for he received the consulship in addition to his dictatorship, or he arbitrarily ordered others to be elected, who were mere nominal officers, and were allowed to do nothing without his sanction. He himself was elected consul at first for five, then for ten years, and at last for life. Under Augustus the consulship was a mere shadow of what it had been: the consuls no longer held their office for a whole year, but usually for a few months only; and hence it happened that sometimes one year saw six, twelve, or even twenty-five consuls. Those who were elected the first in the year ranked higher than the rest, and their names alone were used to mark the year, according to the ancient custom of the Romans of marking the date of an event by the names of the consuls of the year in which the event occurred. During the last period of the empire it became the practice to have titular or honorary consuls, who were elected by the senate and confirmed by the emperor. Constantine appointed two consuls, one for Rome and another for Constantinople, who held their office for a whole year, and whose functions were only those of chief justices. All the other consuls were designated as _honorarii_ or _consulares_. But though the consulship had thus become almost an empty title, it was still regarded as the highest dignity in the empire, and as the object of the greatest ambition. It was connected with very great expenses, partly on account of the public games which a consul had to provide, and partly on account of the large donations he had to make to the people. The last consul at Rome was Decimus Theodorus Paulinus, A.D. 536, and at Constantinople, Flavius Basilius junior, A.D. 541. CONSŬLARIS, signified, under the republic, a person who had held the office of consul; but under the empire, it was the title of many magistrates and public officers, who enjoyed the insignia of consular dignity, without having filled the office of consul. Thus we find commanders of armies and governors of provinces called _Consulares_ under the empire.