Roman Public Life

by A. H. J. Greenidge

It was natural that an order thus definitely constituted, and which became more rigid as time went on, should end by enjoying titles of honour peculiar to itself. This stage had been attained by the second century; but the titular designations are not strictly those of the equestrian order, but of the grades of office to which it led. After the reign of Marcus Aurelius the equestrian hierarchy was divided into three classes; the first contained only the praefect of the praetorian guard who was called vir eminentissimus; the second the other equestrian praefects and higher procurators, who bore the title perfectissimi; the third—the possessors of all other equestrian posts—were egregii.[1941] The equestrian officers of the army were not graduated on a similar scale of rank, and the municipal knights of Italy are designated only by the old Republican and non-official epithet of splendidi.[1942] The more definite, but equally non-official, epithet of illustris may have been applied to individuals who possessed the senatorial census and the latus clavus, but who were passing through the equestrian service in the army (equestris militia), which was preparatory to entrance into the Senate.[1943] But the name more particularly designated men who, possessed of a senatorial fortune, preferred to retain their equestrian rank, and even perhaps any equites of fortune and dignity such as the holders of the great praefectures.[1944]

§ 7. The Functionaries of the Princeps

The Princeps, since he is not a king, has neither magistrates nor ministers subject to his will; but he possesses a number of delegates and servants who assist in the performance of his vast duties of administration. Some of these, such as the legates, praefects, and curators, find analogies in the Republican constitution; others, such as the procurators and secretaries of departments, are borrowed from the organisation of a Roman household and are transferred from the life of the palace to that of the state. We may neglect for the moment the legates and provincial praefects, who will be considered in the section dealing with the organisation of the provinces, and fix our attention on the offices of the central government, which are either peculiar to Rome and Italy or common to them and the provincial world.

(i.) The Praefects.—The four great praefectures, which were concerned originally with the administration of Italy and Rome, were those of the city (urbi), the praetorian guard (praetorio), the corn-supply (annonae), and the watch (vigilum). Of these the first stands entirely out of relation to the others so far as the career and qualification of its holders were concerned; for, while the praefecture of the city was a senatorial post, all the others were, during the greater part of the Principate, equestrian. Of the three latter offices the praefecture of the praetorian guard was the highest in rank, next came that of the corn-supply, and thirdly that of the watch.[1945]

The praefecture of the city was the continuation in name, and to some extent in functions, of one of the oldest offices in Rome;[1946] but the historical continuity is rendered somewhat imperfect by the fact that the ancient praefecture, which had originated with the kings and had ceased to be a reality only with the appointment of the first praetor,[1947] still continued in a shadowy form during the Principate as the praefecture created when the days of the Latin festival drew the magistrates away from Rome.[1948] But the new office of the Principate was, in a sense, a continuation of the old one of the monarchy. Both were products of personal rule and were based on the theory of delegation; the later office was suggested by the earlier, and both had much the same sphere of administration. The link between the Republican office and that of the Principate is found in the arrangements of the dictator Caesar and in the earlier procedure of Augustus. The link was broken when, under Tiberius, the praefecture became a permanent and not an occasional office. In 46 B.C. Caesar had left six praefecti in Rome to administer the affairs of the city during his absence;[1949] Maecenas had had a similar, though less definite, position given him by Augustus;[1950] and when the latter became Princeps, the praefecture between the years 27 and 24 B.C. became a more regular, although still an occasional office, and was renewed from time to time by Augustus during his absences from the capital.[1951] Tiberius’ long periods of retirement made it practically perpetual,[1952] and under subsequent reigns the praefect remains in office even when the Princeps is present in Rome.[1953] It was, perhaps, due to its associations with the Republican magistracy that this office was filled by a senator and a consular.[1954] The same associations may account for the facts that the praefect of the city, although a delegate of the Princeps and nominated by him for an indefinite period,[1955] is yet accounted a magistrate, and is even credited with imperium.[1956]

One of the early occupants of the office[1957] sent in his resignation six days after his appointment on the ground that he had held an incivilis potestas; and indeed the scope of the praefect’s duties and the extent of summary jurisdiction and coercive power which they involved, might easily lead a sensitive mind to shrink from such un-Republican authority. The praefect was briefly the guardian of the city (custos urbis), and nothing that could be construed as a part of that tutela[1958] was exempt from his control. It was his duty to keep order everywhere, at the games as in the market, and for this purpose he had at his disposal the city cohorts (cohortes urbanae) established by Augustus,[1959] three divisions of which were quartered in Rome during the reign of Tiberius.[1960] But the preservation of order implied interference with a great many departments of civic life. The praefect controlled the theatre, the money-changers, the sale of meat, the trading and religious guilds; he listened to the grievances of slaves, or to the complaints of patroni about their freedmen, and finally even had cognisance of serious offences committed by guardians.[1961] The criminal jurisdiction, which was the complement of his authority, was so indefinite that at a very early period it crossed that of the quaestiones perpetuae,[1962] and, as the tendency of the Principate was to make the latter give way before the former, we are not surprised at the unlimited criminal jurisdiction described by Dio Cassius and recorded in the Digest as vested in the praefect in the third century A.D.[1963] He might at this time inflict the severest punishments, even deportation or condemnation to the mines.[1964] His police control and criminal jurisdiction extended to the limit of a hundred miles from Rome.[1965] Within the city he might judge in person; jurisdiction in Italy he exercised through delegates.[1966] He also possessed a certain civil jurisdiction connected with his functions of preserving order,[1967] and finally became the court of appeal, in civil cases, from officials in Rome.[1968] But he was not a final court, for a further appeal lay from the praefect to the Emperor.

The praefectus praetorio was in origin the commander of the Emperor’s bodyguard. This corps d’élite, which even in the Republic had grouped itself round a commander in the field, was given a definite existence and organisation in the year 28 B.C.,[1969] and became the police of Italy, the selected home force composed, unlike the legions, mainly of Italian citizens,[1970] and the protector, often the transmitter, of the throne. Its praefects at this early stage represent the military character of the despotism perhaps more purely than any other officials, and even the reign of the second Caesar could show in Sejanus one of the most formidable of those praefects who were almost partners of the throne. The danger threatened by the office illustrates its power, and this was recognised when Vespasian sought security by giving the praefecture to his own son Titus,[1971] or Severus married his elder son to the daughter of his praefect Plautianus.[1972] A more favourite method was to increase the number of its holders. Two were frequently appointed, and three are found on two occasions since the time of Commodus.[1973] Gradually the military functions of the office ceased to be the most important, although its military history had determined its character. The praefect of the guard had always been the man who stood next the throne; he was a truer alter ego of the Princeps than the praefect of the city, for his activity was not confined to Rome and Italy. It was he who issued rapid injunctions for the organisation of the army or for the guidance of the civil service throughout the Empire, and at times we find two praefects, such as Adventus and Macrinus in the reign of Caracalla, representing respectively the military and civil spheres. But jurisdiction, the most constant of the Emperor’s cares, and the framing of legal decrees, also demanded the attention of the praefect, and hence it was necessary to entrust the office to the first jurists of the Empire. Papinian, Ulpian, and Paulus were all praefects of the guard. The change in the character of the office perhaps began with Hadrian; it was carried on during the reigns of the Antonine Emperors, and finally achieved in that of Septimius Severus. The judicial aspect of the office was now paramount. The praefect has become the highest criminal judge in Italy outside the hundredth milestone;[1974] he is the court of appeal in criminal cases from all provincial governors,[1975] and judges in those cases which the provincial governor was not competent to decide.[1976] He is also the court of appeal from provincial governors in civil cases.[1977] This extensive jurisdiction was a result of the centralisation of judicial power in the Emperor, which we have already traced.[1978] It had to be delegated, and no fitter delegate could be found than the praefect. Convenience also dictated that the delegation should be final, and the principle was finally arrived at that there should be no appeal from the praefect to the Emperor.[1979] This did not mean that the Emperor ceased to judge; for at any moment he might displace his praefect and hear the case himself. As the praefect judged vice principis, it is natural to suppose that he presided over the imperial consilium,[1980] which attained a definite organisation in the reign of Hadrian;[1981] and this probability is scarcely shaken by the fact that we find special consiliarii nominated for the praefect,[1982] for he exercised a varied jurisdiction and might be holding a court at the same time as the Emperor. Apart from jurisdiction, his general mandates and ordinances had legal force, provided that they did not conflict with laws or imperial constitutions.[1983]

During the greater part of the Principate equestrian rank was a necessary qualification for this praefecture. Senators first began to hold this office from the time of Severus Alexander, who gave his praefects senatoria dignitas and the title clarissimus,[1984] for it was held that one who pronounced judgment on a senator should himself be of senatorial rank.[1985] At the time when the praefect was a knight, dismissal from office often took the form of making him a senator or a member of the senatorial order.[1986]