When the preparations for war were completed and the consuls took the field, their discretionary authority in the conduct of the campaign, in finance and in jurisdiction, was almost absolute. The first power was hampered only by the condition that they could not wage war against a state which stood in any degree of alliance with Rome without the consent of the people; the second received some slight limitation from the appointment of military quaestors in 421;[633] the third was theoretically unlimited throughout the whole history of the Republic, but received some slight modification from the growing sense of the sanctity of the life of a Roman citizen, which made the generals during the last century of the Republic more chary of pronouncing capital sentences upon their officers and soldiers.[634] It is important to remember that this absolute jurisdiction _militiae_ was not in the least confined to the army; every Roman citizen within the sphere of the general’s administration, and every provincial, when these spheres had developed into standing provinces, were equally subjected to martial law.[635] The provincial in fact was often in better case than the Roman sojourning in the provinces. He could sometimes appeal to the liberties granted to his town by charter; but the Roman found that his palladia—the _provocatio_ and the _intercessio_—had vanished in this sphere.[636] A victory over the foe gave the general the right to claim two further privileges—the one a titular designation, the other a popular manifestation of success—which were strictly regulated by constitutional law. Every holder of the _imperium_ was necessarily an _imperator_; but from a very early period of the Republic it was considered improper for the possessor of the very limited _imperium_ within the walls to use this title. It was reserved for the general in command of an army; _imperator_ is both the official and the familiar title by which he was addressed by his soldiers. But, even under these circumstances, it was not employed by the general himself as a part of his official designation. For this a victory was requisite; the soldiers after the battle proclaimed him conqueror by shouting the familiar name; from this time he was supposed to have it impressed on him in a peculiar manner and could bear it in his list of titles.[637] Custom decreed that the honour should be assumed only in consequence of a great and decisive victory;[638] but the ambition and rivalry of provincial governors finally caused the most trifling successes to be commemorated in this way.