Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CENSOR. CENSOR. 261i
and consequently their representatives, the tri- with respect to rank and dignity. No imperium
bunes, of the right of taking the census, and en- was bestowed upon them, and accordingly they
trusted it to two magistrates, called Censores, who had no lictors. (Zonar. vii. 19.) The jes censusrae
were to be chosen exclusively from the patricians. was granted to them by a lex centuriata, and not
The magistracy continued to be a patrician one by the curiae, and in that respect they were inl
till B. c. 351, when C. Marcius Rutilus was the ferior in power to the consuls and praetors. (Cic.
first plebeian censor (Liv. vii. 22). Twelve years de Leg. Agr. ii. 11.) But notwithstanding this,
afterwards, B. c. 339, it was provided by one of the censorship was regarded as the highest dignity
the Publilian laws, that one of the censors must in the state, with the exception of the dictatorship
necessarily be a plebeian (Liv. viii. 12), but it was it was an ~epa &apX, a sanctses magistratus, to which
not till n. c. 280 that a plebeian censor performed the deepest reverence was due. (Plut. Cat. Mugj.
the solemn purification of the people (instrum con- 16, Flamzin. 18, Camcill. 2, 14, Aemnil. Paul. 38;., —
didit, Liv. JLypit. 13). In B. c. 131 the two censors Cic. ad Farn. iii. 10.) The high rank and dignity
were for the first time plebeians. which the censorship obtained, was owing to the,
There were always two censors, because the two various important duties gradually entrusted to it,
consuls had previously taken the census together. and especially to its possessing the regimen smorsem,
If one of the censors died during the time of his or general control over the conduct and morals of
office, another had at first to be chosen in his the citizens; in the exercise of which power they.
stead, as in the case of the consuls. This, how- were regulated solely by their own views of ditty,
ever, happened only once, namely, in a. c. 393; and were not responsible to any other power in the
because the capture of Rome by the Gauls in this state. (Dionys. in Mai, Nova Coll. vol. ii. p. 516;
lustrum excited religious fears against the practice Liv. iv. 24, xxix. 37; Val. Max. vii. 2. ~ 6.) The:
(Liv. v. 31). From this time, if one of the censors censors possessed of course the sella curulis (Liv.
died, his colleague resigned, and two new censors xl. 45), but with respect to their official dress there
were chosen. (Liv. vi. 27, ix. 34, xxiv. 43, is some doubt. From a well-known passage of
xxvii. 6.) Polybius (vi. 53), describing the use of the
The censors were elected in the comitia cen- imagines at funerals, we may conclude that a conturiata held under the presidency of a consul. sul or praetor wore the praetexta, one who triumphed
(Gell. xiii. 15; Liv. xl. 45.) Niebuhr supposes the toga picta, and the censor a purple toga pecurthat they were at first elected by the comitia liar to him; but other writers speak of their:
curiata, and that their election was confirmed by official dress as the samle as that of the other,
the centuries; but there is no authority for this higher magistrates. (Zonar. vii. 19; Athen. xiv.,
supposition, and the truth of it depends entirely p. 660, c.) The funeral of a censor was alwayas
upon the correctness of his views respecting the conducted with. great pomp and splendour, and
election of the consuls. [CONSUL.] It was ne- hence a.enuls cC2esorion?, was voted even to thecessary that both censors should be elected on the emperors. (Tac. Acnr. iv. 15, xiii. 2.)
same day; and accordingly if the voting for the The censorship continued in existence for 421<
second was not finished, the election of the first years, namely, from n. c. 443 to a. c. 22; but
wcent for nothing, and new comitia had to be held. during this period many lustra passed by without,
(Liv. ix. 34.) The comitia for the election of the any censor being chosen at all. According to one
censors were held under different auspices from statement the office was abolished by SIlle
those at the election of the consuls and praetors; (Schol. Gronov. ad Cic. Div. in CGaecil. 3, p. 384,
and the censors were accordingly not regarded as ed. Orelli), and although the authority, en whicl
their colleagues, although they likewise possessed this statement rests, is not of much weight, the
the maxistah auspicia (Gell. xiii. 15). The comitia fact itself is probable; for there was no census
were held by the consuls of the year very soon during the two lustra which elapsed from Sulla's
after they had entered upon their office (Liv. xxiv. dictatorship to the first consulship of Pompey
10, xxxix. 41); and the censors, as soon as they (B. c. 82-70), and any strict regimen oaortul
were elected and the censorial power had been would have been found very inconvenient to thl?
granted to them by a lex centuiata, were fully aristocracy in whose faivour Sulla legislated. If
installed in their office. (Cic. de Leg. Ayr. ii. 11; the censorship was dene away with by Sulla, it
Liv. xl. 45.) As a general principle the only was at any rate restored in the consulship of
persons eligible to the office were those who had Pompey and Crassus. Its power was limited by
ipreviously been consuls; but a few exceptions one of the laws of the tribune Clodius (B. c. 58),
occur. At first there was no law to prevent a which prescribed certain regular forms of proceedperson being censor a second time; but the only ing before the censors in expelling a person froml
person, who was twice elected to the office, was the senate, and the concurrence of both censors in
C. Marcius Rutilus in B. c. 265; -and he brought inflicting this degradation. (Dion Cass. xxxviii.
forward a law in this year, enacting that no one 13; Cic. pro Sext. 25, de Prov. Coes. 15.) This
should be chosen censor a second time, and re- law, however, was repealed in the third consulship
ceived in consequence the surname of Censorilnus. of Pompey (I. c. 52), on the proposition of his col(Plut. Coriol. 1; Val. Max. iv. 1. ~ 3.) league Caecilius lMetellus Scipio (Dion Cass. xl.
The censorship is distinguished from all other 57), but the censorship never recovered its former
Roman magistracies by the length of time during power and influence. During the civil wars which
-whicIl it was held. The censors were originally followed soon afterwards no censors were elected;
chosen for a whole lustrum, that is, a period of and it was only after a long interval that they
five years; but their office was limited to eighteen were again <appointed, namely in B. c. 22, when
nlonths, as early as ten years after its insti- Augustus caused L. Munatius Plancus and Paulus
tltion (13. c. 433), by a law of the dictator Aemnilius Lepidus to fill the office. (Suet. Aug.
MAam. Aemilins Mamercinus (Liv. iv. 24, ix. 33). 37, Claud. 16; Dion Cass. liv. 2.) This was the
The censors also held a very peculiar position last time that such. magistrates were appointed;
s3