being alone invested by Tiberius with this command, increased its influence; (vim præfecturæ modicum antea intendit), by collecting the prætorian cohorts, formerly dispersed through the city, into one camp, Tacit. Ann. iv. 2. Suet. Tib. 37.

The præfect of the prætorian bands was, under the succeeding emperors, made the instrument of their tyranny, and therefore that office was conferred on none but those whom they could entirely trust.

They always attended the emperor to execute his commands: Hence their power became so great, that it was little inferior to that of the emperor himself, (ut non multum abfuerit a principatu ; munus proximum vel alterum ab Augusti imperio, Victor. de Cæs. 9.) Trials and appeals were brought before them; and from their sentence there was no appeal, unless by way of supplication to the emperor.

The Prætorian præfect was appointed to his office by the emperor's delivering to him a sword, Plin. Peneg. 67. Herod. iii. 2. Dio. Ixviii. 33.

Sometimes there was but one præfect, and sometimes two. Constantine created four præfecti prætorio: But he changed their of fice very much from its original institution; for he made it a civil instead of a military office, and divided among them the care of the whole empire. To one he gave the command of the east; to another of Illyricum; to a third of Italy and Africa; and to a fourth, of Gaul, Spain, and Britain; but he took from them the command of the soldiers, and transferred that to officers, who were called magistri equitum.

Under each of these præfecti prætorio were several substitutes (vicarii,) who had the charge of certain districts, which were called DIOCESES; and the chief city in each of these, where they held their courts, was called METROPOLIS. Each diecésis might contain several metropoles; and each metropolis had several cities under it. But Cicero uses DIOECESIS for the part of a province; ad Attic. v. 21. Fam. iii. 8. xiii. 53. 67. and calls himself EPISCOPUS, inspector or governor of the Campanian coast, as of a diœcesis, ad Att. vii. 11.

III. PRÆFECTUS ANNONÆ, vel rei frumentaria, who had the charge of procuring corn.

A migistrate used to be created for that purpose on extraordinary occasions under the republic: thus L. Minutius, Liv. iv. 12. and so afterwards Pompey with greater power; (omnis potestas rei frumentaria toto orbe in quinquennium ei data est), Cic. Att. iv. 1. Dio. xxxix. 9. Liv. Epit. 104. Plin. Pan. 29. In the time of a great scarcity, Augustus himself undertook the charge

of providing corn, (præfecturam annona suscepit), and ordained, that for the future two men of prætorian dignity should be annually elected to discharge that office, Dio. liv. 1. afterwards he appointed four, ibid. 17. and thus it became an ordinary magistracy. But usually there seems to have been but one præfectus annonce: it was at first an office of great dignity, Tacit. Ann. i. 7. xi. 31. Hist. iv. 68. but not so in after times, Boeth. de Consol. Phil. iii.

IV. PRÆFECTUS MILITARIS ERARII; a person who had charge of the public fund, which Augustus instituted for the support of the army, (ærarium militare cum novis vectigalibus ad tuendos prosequendos que milites, Suet. Aug. 49.)

V. PRÆFECTUS CLASSIS, admiral of the fleet. Augustus equipped two fleets; which he stationed, (constituit), the one at Ravenna on the Hadriatic, and the other at Misena or -um on the Tuscan sea. Each of these had its own proper commander, (præfectus classis Ravennatis, Tacit. Hist. iii. 12. et præfectus classis Misenatium, Veget. iv. 32.) There were also ships stationed in other places; as, in the Pontus Euxinus, Tacit. Hist. ii. 83. near Alexandria, Suet. Aug. 98. on the Rhine, Flor. iv. 12. and Danube, Tacit. Annal. xiii. 30. &c.

VI. PRÆFECTUS VIGILUM; the officer who commanded the soldiers who were appointed to watch the city. Of these there were seven cohorts, one for every two wards, (una cohors binis regionibus,) composed chiefly of manumitted slaves, (libertino milite). Suet. Aug 25. and 30. Those, who guarded adjoining houses in the night time, carried each of them a bell, (xwdwv, tintinnabulum), to give the alarm to one another, when any thing happened, Dio. liv. 4.

The præfectus vigilum took cognizance of incendiaries, thieves, vagrants, and the like; and if any atrocious case happened, it was remitted to the præfect of the city.

There were various other magistrates in the latter times of the empire, called Comites, Correctores, Duces, Magistri Officiorum, Scriniorum, &c. who were honoured with various epithets according to their different degrees of dignity; as. Clarissimi, illustres, spectabiles, egregii, perfectissimi, &c. The highest title was, noblissimus and gloriosissimus.

EXTRAORDINARY MAGISTRATES.

I. DICTATOR and MASTER of HORSE.

THE HE dictator was so called, either because he was named by the consul, (quod a consule diceretur, cui dicto omnes audientes essent, Varro de Lat. ling. iv. 14.) or rather from his publishing edicts or orders, (a dictando, quod multo dictaret, i. e. ediceret: ei homines pro legibus haberent que diceret, Suet. Jul. 77.) He was also called magister populi, Sen. Epist. 108. and prætor maximus, Liv. vii. 3.

This magistracy seems to have been borrowed from the Albans, or Latins, Liv. i. 23. Cic. pro Mil. 10.

It is uncertain who was first created dictator, or in what year. Livy says, that T. Lartius was first created dictator, A. U. 233, nine years after the expulsion of the kings, ibid.

As

The first cause of creating a dictator was the fear of a domestic sedition, and of a dangerous war from the Latins. the authority of the consuls was not sufficiently respected on account of the liberty of appeal from them, it was judged proper, in dangerous conjunctures, to create a single magistrate with absolute power, from whom there should be no appeal, Liv. ii. 18. 29. iii. 20. Cic. de Leg. iii. 3. and who should not be restrained by the interposition of a colleague, Dionys. v. 70. &c. A dictator was afterwards created also for other causes :

As, 1. For fixing a nail (clavi figendi vel pangendi causâ) in the right side of the temple of Jupiter, which is supposed to have been done in those rude ages, (cum literæ erant raræ,) to mark the number of years. This was commonly done by the ordinary magistrates; but in the time of a pestilence, or of any great public calamity, a dictator was created for that purpose, (quia majus imperium erat,) to avert the divine wrath, Liv. vii. 3.

viii. 13.

2. For holding the comitia, Liv. viii. 23. ix. 7. xxv. 2.

3. For the sake of instituting holidays, Id. vii. 28. or of celebrating games, when the prætor was indisposed, Liv. viii. 40.

ix. 34.

4. For holding trials, (quæstionibus exercendis), Id. ix. 26.

And 5. Once for choosing senators, (qui senatum legeret), on which occasion there were two dictators, one at Rome, and another commanding an army, which never was the case at any other time, Liv. xxiii. 22. &c.

The dictator was not created by the suffrages of the people, as the other magistrates; but one of the consuls, by order of the

senate, named as dictator whatever person of consular dignity he thought proper; and this he did, after having taken the auspices, usually in the dead of the night, (noctis silentio, ut mos est,\ dictutorem dixit,) Liv. ix. 38. viii. 23. Dionys. x. 23. (post mediam noctem), Fest. in vocc. SILENTIO, SINISTRUM, et SOLIDA SElla. One of the military tribunes also could name a dictator; about which Livy informs us there was some scruple, iv. 31.

A dictator might be nominated out of Rome, provided it was in the Roman territory, which was limited to Italy.

Sometimes the people gave directions whom the consul should name dictator, Liv. xxvii. 5.

Sulla and Cæsar were made dictators at the comitia, an interrex presiding at the creation of the former, and Lepidus the prætor at the creation of the latter, Cic. pro Rull. iii. 2. Cæs. bel. civ. ii. 19. Dio. xli. 36.

In the second Punic war, A. U. 536, after the destruction of. the Consul Flaminius and his army at the Thrasimene lake, when the other consul was absent from Rome, and word could not easily be sent to him, the people created Q. Fabius Maximus PRODICTATOR, and M. Minucius Rufus master of horse, Liv. xxii. 8. & 31..

The power of the dictator was supreme both in peace and war. He could raise and disband armies; he could determine on the life and fortunes of Roman citizens, without consulting the people or senate. His edict was observed as an oracle (pro numine observatum), Liv. viii. 34. At first there was no appeal from him, till a law was passed, that no magistrate should be created without the liberty of appeal, (sine provocatione), first by the Consuls Horatius and Valerius, A. U. 304. Liv. iii. 55. and afterwards by the Consul M. Valerius, A. U. 453, Liv. x. 9. Festus in voc. OPTIMA LEX. But the force of this law with respect to the dictator is doubtful. It was once strongly contested, Liv. viii. 33. but never finally decided.

The dictator was attended by twenty-four lictors with the fasces and secures even in the city, Liv. ii. 18. so that Livy justly calls imperium dictatoris, suo ingenio vehemens, ii. 30.

When a dictator was created, all the other magistrates abdicated their authority, except the tribunes of the commons, Polyb. iii. 87. The consuls however still continued to act, Liv. iv. 27. but in obedience to the dictator, and without any ensigns of authority in bis presence, Liv. xxii. 11.

The power of the dictator was circumscribed by certain limits.

1. It only continued for the space of six months, (semestris dictatura), Liv. ix. 34. even although the business for which he had.

been created was not finished; and was never prolonged beyond that time, except in extreme necessity, as in the case of Camillus, Liv. vi. 1. For Sulla and Cæsar usurped their perpetual dictatorship, in contempt of the laws of their country.

But the dictator usually resigned his command whenever he had effected the business for which he had been created. Thus Q. Cincinnatus and Mamercus Emilius abdicated the dictatorship on the 16th day, Liv. iii. 29. iv. 34. Q. Servilius on the eighth day, Id. iv. 47. &c.

2. The dictator could lay out none of the public money, without the authority of the senate, or the order of the people.

3. A dictator was not permitted to go out of Italy; which was only once violated, and that on account of the most urgent necessity, in Atilius Calatinus, Liv. epit. xix.

4. The dictator was not allowed to ride on horseback, without asking the permission of the people, Liv. xxiii. 14. to show, as it is thought, that the chief strength of the Roman army consisted in the infantry; or by limiting the rapidity of his movements, to restrain a spirit of ambition.

But the principal check against a dictator's abuse of power was, that he might be called to an account for his conduct, when he resigned his office, Liv. vii. 4.

For 120 years before Sulla, the creation of a dictator was disused, but in dangerous emergencies the consuls were armed with dictatorial power. After the death of Cæsar, the dictatorship was for ever abolished, by a law of Antony the consul, Cic. Phil. i. 1. And when Augustus was urged by the people to accept the dictatorship, he refused it with the strongest marks of aversion, (genu nixus, dejectâ ab humeris togû, nudo pectore, deprecatus est), Suet. Aug. 52. Possessed of the power, he wisely declined an odious appellation, Dio. liv. 1. For ever since the usurpation of Sulla, the dictatorship was detested, on account of the cruelties which that tyrant had exercised under the title of dictator.

To allay the tumults which followed the murder of Clodius by Milo, in place of a dictator, Pompey was by an unprecedented measure made sole consul, A. U. 702, Dio. xl. 50. He, however, on the first of August, assumed Scipio, his father-in-law, as colleague, Dio. xl. 51.

When a dictator was created, he immediately nominated (dixit) a master of horse, (MAGISTER EQUITUM), usually from those of consular or prætorian dignity, whose proper office was to command the cavalry, and also to execute the orders of the dictator. M. Fabius Buteo, the dictator nominated to choose the senate, had no master of horse.