[837] Cic. ad Fam. v. 2, 7; pro Sulla 11, 34; in Pison. 3, 6; pro Domo 35, 94. Cicero, at the close of 63, varied the oath by swearing that he had saved the state.
[838] p. 45.
[839] Liv. v. 41.
[840] The dagger is mentioned more frequently than the sword (gladius) as the distinctive sign of military power. Momms. Staatsr. i. p. 434 n. 1.
[841] Hence such phrases as decedere via, descendere equo, adsurgere sella, caput aperire. The senators were in the habit of rising from their seats when the consul entered the Curia (Cic. in Pis. 12, 26).
[842] A decree of the augurs in 426 B.C. declared the consular tribunes capable of this nomination (Liv. iv. 31).
[843] p. 165.
[844] Liv. viii. 12 “Aemilius, cujus tum fasces erant, collegam dictatorem dixit”; iv. 26 “Sors, ut dictatorem diceret (nam ne id quidem inter collegas convenerat) T. Quinctio evenit”; iv. 21 “Verginius, dum collegam consuleret, moratus, permittente eo, nocte dictatorem dixit.”
[845] Liv. iv. 17 “senatus ... dictatorem dici Mam. Aemilium jussit”; vii. 12 “dictatorem dici C. Sulpicium placuit. Consul ad id adcitus C. Plautius dixit.”
[846] ib. xxii. 57 (216 B.C.) “dictator ex auctoritate patrum dictus M. Junius.”