The Tribune's Curse (30 page)

Freedman
A manumitted slave. Formal emancipation conferred full rights of citizenship except for the right to hold office. Informal emancipation conferred freedom without voting rights. In the second or at least third generation, a freedman’s descendants became full citizens.

Friendly Ones
“Eumenides.” These were the Furies. They were so frightening that it was deemed the worst of luck to pronounce their true name: Erinyes, “Terrible Ones,” because speaking their name could attract their attention. Several euphemisms were employed, of which
Friendly Ones
was the most common. The names
are Greek, but the Romans used Greek terms in religion the way we use Latin.

Haruspex (pl. Haruspices)
A member of a college of Etruscan professionals who examined the entrails of sacrificial animals for omens.

Imperium
The ancient power of kings to summon and lead armies, to order and forbid and to inflict corporal and capital punishment. Under the Republic, the
imperium
was divided among the consuls and praetors, but they were subject to appeal and intervention by the tribunes in their civil decisions and were answerable for their acts after leaving office. Only a Dictator had unlimited
imperium
.

Impluvium
See compluvium.

Insula
Literally, “island.” A detached house or block of flats let out to poor families.

Iudex
An investigating official appointed by a praetor.

Janitor
A slave-doorkeeper, so called for Janus, god of gateways.

Legion
They formed the fighting force of the Roman army. Through its soldiers, the Empire was able to control vast stretches of territory and people. They were known for their discipline, training, ability, and military process.

Lictor
Bodyguards, usually freedmen, who accompanied magistrates and the
Flamen Dialis
, bearing the
fasces
. They summoned assemblies, attended public sacrifices, and carried out sentences of punishment.

Ludus (pl. ludi).
The official public games, races, theatricals, etc. Also training schools for gladiators, although the gladiatorial exhibitions were not
ludi
.

Maiestas
A type of treason, defined as an offence against the majesty of the Roman people. An extremely loose category of crime,
maiestas
was a favorite charge to bring against one’s political enemies.

Matronalia
A festival celebrated by Roman matrons in honor of Juno.

Munera
Special Games, not part of the official calendar, at which gladiators were exhibited. They were originally funeral Games and were always dedicated to the dead.

Mundus
An opening into the underworld. there were serveral located around the Mediterranean. They were used for rituals in volving the chthonic deities and to convey messages to the dead.

Municipia
Towns originally with varying degrees of Roman citizenship. A citizen from a
municipium
was qualified to hold any public office. An example is Cicero, who was not from Rome but from the
municipium
of Arpinum.

Offices
A tribune was a representative of the plebeians with power to introduce laws and to veto actions of the Senate. Only plebeians could hold the office, which carried no
imperium
. Military tribunes were elected from among the young men of senatorial or equestrian rank to be assistants to generals. Usually it was the first step of a man’s political career.

A Roman embarked on a political career had to rise through a regular chain of offices. The lowest elective office was quaestor: bookkeeper and paymaster for the Treasury, the Grain Office, and the provincial governors. These men did the scut work of the Empire.

Next were the aediles. They were more or less city managers who saw to the upkeep of public buildings, streets, sewers, markets, and the like. There were two types: the plebeian aediles, and the curule aediles. The curule aediles could sit in judgment on civil cases involving markets and currency, while the plebeian aediles could only levy fines. Otherwise, their duties were the same. They also put on the public Games. The government allowance for these things was laughably small, so they had to pay for them out of their own pockets. It was a horrendously expensive office but it gained the holder popularity like no other, especially
if his Games were spectacular. Only a popular aedile could hope for election to higher office.

Third was praetor, an office with real power. Praetors were judges, but they could command armies and after a year in office they could go out to govern provinces, where real wealth could be won, earned, or stolen. In the late Republic there were eight praetors. Senior was the
praetor urbanus
, who heard civil cases between citizens of Rome. The
praetor peregrinus
heard cases involving foreigners. The others presided over criminal courts. After leaving office, the ex-praetors became propraetors and went to govern propraetorian provinces with full
imperium
.

The highest office was consul, supreme office of power during the Roman Republic. Two were elected each year. For four years they fulfilled the political role of royal authority, bringing all other magistrates into the service of the people and the City of Rome. The office carried full
imperium
. On the expiration of his year in office, the ex-consul was usually assigned a district outside Rome to rule as proconsul. As proconsul, he had the same insignia and the same number of lictors. His power was absolute within his province. The most important commands always went to proconsuls.

Censors were elected every five years. It was the capstone to a political career, but it did not carry
imperium
and there was no foreign command afterward. Censors conducted the Census, purged the Senate of unworthy members, and doled out the public contracts. They could forbid certain religious practices or luxuries deemed bad for public morals or generally “un-Roman.” There were two Censors, and each could overrule the other. They were usually elected from among the ex-consuls, and the Censorship was regarded as the capstone of a political career.

Under the Sullan Constitution, the quaestorship was the minimum requirement for membership in the Senate. The majority of senators had held that office and never held another. Membership in the Senate was for life unless expelled by the Censors.

No Roman official could be prosecuted while in office, but he could be after he stepped down. Malfeasance in office was one of the most common court charges.

The most extraordinary office was Dictator. In times of emergency, the Senate could instruct the consuls to appoint a Dictator, who could wield absolute power for six months. Unlike all other officials, a Dictator was unaccountable: He could not be prosecuted for his acts in office. The last true Dictator was appointed in the third century B.C. The dictatorships of Sulla and Julius Caesar were unconstitutional.

Patrician
The noble class of Rome.

Perduellio
A serious crime against the state. The difference between
perduellio
and
maiestas
is not always clear.

Plebeian
All citizens not of patrician status; the lower classes, also called “plebs.”

Pomerium
The ancient boundary of Rome, marked out by Romulus with his plow. Though by the late Republic Rome had spread far beyond this boundary, it was retained and nothing could be built upon it. The dead could not be buried within the
pomerium
, not could citizens bear arms within it.

Pontifical College
The pontifexes were a college of priests not of a specific god (see Priesthoods) but whose task was to advise the Senate on matters of religion. The chief of the college was the
Pontifex Maximus
, who ruled on all matters of religious practice and had charge of the calendar. Julius Caesar was elected
Pontifex Maximus
and Augustus made it an office held permanently by the emperors. The title is currently held by the Pope.

Popular Assemblies
There were three: the Centuriate Assembly (comitia centuriata) and the two tribal assemblies:
comitia tributa
and
consilium plebis, q.v.

Populares
The party of the common people.

Princeps: First Citizen
An especially distinguished senator chosen by the Censors. His name was the first called on the roll
of the Senate and he was first to speak on any issue. Later the title was usurped by Augustus and is the origin of the word “prince.”

Priesthoods
In Rome, the priesthoods were offices of state. There were two major classes:
pontifexes
and
flamines.
Pontifexes were members of the highest priestly college of Rome. They had superintendence over all sacred observances, state and private, and over the calendar. Head of their college was the
Pontifex Maximus
, a title held to this day by the Pope. The
flamines
were the high priests of the state gods: the
flamen martialis
for Mars, the
flamen quirinalis
for the deified Romulus, and, highest of all, the
Flamen Dialis
, high priest of Jupiter. The
Flamen Dialis
celebrated the Ides of each month and could not take part in politics, although he could attend meetings of the Senate, attended by a single lictor. Each had charge of the daily sacrifices, wore distinctive headgear, and were surrounded by many ritual taboos.

Another very ancient priesthood was the
rex sacrorum
, “King of Sacrifices.” This priest had to be a patrician and had to observe even more taboos than the
Flamen Dialis
. This position was so onerous that it became difficult to find a patrician willing to take it.

Technically,
pontifexes
and
flamines
did not take part in public business except to solemnize oaths and treaties, give the god’s stamp of approval to declarations of war, etc. But since they were all senators anyway, the ban had little meaning. Julius Caesar was
pontifex maximus
while he was out conquering Gaul, even though the
pontifex maximus
wasn’t supposed to look upon human blood.

Rostra (sing. rostrum)
A monument in the Forum commemorating the sea battle of Antium in 338 B.C., decorated with the rams,
rostra
, of enemy ships. Its base was used as an orator’s platform.

Sacerdotes
A term for priests and priestesses.

Senate
Rome’s chief deliberative body. It consisted of three hundred to six hundred men, all of whom had won elective office
at least once. It was a leading element in the emergence of the Republic, but later suffered degradation at the hands of Sulla.

Sibylline Books
These mysterious books of prophecies were brought to Rome in legendary times and were kept by a college of priests called, in pedantic Roman fashion, the
quinquidecemviri
(the Fifteen Men). In times of extraordinary calamity the Senate could order a consultation of the Sibylline Books. The language was obscure and subject to eccentric interpretation. The prophecies were usually interpreted to mean that the gods wanted a foreign deity brought to Rome. Thus Rome built a temple to Ceres, a goddess of Asia Minor, and others. When the deity was Greek, the rites remained in the Greek rather than the Roman fashion.

Soothsayers
The Roman government used two types: First were the augurs. These were actual officials who belonged to a college and it was a great honor for a Roman to be adopted into the College of Augurs. They interpreted omens involving heavenly signs: lightning and thunder, the flight and other behavior of birds, etc. There were strict guidelines for this, and personal inspiration was not involved. An augur could call a halt to all public business while he watched for omens. The augur wore a special, striped robe called a
toga trabaea
and carried a crook-topped staff called a
lituus
, which survives to this day as a part of the Roman Catholic bishop’s regalia.

The second type was the
haruspex
(pl.
haruspices
). These were not officials but professional soothsayers and most were Etruscans. They took omens by examining the livers and other organs of sacrificial animals. Highly educated Romans considered them fraudulent, but the plebs insisted on taking the
haruspices
(the term also referred to the omens themselves) before embarking on any important public project.

Official Roman soothsayers did
not
predict the future, a practice that was, in fact, forbidden by law. Omens were taken to
determine the will of the gods
at that time
. They had to be taken repeatedly because the gods could always change their minds.

SPQR Senatus Populusque Romanus.
The Senate and people of Rome. The formula embodying the sovereignty of Rome. It was used on official correspondence, documents, and public works.

Tarpeian Rock
A cliff beneath the Capitol from which traitors were hurled. It was named for the Roman maiden Tarpeia who, according to legend, betrayed the Capitol to the Sabines.

Temple of Saturn
The state Treasury was located in a crypt beneath this temple. It was also the repository for military standards.

Temple of Vesta
Site of the sacred fire tended by the Vestal virgins and dedicated to the goddess of the hearth. Documents, especially wills, were deposited there for safekeeping.

Toga
The outer robe of the Roman citizen. It was white for the upper class, darker for the poor and for people in mourning. The
toga praetexta
, bordered with a purple stripe, was worn by curule magistrates, by state priests when performing their functions, and by boys prior to manhood. The
toga picta
, purple and embroidered with golden stars, was worn by a general when celebrating a triumph, also by a magistrate when giving public games.