Roman Public LifeGreenidge, A. H. J. (Abel Hendy Jones)
History
Roman Public Life
Greenidge, A. H. J. (Abel Hendy Jones)
Constitutional history -- Rome; Rome -- Politics and government
This personal head possessed a variety of titles which marked the various
aspects of his rule—titles which survived into the Republic, and, on the
differentiation of the functions which he united, were applied to various
magistrates. As supreme judge he was _judex_, as leader and commander
in war _praetor_,[160] _dictator_, and _magister populi_.[161] The most
general title which marked him out as universal head of the state, in
religious as in civil matters, was that of _rex_, the “regulator” of all
things human and divine—a title which survived in the _rex sacrorum_, the
heir of the king in sacrifice and in ritual. The powers on which this
position was based were summed up in the word _imperium_.[162]
The severance of the king from the state, over which he ruled, was also
expressed in certain outward signs (_insignia_), which distinguished him
from the rest of the burgesses. He was preceded by twelve “summoners”
(_lictores_),[163] each carrying a bundle of rods (_fasces_), and the
axe-head gleamed from these bundles even within the walls, for the
king’s military jurisdiction could be exercised within the city. His
robe was of “purple,” or rather of scarlet—the colour in which most
nations have seen an emblem of sovereignty—but his dress probably varied
with the ritual which he was performing, and the three kinds of striped
garment (_trabea_) which survived in the Republic—that of purple for the
priestly office, of purple and saffron for augury, of purple striped
with white for the _rex_[164]—were probably all vestments of the king.
Tradition also assigns him the eagle-headed sceptre, the golden crown,
the throne (_solium_),[165] and the chariot within the walls, from which
the curule chair (_sella curulis_) was believed to be derived.[166] The
statement that the triumphal _insignia_ of the Roman magistrate were
but the revival of the ordinary adornments of the king[167] is extremely
probable; for the crown, the _toga picta_ (a development of the purple
robe),[168] and the chariot reappear in the Roman triumph.
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