[1847] Tac. Ann. ii. 79 “Marsus ... Vibius nuntiavit Pisoni Romam ad dicendam causam veniret. Ille eludens respondit adfuturum, ubi praetor, qui de veneficiis quaereret, reo atque accusatoribus diem prodixisset”; ib. iii 10 “petitum ... est a principe cognitionem exciperet; quod ne reus quidem abnuebat, studia populi et patrum metuens ... haud fallebat Tiberium moles cognitionis quaque ipse fama distraheretur. Igitur paucis familiarium adhibitis minas accusantium et hinc preces audit integramque causam ad senatum remittit.” “Remittit” does not imply that the Senate was bound to take the case. For the technically voluntary nature of its jurisdiction cf. ib. iv. 21, xiii. 10, where we find the expressions “receptus est reus,” “recepti sunt inter reos.”
[1848] Dio Cass. lii. 22, 33. A case of adultery of a centurion with a tribune’s wife comes before the Emperor. Trajan stated the ground on which he tried this case (Plin. Ep. vi. 31, 6 “Caesar et nomen centurionis et commemorationem disciplinae militaris sententiae adjecit, ne omnes ejusmodi causas revocare ad se videretur”).
[1849] An instance is mentioned by Pliny (Ep. vii. 6, 8 “mater, amisso filio ... libertos ejus eosdemque coheredes suos falsi et veneficii reos detulerat ad principem judicemque impetraverat Julium Servianum”).
[1850] See the section on the functionaries of the Princeps (p. 406 sq.).
[1851] Plin. ad Traj. 96, 4 “quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi in urbem remittendos.”
[1852] It is not properly an appeal but a denial of jurisdiction. But on what ground the jurisdiction of the procurator was denied is not clear. The Roman citizenship, in virtue of which St. Paul claimed exemption from scourging at Philippi and Jerusalem, is not mentioned here. See Class. Rev. x. p. 231.
[1853] Plin. Ep. ii. 11; Suet. Galba 9.
[1854] For its attachment to procurators and to persons with extraordinary commands see the instances given by Mommsen (Staatsr. ii p. 270). So the praefectures of the guard, the vigiles and the fleet, are honores juris gladii (Vita Alex. 49). In the case of ordinary provincial governors it is, perhaps, safer to say that the jus gladii is possessed by them, or permitted to them, rather than that it was attached to them by the Princeps (Ulp. in Dig. 1, 18, 6, 8 “qui universas provincias regunt, jus gladii habent et in metallum dandi potestas iis permissa est”).
[1855] Dio Cass. lii. 22, 33; Dig. 48, 19, 27, 1 and 2.
[1856] Even by Tiberius’ reign this procedure had become so formal that a rule was framed for its exercise. A definite interval was prescribed within which the Princeps might consider the request for the intercession (Tac. Ann. iii. 51 [A.D. 21] “factum senatus consultum, ne decreta patrum ante diem decimum ad aerarium deferrentur idque vitae spatium damnatis prorogaretur”; cf. Dio Cass. lvii. 20; Suet. Tib. 75).