He was not allowed to leave Italy, since he might thus easily become dangerous to the republic; though the case of Atilius Calatinus in the first Punic war forms an exception to this rule. 4. He was not allowed to ride on horseback at Rome, without previously obtaining the permission of the people; a regulation apparently capricious, but perhaps adopted that he might not bear too great a resemblance to the kings, who were accustomed to ride.--The insignia of the dictator were nearly the same as those of the kings in earlier times; and of the consuls subsequently. Instead however of having only twelve lictors, as was the case with the consuls, he was preceded by twenty-four bearing the secures as well as the fasces. The _sella curulis_ and _toga praetexta_ also belonged to the dictator.--The preceding account of the dictatorship applies more particularly to the dictator rei gerundae causa; but dictators were also frequently appointed, especially when the consuls were absent from the city, to perform certain acts, which could not be done by any inferior magistrate. These dictators had little more than the name; and as they were only appointed to discharge a particular duty, they had to resign immediately that duty was performed. The occasions on which such dictators were appointed, were principally:--1. For the purpose of holding the comitia for the elections (_comitiorum habendorum causa_). 2. For fixing the _clavus annalis_ in the temple of Jupiter (_clavi figendi causa_) in times of pestilence or civil discord, because the law said that this ceremony was to be performed by the _praetor maximus_, and after the institution of the dictatorship the latter was regarded as the highest magistracy in the state. 3. For appointing holidays (_feriarum constituendarum causa_) on the appearance of prodigies, and for officiating at the public games (_ludorum faciendorum causa_), the presidency of which belonged to the consuls or praetors. 4. For holding trials (_quaestionibus exercendis_.) 5. And on one occasion, for filling up vacancies in the senate (_legendo senatui_).--Along with the dictator there was always a _magister equitum_, the nomination of whom was left to the choice of the dictator, unless the senatus consultum specified, as was sometimes the case, the name of the person who was to be appointed. The magister equitum had, like the dictator, to receive the imperium by a lex curiata. The dictator could not be without a magister equitum, and, consequently, if the latter died during the six months of the dictatorship, another had to be nominated in his stead. The magister equitum was subject to the imperium of the dictator, but in the absence of his superior he became his representative, and exercised the same powers as the dictator. The magister equitum was originally, as his name imports, the commander of the cavalry, while the dictator was at the head of the legions, the infantry; and the relation between them was in this respect