In fact, the majesty of the law was symbolized in the most striking manner in the case of all magistrates except the tribunes, who, as champions of the plebs, wore no distinguishing dress, the quæstors and the plebeian ædiles. PROCONSULS and PROPRÆTORS. All the magistrates so far mentioned were elected annually. When it was desired to retain the services of a consul or a prætor after his term had expired, his imperium was extended (prorogatum) by the Senate, and he was known as a proconsul or proprætor. It was only the military imperium that was thus prorogued, not the civil

1 Cf. Impeachment of Verres, sects. 37-40 (Orations and Letters, pp. 41, 42); Plunder of Syracuse, sect. 19 (Orations and Letters, p. 58, 11. 2-5).

2 See Fig. 8, p. 188, below.

8 See p. 60.

4 Sometimes a private citizen was invested with the imperium and called proconsul (see Manil. Law, sect. 62).

power. Thus the proconsul had no authority within the city, and could not, like the consul, call together the Senate or an assembly of the people.

As the "state" grew, it became customary to commit the government of conquered provinces to proconsuls and proprætors, and to this end the prorogation of the imperium for a second year became regular. After the time of Sulla, all provinces were so governed,1 one of his laws providing that the consuls and prætors should set out for their provinces immediately on the expiration of their term of office in the city. No difference was made between the power of a proconsul and that of a proprætor... Both officers had the full military and civil command and were almost absolute monarchs, except for their liability to be afterwards called to account (cf. p. 55, above). Their opportunities for plunder were almost unlimited. Their power, however, did not extend to the city itself, in which they were mere private citizens. Hence it often happened that a commander,, on returning from his province, remained outside the city so as to retain his military imperium for some reason or other.

CENSORS.

- The censors (censores) were two in number, elected from men of consular dignity (consulares), originally at a minimum interval of four years, afterwards once in five years, the interval called a lustrum,and holding office for eighteen months. They ranked as magistratus maiores, but did not possess the imperium, and had no power to convene either the Senate or an assembly of the people. Their functions were (1) to inspect the registry of citizens of every class and order; (2) to punish immorality, by removal from the Senate, the equestrian centuries, or the Tribe (nota censoria, infamia, ignominia); (3) to superintend the finances (giving out contracts for collecting the revenues) and the public works. In the intervals of the censorship, these last were under the care of the ædiles (see p. 58, above). Sulla tactily abolished the office of censor, but it was revived in the consulship of Pompey and Crassus, B.C. 70.

The property registration, of which the censors had charge, was called census, and on it depended not only taxation but the position of a citizen in the centuriae (see p. 53, above, on the comitia centuriata). The classes under the census were divided as follows:

1 After the Sullan reforms (B.C. 80) the military imperium was not enjoyed by the consuls and prætors until their year of civil magistracy had expired.

2 This arrangement was changed by a law of Pompey (B.C. 52) which provided that five years should intervene between the magistracy and the provincial government. See Life of Cicero, p. 21, above.

3 Cf. Impeachment of Verres.