PRŎSTĂTĒS (προστάτης). [[Libertus].]
PRŎSTĂTĒS TOU DĒMOU (προστάτης τοῦ δήμου), a leader of the people, denoted at Athens and in other democratical states, a person who by his character and eloquence placed himself at the head of the people, and whose opinion had the greatest sway amongst them: such was Pericles. It appears, however, that προστάτης τοῦ δήμου was also the title of a public officer in those Dorian states in which the government was democratical.
PRŎTHESMĬA (προθεσμία), the term limited for bringing actions and prosecutions at Athens. The Athenian expression προθεσμίας νόμος corresponds to our statute of limitations. The time for commencing actions to recover debts, or compensation for injuries, appears to have been limited to five years at Athens.
PRŌVINCĬA. This word is merely a shortened form of providentia, and was frequently used in the sense of “a duty” or “matter entrusted to a person.” But it is ordinarily employed to denote a part of the Roman dominion beyond Italy, which had a regular organisation, and was under Roman administration. Livy likewise uses the word to denote a district or enemy’s country, which was assigned to a general as the field of his operations, before the establishment of any provincial governments.—The Roman state in its complete development consisted of two parts with a distinct organisation, Italia and the Provinciae. There were no Provinciae in this sense of the word till the Romans had extended their conquests beyond Italy; and Sicily was the first country that was made a Roman province: Sardinia was made a province B.C. 235. The Roman province of Gallia Ulterior in the time of Caesar was sometimes designated simply by the term Provincia, a name which has been perpetuated in the modern Provence. A conquered country received its provincial organisation either from the Roman commander, whose acts required the approval of the senate; or the government was organised by the commander and a body of commissioners appointed by the senate out of their own number. The mode of dealing with a conquered country was not uniform. When constituted a provincia, it did not become to all purposes an integral part of the Roman state; it retained its national existence, though it lost its sovereignty. The organisation of Sicily was completed by P. Rupilius with the aid of ten legates. The island was formed into two districts, with Syracuse for the chief town of the eastern and Lilybaeum of the western district: the whole island was administered by a governor annually sent from Rome. He was assisted by two quaestors, and was accompanied by a train of praecones, scribae, haruspices, and other persons, who formed his cohors. The quaestors received from the Roman aerarium the necessary sums for the administration of the island, and they also collected the taxes, except those which were farmed by the censors at Rome. One quaestor resided at Lilybaeum, and the other with the governor or praetor at Syracuse. For the administration of justice the island was divided into Fora or Conventus, which were territorial divisions. [[Conventus].] The island was bound to furnish and maintain soldiers and sailors for the service of Rome, and to pay tributum for the carrying on of wars. The governor could take provisions for the use of himself and his cohors on condition of paying for them. The Roman state had also the portoria which were let to farm to Romans at Rome. The governor had complete jurisdictio in the island, with the imperium and potestas. He could delegate these powers to his quaestors, but there was always an appeal to him, and for this and other purposes he made circuits through the different conventus.—Such was the organisation of Sicilia as a province, which may be taken as a sample of the general character of Roman provincial government. The governor, upon entering on his duties, published an edict, which was often framed upon the Edictum Urbanum. Cicero, when proconsul of Cilicia, says that on some matters he framed an edict of his own, and that as to others he referred to the Edicta Urbana. There was one great distinction between Italy and the provinces as to the nature of property in land. Provincial land could not be an object of Quiritarian ownership, and it was accordingly appropriately called Possessio. Provincial land could be transferred without the forms required in the case of Italian land, but it was subject to the payment of a land-tax (vectigal).—The Roman provinces up to the battle of Actium are: Sicilia, Sardinia et Corsica; Hispania Citerior et Ulterior; Gallia Citerior; Gallia Narbonensis et Comata; Illyricum; Macedonia; Achaia; Asia; Cilicia; Syria; Bithynia et Pontus; Cyprus; Africa; Cyrenaica et Creta; Numidia; Mauritania. Those of a subsequent date, which were either new or arose from division, are: Rhaetia; Noricum; Pannonia; Moesia; Dacia; Britannia; Mauritania Caesariensis and Tingitana; Aegyptus; Cappadocia; Galatia; Rhodus; Lycia; Commagene; Judaea; Arabia; Mesopotamia; Armenia; Assyria.—At first praetors were appointed as governors of provinces, but afterwards they were appointed to the government of provinces, upon the expiration of their year of office at Rome, and with the title of propraetores. In the later times of the republic, the consuls also, after the expiration of their year of office, received the government of a province, with the title of proconsules: such provinces were called consulares. The provinces were generally distributed by lot, but the distribution was sometimes arranged by agreement among the persons entitled to them. By a Sempronian Lex the proconsular provinces were annually determined before the election of the consuls, the object of which was to prevent all disputes. A senatus consultum of the year 55 B.C. provided that no consul or praetor should have a province till after the expiration of five years from the time of his consulship or praetorship. A province was generally held for a year, but the time was often prolonged. When a new governor arrived in his province, his predecessor was required to leave it within thirty days. The governor of a province had originally to account at Rome (ad urbem) for his administration, from his own books and those of his quaestors; but after the passing of a Lex Julia, B.C. 61, he was bound to deposit two copies of his accounts (rationes) in the two chief cities of his province, and to forward one (totidem verbis) to the aerarium. If the governor misconducted himself in the administration of the province, the provincials applied to the Roman senate, and to the powerful Romans who were their patroni. The offences of repetundae and peculatus were the usual grounds of complaint by the provincials; and if a governor had betrayed the interests of the state, he was also liable to the penalties attached to majestas. Quaestiones were established for inquiries into these offences; yet it was not always an easy matter to bring a guilty governor to the punishment that he deserved.—With the establishment of the imperial power under Augustus, a considerable change was made in the administration of the provinces. Augustus took the charge of those provinces where a large military force was required; the rest were left to the care of the senate and the Roman people. Accordingly we find in the older jurists the division of provinciae into those which were propriae populi Romani, and those which were propriae Caesaris; and this division, with some modifications, continued to the third century. The senatorian provinces were distributed among consulares and those who had filled the office of praetor, two provinces being given to the consulares and the rest to the praetorii: these governors were called proconsules, or praesides, which latter is the usual term employed by the old jurists for a provincial governor. The praesides had the jurisdictio of the praetor urbanus and the praetor peregrinus: and their quaestors had the same jurisdiction that the curule aediles had at Rome. The imperial provinces were governed by legati Caesaris, with praetorian power, the proconsular power being in the Caesar himself, and the legati being his deputies and representatives. The legati were selected from those who had been consuls or praetors, or from the senators. They held their office and their power at the pleasure of the emperor; and he delegated to them both military command and jurisdictio, just as a proconsul in the republican period delegated these powers to his legati. These legati had also legati under them. No quaestors were sent to the provinces of the Caesar. In place of the quaestors, there were procuratores Caesaris, who were either equites or freedmen of the Caesar. Egypt was governed by an eques with the title of praefectus. The procuratores looked after the taxes, paid the troops, and generally were intrusted with the interests of the fiscus. Judaea, which was a part of the province of Syria, was governed by a procurator, who had the powers of a legatus. It appears that there were also procuratores Caesaris in the senatorian provinces, who collected certain dues of the fiscus, which were independent of what was due to the aerarium. The regular taxes, as in the republican period, were the poll-tax and land-tax. The taxation was founded on a census of persons and property, which was established by Augustus. The portoria and other dues were farmed by the publicani, as in the republican period.
PRŌVŎCĀTĬO. [[Appellatio].]
PRŌVŎCĀTŌRES. [[Gladiatores].]
PROXĔNUS (πρόξενος). [[Hospitium].]
PRỸTĂNEIUM (πρυτανεῖον), the public hall or town-hall in a Greek state. The prytaneia of the ancient Greek states and cities were to the communities living around them, what private houses were to the families which occupied them. Just as the house of each family was its home, so was the prytaneium of every state or city the common home of its members or inhabitants. This correspondence between the prytaneium or home of the city, and the private home of a man’s family, was at Athens very remarkable. A perpetual fire was kept burning on the public altar of the city in the prytaneium, just as in private houses a fire was kept up on the domestic altar in the inner court of the house. Moreover, the city of Athens exercised in its prytaneium the duties of hospitality, both to its own citizens and to strangers. Thus foreign ambassadors were entertained here, as well as Athenian envoys, on their return home from a successful or well-conducted mission. Here, too, were entertained from day to day the successive prytanes or presidents of the senate, together with those citizens who, whether from personal or ancestral services to the state, were honoured with what was called the σίτησις ἐν πρυτανείῳ, or the privilege of taking their meals there at the public cost. This was granted sometimes for a limited period, sometimes for life, in which latter case the parties enjoying it were called ἀείσιτοι. Moreover, from the ever-burning fire of the prytaneium, or home of a mother state, was carried the sacred fire which was to be kept burning in the prytaneia of her colonies; and if it happened that this was ever extinguished, the flame was rekindled from the prytaneium of the parent city. Lastly, a prytaneium was also a distinguishing mark of an independent state. The prytaneium of Athens lay under the Acropolis on its northern side (near the ἀγορά), and was, as its name denotes, originally the place of assembly of the prytanes; in the earliest times it probably stood on the Acropolis. Officers called prytanes (πρυτανεῖς) were entrusted with the chief magistracy in several states of Greece, as Corcyra, Corinth, Miletus. At Athens they were in early times probably a magistracy of the second rank in the state (next to the archon), acting as judges in various cases (perhaps in conjunction with him), and sitting in the prytaneium. That this was the case is rendered probable by the fact, that even in after-times the fees paid into court by plaintiff and defendant, before they could proceed to trial, and received by the dicasts, were called prytaneia.
PRỸTĂNES. [[Prytaneium]; [Boule].]
PSĒPHISMA. [[Boule]; [Nomothetes].]