The Empire not a mere col

lection of Republican

offices.

CHAPTER X.

C. THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

HE Roman Empire, which was founded by Julius Cæsar and established by Augustus, and which has exercised so great an influence upon the political development of all later times, was not formed, as has been sometimes maintained, out of a simple accumulation of republican magistracies. It was really a revival of the old monarchical power on a far vaster scale and in harmony with the intervening changes".

It is true that the Emperors assumed a number of functions which had belonged to republican magistrates: the tribunicia potestas secured their personal inviolability, gave them the right of veto, and enabled them to pose as champions of the lower classes the censorial power gave them the supervision of morals and the function of revising at will the lists of senators and knights: the dignity of pontifex maximus made

a [Mommsen (Röm. Statsr. II. Abth. ii.) rightly describes the Principate, as instituted by Augustus, rather as a restoration than an abolition of the Republican constitution. Comp. Mon. Ancyr. 6. 12: 'in consulatu sexto et septimo . . rem publicam ex mea potestate in senat[us populique Romani a]rbitrium transtuli.' Nominally the position of the Princeps was that of a magistrate raised above the rest by his superior dignitas, though in fact the possession of the proconsulare imperium made him supreme. But this itself was only an extension of republican precedent, and did not put the Princeps above the laws.]

b [Augustus held the census in virtue of the consulare imperium. But the censorship still existed as a separate office, and was held by later emperors, e. g. Claudius, Vitellius, Vespasian and Titus. It was abolished by Domitian, and its duties were merged in the indefinite powers of the emperor. See Mommsen, Röm. Statsr. ii. 3. § 6.]

them supreme arbiters of the sacred law. From time to time they took the office of consul. But the conception of their power did not rest upon this cumulation of offices, but upon the creation of a new centralised government, of a real monarchy. Republican forms might conceal the change for a time, but it was obvious to clear-sighted men even in the days of Augustus. At the accession of Tiberius the principle of monarchy was clearly expressed in the Senate by Asinius. Gallus when he asserted that 'it was impossible to divide the indivisible, that the body of the state was one, and could therefore only be ruled by the mind of one man'.'

the Em

The Emperors assumed only the modest title of Princeps (Senatus) 1a, but their power was so great that few could resist its temptations, and most of them were ruined either in intellect or in morals. The Empire was not hereditary but Election to elective: its first holders were chosen, nominally for ten years, pire. really for life. They were not regarded as of divine origin, and they recognised the supremacy of the people. Their authority was conferred upon them by a law of the people 2. But though descent and family connexion were not in principle regarded in the choice of an emperor, they usually had great practical influence, and the chosen prince received in full personal right a power as extensive as that of the Roman people itself had been under the Republic. And when once. that power had been conferred it could neither be diminished nor withdrawn.

1 Tac. Ann. i. 12. In i. 1, he says of Augustus: 'cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa nomine principis sub imperium accepit.' Comp. the conferences of Maecenas and Agrippa with Augustus in Dio Cass. 52.

1a According to Mommsen (Röm. Statsr. ii. 733), the name of Princeps has no reference to the Princeps Senatus, but is used in the sense of Princeps omnium or civium. [See also art. on Princeps by H. F. Pelham in Journal of Philology, viii. 323.]

2

Ulpianus, L. I. pr. de constit. princip.: 'Quod principi placuit, legis habet vigorem, utpote, cum lege regia, quae de imperio ejus lata est, populus ei et in eum omne suum imperium et potestatem conferat. Gaius, i. 5. § 6. de jure nat. [The proconsulare imperium was not conferred by a lex populi. The Princeps was recognised as Imperator by the salutation of the senate or of the army. On the other hand, he received the tribunicia potestas by a law of the comitia (the comitia tribuniciae potestatis) following on a decree of the senate. See Mommsen, Röm. Statsr. ii. pp. 812-3, 838-9.]

Analysis of The imperial power, in addition to the special magistracies imperial which the Emperor usually held, may be thus analysed :— power.

1. The disposal and command of the whole military forces of the state, and of the prætorian guard in the city. The introduction of standing armies, which became necessary as the boundaries were extended, secured the existence of the empire and enforced obedience 3. It was this function which gave to the emperors the title of imperatores, which had a different meaning in earlier times.

2. The absolute government of the richest and most important provinces [?], from which the Emperors derived enormous wealth and power. On the whole, the provinces gained considerably by the change of constitution. Their great men were admitted to the senate and to office by the Emperors, while the oppressions and exactions of the imperial legati were far less than those of the ever-changing proconsuls and proprætors of the Republic. The more permanent interests of the Emperors enjoined a more merciful and orderly administration.

3. The decision of all questions of foreign policy, the right of peace and war, and of concluding treaties *.

4. The right of convening the senate, of proposing matters for discussion, and of giving legal force to its decisions". It is well known how obsequious and submissive the senate was to the Emperors.

5. A decisive voice in the appointment to magistracies and all important offices. Both the comitia (which retained for a time a formal existence) and the senate were bound by law to respect the Emperor's recommendation of candidates".

* Maecenas urged Augustus strongly to form a standing army (σrpatiάTAS ȧlaváтovs), and to leave the mass of the people to their peaceful occupations. Dio Cass. 52.

Lex de Imp. Vespasiani, in Bruns, Fontes Juris Romani, p. 118: 'foedusve cum quibus volet facere liceat.'

5 Ibid. utique ei senatum habere, relationem facere, remittere senatus consulta per relationem discessionemque facere liceat ... utique cum ex voluntate auctoritateve jussu mandatove ejus praesenteve eo senatus habebitur omnium rerum jus perinde habeatur servetur ac si e lege senatus edictus esset habereturque.' [See also Mommsen, Röm. Statsr. ii. 860 ff.]

Ibid.: utique quos magistratum potestatem imperium curationemve cujus

6. The absolute power of acting for the welfare and honour of the state, which forms the real essence of the imperial authority. It was by virtue of this power that not only the edicts, but also the decrees and rescripts of the Emperor obtained the full force of laws, so that he was able to cover the whole field of legislation.

To prevent any hostile criticism or resistance, the lex de imperio definitely announced that it overrode all other laws,. whether of the senate, the populus, or the plebs, and that no one could be brought to account for breaking the latter in obedience to itself. The irresponsibility of the Emperor was not confined to himself, but was also extended to all his ministers and agents the very opposite of the modern system".

In fact the imperial power was absolute and unlimited 10; it held the same position in the state that the right of property and the patria potestas held in private life. It was the concentration of the Roman world-rule in the hands of an individual. Its ideal principle, seldom followed in practice, was the public welfare (salus publica). This great political principle of the Romans becomes, in later times at any rate, more important in all state matters than personal right (jus), though the latter was nobly developed in the domain of Private Law.

The history of the Roman Empire, magnificent as are its proportions, has bequeathed this lesson to the world-that

rei petentes senatui populoque Romano commendaverit quibusque suffragationem suam dederit promiserit eorum comitis quibusque extra ordinem ratio habeatur.'

7

Lex de Imp. Vesp. utique quaecumque ex usu reipublicae majestate divinarum humanarum publicarum privatarumque rerum esse censebit ei agere facere jus potestasque sit.'

* Savigny, System des röm. Rechts, i. p. 121 ff.

Lex de Imp. Vesp.: Si quis hujusce legis ergo adversus leges rogationes plebisve scita senatusve consulta fecit fecerit sive quod cum ex lege facere oportebit non fecerit hujusve legis ergo id ei ne fraudi esto neve quid ob eam rem populo debere debeto neve cui de ea re actio neve judicatio esto neve de ea re apud . . . agi sinito.'

10 The name of dominus, which suggested servi by contrast, was rejected as an insult to the people by the early emperors. Sueton. Octav. 53: 'domini appellationem ut maledictum et opprobrium semper exhorruit.' Ib. Tib. 27; Tac. Ann. iv. 37, 38. The gross flattery of later times introduced the term as a regular title.

Causes of the Empire.

such excessive power is beneficial neither to the ruler nor to his subjects 11.

The rise of the Empire may be justified by the fatal necessity created by general corruption and decay. The Roman aristocracy was degenerate and impotent to guide so unwieldy a state. From time to time it strove to restore its former authority, but as a rule it passively yielded to the force of circumstances 12. The mass of the people, with no claim to rule, no longer accustomed to arms, devoted to the occupations and joys of peace, preferred the government of a single Emperor to that of the senate, and consoled themselves for their own impotence with the humiliation of the nobles. The character of the Roman people decayed sooner than their ability, and their own slavery was a fitting penalty for that insatiable lust of rule which had urged them on from conquest to conquest.

Compare the following words of Tiberius, which may have been honestly meant at the time, with his actions. Sueton. Tib. 29: dixi nunc et saepe alias, Patres Conscripti, bonum et salutarem principem, quem vos tanta et tam libera potestate exstruxistis, senatui servire debere et universis civibus saepe et plerumque etiam singulis: neque id dixisse me poenitet.'

12 The occurrences at the time of Claudius' accession show that the lower classes of Rome had no great love for the republican constitution.