ria nota), by their decree, which imposed an additional punishment, Liv. xxiv. 18. The office of censor was once exercised by a dictator, Liv. xxiii. 22, & 23. After Sylla, the election of censors was intermitted for about 17 years, Ascon. in Cic. When the censors acted improperly, they might be brought to a trial; as they sometimes were by a tribune of the commons, Liv. xxiv. 43. xliii. 15, 16. Nay, we find a tribune ordering a censor to be seized and led to prison, Id. ix. 34. and even to be thrown from the Tarpeian rock, Id. epit. 59. Plin. vii. 44. s. 45. but both were prevented by their colleagues, ibid. 43. S. 45. Two things were peculiar to the censors.-1. No one could be elected a second time to that office, according to the law of C. Martius Rutilus, who refused a second censorship when conferred on him, hence sirnamed CENSORINUS, Valer. Max. iv. 1.-2. If one of the censors died, another was not substituted in his room; but his surviving colleague was obliged to resign his office, Liv. xxiv. 43. xxvii. 6. The death of a censor was esteemed ominous, because it had happened that a censor died, and another was chosen in his place, in that lustrum in which Rome was taken by the Gauls, Liv. 31, vi. 27. The censors entered on their office immediately after their election. It was customary for them, when the comitia were over, to sit down on their curule chairs in the Campus Martius before the temple of Mars, Liv. xl. 45. Before they began to execute their office, they swore that they would do nothing through favour or hatred, but that they would act uprightly; and when they resigned their office, they swore that they had done so. Then going up to the treasury, (in ærarium ascendentes), they left a list of those whom they had made ararii, Liv. xxix. 37. A record of the proceedings of the censors (memoria publica recensionis, tabulis publicis impressa) was kept in the temple of the nymphs, Cic. pro Mil. 27. and is also said to have been preserved with great care by their descendants, Dionys. i. 74. One of the censors, to whom it fell by lot, Varr. Lat. L. v. 9. after the census was finished, offered a solemn sacrifice (lustrum condidit) in the Campus Martius. See, p. 82. The power of the censors continued unimpaired to the tribuneship of Clodius, A. U. 695, who got a law passed, ordering that no senator should be degraded by the censors, un less less he had been formally acccused and condemned by both censors, Dio. xxxviii. 13. but this law was abrogated, and the powers of the censorship restored soon after by Q. Metellus Scipio, A. U. 702. Ascon. in Cic. Dio. xl. 57. Under the emperors the office of censor was abolished; but the chief parts of it were exercised by emperors them-, selves, or by other magistrates. Julius Cæsar. made a review of the people (recensum populi egit), after a new manner, in the several streets, by means of the proprietors of the houses, (vicatim per dominos insularum), Suet. Jul. 41. but this was not a review of the whole Roman people, but only of the poorer sort, who received a monthly gratuity of corn from the public, ibid. which used to be given them in former times, first at a low price, Liv. ii. 34. and afterwards, by the law of Clodius, for nought, Cic. pro Sext. 25. Ascon. in Cic. Julius Cæsar was appointed by the senate to inspect the morals of the citizens for three years, Dio. xliii. 14. under the title of PRÆFECTUS MORUM vel moribus, Suet. Jul. 76. Cic. Fam. ix. 15. afterwards for life, under the title of censor, Dio. xliv. 5. A power similar to this seems to have been conferred on Pompey in his third consulship, (corrigendis moribus delectus), Tacit. Ann. ii. 28. Augustus thrice made a review of the people; the first and last time with a colleague, and the second time alone, Suet. Aug. 27. He was invested by the senate with the same censorian power as Julius Cæsar, repeatedly for five years, according to Dion Cassius, liii. 17. liv. 2. 10. & 3. according to Suetonius for life, (recepit et morum legumque regimen perpetuum), Suet. Aug. 27. under the title of MAGISTER MORUM, Fast. Hence Horace, Epist. ii. 1, Cons. Cum tot sustineas, ac tanta negotia solus, Augustus, however, declined the title of censor, Suet. 27. although he is so called by Macrobius, Sat. ii, 4. and Ovid says of him, sic agitur CENSURA, &c. Fast. vi. 647. Some of the succeeding emperors assumed this title, particularly those of the Flavian family, but most of them rejected it, as Trajan, Plin. Paneg. 45. after whom we rarely find it mentioned, Dio. liii. 18. Tiberius Tiberius thought the censorship unfit for his time, (non id tempus censura), Tacit. Ann. ii. 33. It was therefore intermitted during his government; as it was likewise during that of his successor. A review of the people was made by Claudius and L. Vitellius, the father of the emperor A. Vitellius, A. U. 800. Suet. Claud. 16. Vit. 2. by Vespasian and Titus, A. U. 827. Suet. Vesp. 8. Tit. 6. but never after. Censorinus de die nat. 18. says, that this review was made only seventy-five times during 650, or rather 630 years, from its first institution under Servius to the time of Vespasian; after which it was totally discontinued, ibid. Decius endeavoured to restore the censorship in the person of Valerian, but without effect. The corrupt morals of Rome at that period could not bear such a magistrate. Trebell. Pollio. in Valer. IV. TRIBUNES of the People. THE plebeians being oppressed by the patricians on account of debt, Liv. ii. 23. &c. at the instigation of one Sicinius, made a secession to a mountain afterwards called Mons Sacer, three miles from Rome, A. U. 260. ibid. 32. nor could they be prevailed on to return, till they obtained from the patricians a remission of debts for those who were insolvent, and liberty to such as had been given up to serve their creditors; and likewise that the plebeians should have proper magistrates of their own to protect their rights, whose persons should be sacred and inviolable, (sacrosancti), Liv. iii. 33. & 55. Dionys. vi. 89. They were called TRIBUNES, acccording to Varro, de Ling. Lat. l. iv. 14. because they were at first created from the tribunes of the soldiers. Two tribunes were at first created, Cic. pro. Corn. 1. at the assembly by curia, who, according to Livy, created three colleagues to themselves, ii. 33. In the year 283, they were first elected at the Comitia Tributa, c. 58. and A. U. 297. ten tribunes were created, Liv. iii. 30. two out of each class, which number continued ever after. No patrician could be made tribune, unless first adopted into a plebeian family, as was the case with Clodius the enemy enemy of Cicero, pro Dom. 16. Suet. Jul. 20. At one time, however, we find two particians of consular dignity elected tribunes, Liv. iii. 65. And no one could be made tribune or plebeian ædile, whose father had borne a curule office, and was alive, Liv. xxx. 19. nor whose father was a captive, xxviii. 21. The tribunes were at first chosen indiscriminately from among the plebeians; but it was ordained by the Atinian law, some think A. U. 623, that no one should be made tribune who was not a senator, Gell. xiv. 8. Suet. Aug. 10. And we read, that when there were no senatorian candidates, on account of the powers of that office being diminished, Augustus chose them from the Equites, Suet. Aug. 40. Dio. liv. 26. 30. But others think, that the Atinian law only ordained, that those who were made tribunes should of course be senators, and did not prescribe any restriction concerning their election. See Manutius de legg. It is certain, however, that under the emperors, no one but a senator had a right to stand candidate for the tribuneship, (jus tribunatûs petendi), Plin. Ep. ii. 9. One of the tribunes, chosen by lot, presided at the comitia for electing tribunes, Liv. iii. 64. which charge was called sors comitiorum, ibid. After the abdication of the decemviri, when there were no tribunes, the Pontifex Maximus presided at their election, c. 54. If the assembly was broken off (si comitia dirempta essent), before the ten tribunes were elected, those who were created might chuse (cooptare) colleagues for themselves to complete the number, c. 65. But a law was immediately passed by one Trebonius to prevent this for the future, which enacted, "That he who presided should con"tinue the comitia, and recall the tribes to give their votes, "till ten were elected, ibid. The tribunes always entered on their office the 10th of December, (ante diem quartum Idus Decembris), because the first tribunes were elected on that day, Liv. xxxix. 52. Dionys. vi. 89. In the time of Cicero, however, Asconius says, it was on the 5th (nomis Decembris), in proæm. Verr. 10. But this seems to have been so; for Cicero himself on that day calls Cato tribunus designatus, pro Sext. 28. The tribunes wore no toga pretexta, nor had they any external mark of dignity, except a kind of beadle, called viator, who went before them. It is thought they were not allowed to use a carriage, Cic. Phil. ii. 24. Plut. Quas. Rom. 81. When they administered justice, they had no tribunal, bút sat on on subsellia or benches, Ascon. in Cic. They had, however, on all occasions, a right of precedency; and every body was obliged to rise in their presence, Plin. Ep. i. 23. The power of the tribunes at first was very limited. It consisted in hindering, not in acting, Dionys. vii. 17. and was expressed by the word, VETO, I forbid it. They had only the right of seizing but not of summoning; (prehensionem, sed non vocationem habebant, Gell. xiii. 12. Their office was only to assist the plebeians against the patricians and magistrates; (Auxili, non pana jus datum ille potestati), Liv. ii. 35. vi. 37. Hence they were said, esse privati, sine imperio, sine magistratu, ii. 56. not being dignified with the name of magistrates, Plutarch. in Coriol. et Quæst. Rom. 81. as they were afterwards, Liv. iv. 2. Sall. Jug. 37. They were not See. p. 17. even allowed to enter the senate. But in process of time they increased their influence to such a degree, that under pretext of defending the rights of the people, they did almost whatever they pleased. They hindered the collection of tribute, Liv. v. 12. the enlisting of soldiers, iv. 1. and the creation of magistrates, which they did at one time for five years, Liv. vi. 35. They could put a negative (intercedere) upon all the decrees of the senate and ordinances of the people, Cic. pro Mil. 6. Liv. xlv. 21. Polyb. vi. 14. and a single tribune by his VETO, could stop the proceedings of all the other magistrates, which Cæsar calls extremum jus tribunorum, de Bell. Civ. i. 4. Liv. ii. 44. iv. 6. & 48. vi. 35. Such was the force of this word, that whoever did not obey it, whether magistrate or private person, was immediately ordered to be led to prison by a viator, or a day was appointed for his trial before the people, as a violator of the sacred power of the tribunes, the exercise of which it was a crime to restrain, (in ordinem cogere), Plin. Ep. i. 23. Liv. xxv. 3. 4. Plutarch. in Mario. They first began with bringing the chief of the patricians to their trial before the Comitia Tributa; as they did Coriolanus, Dionys. vii. 65. If any one hurt a tribune in word or deed, he was held accursed, (sacer), and his goods were confiscated, Liv. iii. 55. Dionys. vi. 89. vii. 17. Under the sanction of this law, they carried their power to an extravagant height. They claimed a right to prevent consuls from setting out to their provinces, Plutarch. in Croff. Dio. xxxix. 39. and even to pull victorious generals from their triumphal chariot, Cic. pro Cal. 14. They stopped the course of justice by putting off 6 trials, |