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

354 CONSUL. CONSUL.
with the census, in B. C. 443, an office which at for they had the imperium militare, which ceased
first was confined to holding the census and regis- as soon, as they had entered the city.
tering the citizens according to their different But the powers of the consuls were far more
classes, but afterwards acquired very extensive extensive in their capacity of supreme commanders
powers. [CENSOR.] The second function that was of the armies, when they were without the prein this manner taken from the consuls, was their cincts of the city, and were invested with the full
judicial power, which was transferred in B. c. 366, imperium. When the levying of an army was
to a distinct magistracy under the title of the decreed by the senate, the consuls conducted the
praetorship [PRAETOR]; and henceforth the con- levy, and, at first, had the appointment of all the
suls appeared as judges only in extraordinary cases subordinate officers - a right which subsequently
of a criminal nature, when they were called upon they shared with the people; and the soldiers had
by a senatus consultum. (Cic. Brut. 32; Liv. to take their oath of allegiance to the consuls.
xxxix. 17, &c., xli. 9.) But, notwithstanding these They also determined the contingent to be furcurtailings, the consulship still continued to be re- nished by the allies; and in the province assigned
garded as the representative of regal power. (Polyb. to them they had the unlimited administration,
vi. 11; Cic. De Leg. iii. 3.) not only of all military affairs, but of every thing
In regard to the nature of the power of the con, else, even over life and death, excepting only
suls, we must in the outset divide it into two the conclusion of peace and treaties. (Polyb. vi.
parts, inasmuch as they were the highest civil 12; compare EXERCITUS.) The treasury was,
authority, and at the same time the supreme corm- indeed, under the control of the senate; but in
manders of the armies. So long as they were in regard to the expenses for war, the consuls do not
the city of Rome, they were at the head of the appear to have been bound down to the sums
government and the administration, and all the granted by that body, but to have availed themother magistrates, with the exception of the tribunes selves of the public money as circumstances reof the people, were subordinate to them. They quired; the quaestors, however, kept a strict acconvened the senate, and as presidents conducted count of the expenditure (Polyb. vi. 12, 13, 15;
the business; they had to carry into effect the de- Liv. xliv. 16). But when in times of need money
crees of the senate, and sometimes on urgent emer- was to be taken from the aerarisum sanctius, of
gencies they might even act on their own authority which the keys seem to have been in the exclusive
and responsibility. They were the medium through possession of the consuls, they had to be authorised
which foreign affairs were brought before the senate; by a senatus consultum. (Liv. xxvii. 10.) In the
all despatches and reports were placed in their early times, the consuls had the power to dispose
hands, before they were laid before the senate; by of the booty in any way they pleased; sometimes
them foreign ambassadors were introduced into the they distributed the whole or a part of it among
senate, and they alone carried on the negotiations the soldiers, and sometimes they sold it, and debetween the senate and foreign states. They also posited the produce in the public treasury, which
convened the assembly of the people and presided in later times became the usual practice.
in it; and thus conducted the elections, put legis- Abuse of the consular power was prevented,
lative measures to the vote, and had to carry the first of all, by each of the consuls being dependent
decrees of the people into effect. (Polyb. vi. 12; on his colleague who was invested with equal
COMITIA; SENATUS.) The whole of the internal rights; for, if we except the provinces abroad
machinery of the republic was, in fact, under where each was permitted to act with unlimited
their superintendence, and in order to give weight power, the two consuls could do nothing unless
to their executive power, they had the right of both were unanimous (Dionys. x. 17; Appian, De
summoning and arresting the obstreperous (vocatio Bell. Civ. ii. 11), and against the sentence of one
and prensio, Cic. in Vuat 9, p. Domn. 41), which consul an appeal might be brought before his colwas limited only by the right of appeal from their league; nay, one consul might of his own accord
judgment (provocatio); and their right of inflicting put his veto on the proceedings of the other. (Liv.
punishment might be exercised even against in- ii. 18, 27, iii. 34; Dionys. v. 9; Cic. De Leg. iii.
ferior magistrates. 4.) But in order to avoid every unnecessary disThe outward signs of their power, and at the pute or-rivalry, arrangements had been made from
same time the means by which they exercised the first, that the real functions of the office should
it, were twelve lictors with the fasces, without be performed only by one of them every alternate
whom the consul never appeared in public (Liv. month (Dionys. ix. 43); and the one who was in
xxv. 17, xxvii. 27; Val. Max. i. 1. ~ 9; comp. the actual exercise of the consular power for the
Liv. vi. 34, xxxix. 12), and who preceded him in month, was preceded by the twelve lictors, whence
a line one behind another. (Liv. xxiv. 44; Val. he is commonly described by the words penzes quesz
Max. ii. 2. ~ 4.) In the city, however, the axes fasces erant. (Liv. viii 12, ix. 89 ) In the early
did not appear in the fasces; a regulation said times, his colleague wtts then not accompanied by
to have been introduced by Valerius Publicola the lictors at all, or he was preceded by an accensus,
(Dionys. v. 2, 19, 75, x. 59), and which is in- and the lictors followed after him, (Cic. De Re
timately connected with the right of appeal from Publ. ii. 31; Liv. ii. 1, iii. 33; comp. Dionys. v.
a consul's sentences whence it did not apply to 2, x. 24.) As regards the later times, it is certain
the dictator nor to the decemvirs. Now as the that the consul, when he did not perform the
provocatio could take place only within the city functions of the office, was followed by the twelve
and a thousand paces in circumference, it must be lictors (Suet. Cues. 20); when this custom arose is
supposed that the axes did not appear in the fasces uncertain, and we only know that, in the time of
within the same limits, an opinion which is not Polybius, the dictator had twenty-four lictors. It
contradicted by the fact that the consuls on return- is commonly believed, that the consul who for the
ing from war appeared with the axes in their fasces month being performed the functions of the office,
in the Campus Martins, at the very gates of Rome; was designated as the consel major; but the an