After this general review of the magistracy, we may glance at the precise place in the state administration assigned to the separate magistrates, so far as the record of their duties has not been already anticipated. _The Dictator_ The only true mode of creating a dictator (_dicere dictatorem_) was through nomination by one of the consuls,[842] who, as we have seen, to avoid unfavourable omens, pronounced his selection between midnight and morning.[843] The question, which consul was to exercise this power, was decided either by the possession of the fasces, which belonged only to the acting consul, or by one of the two favourite modes of settling questions of collegiate action, agreement (_comparatio_) or the use of the lot (_sortitio_).[844] But this purely consular function came in time, like all extraordinary acts of administration, to be usurped by the Senate. At what period this result was attained we cannot say; for the annalists have transferred the constitutional observances of the third century B.C. to the earliest times.[845] Finally, the point was reached at which the Senate not only suggested the advisability of nomination but the name of the nominee;[846] opposition to these instructions was constitutionally possible,[847] but was borne down by the _de facto_ power of the Senate with the tribunate as its instrument. By the close of the fourth century B.C. custom had further fixed the rule that the person created should be a past holder of the consulship.[848] The ancient provision that the dictator could be nominated only on Roman soil was found impossible of observance, since the consul, when he received the Senate’s message, was often far distant from the city, and _ager Romanus_ was, in true Roman fashion, liberally interpreted to include the whole of Italy.[849] After the nomination of the new magistrate his _imperium_ was confirmed by a _lex curiata_.[850] The _insignia_ of the dictator were in one respect greater even than those of the king. As the consul had inherited the twelve regal lictors, the dictator, in order that his higher _imperium_ might be more clearly shown, was preceded by twenty-four;[851] and the axes were seen with the fasces even within the walls.[852] The dictator appointed to meet an emergency either of war or revolution[853] bore no special designation which had reference to this emergency, but was aptly described as created for carrying on the business of the state (_rei gerundae causa_).[854] But minor needs of peace might lead to the nomination of a dictator for a special purpose; we find a dictator appointed for holding elections (_comitiorum habendorum causa_),[855] on one occasion for making out the list of the Senate (_legendo senatui_),[856] and others for purely ceremonial or religious purposes—for the celebration of games (_ludorum faciendorum causa_)[857] and the ordering of festivals (_feriarum constituendarum causa_),[858] and for driving the nail (_clavus annalis_) into the