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

DICTATOR. DICTATOR.'405
find it in' Lanuvium even in very late times (Clc. By the original law respecting the appointment
pro Mil. 10). At Rome this magistrate was ori- of a dictator (lex de dictatore creamdo) no one was
ginally called magister populi and not dictator, and eligible for this office, unless he had previously
in the sacred books he was always designated by been consul (Liv. ii. 18). We find, however, a
the former name down to the latest times. (Cic. few instances in which this law was not observed.
de Rep. i. 40, de Leg. iii. 3, de Fin. iii. 22; Var. (See e.g. Liv. iv. 26, 48, vii. 24.) When a dicL. L. v. 82, ed. Miller; Festus, s. v. optima lex, tator was considered necessary, the senate passed a
p. 198, ed. MiUller.) senatus consultum that one of the consuls should
On the establishment of the Roman republic nominate (dicere) a dictator; and without a prethe government of the state was entrusted to two vious decree of the senate the consuls had not the
consuls, that the citizens might be the better pro- power of naming a dictator, although the contrary
tected against the tyrannical exercise of the supreme used to be asserted in most works on Roman anpower. But it was soon felt that circumstances tiquities. In almost all cases we find mention of
~might arise in which it was of importance for the a previous decree of the senate (see e. y. ii. 30, iv.
safety of the state that the government should be 17, 21, 23, 26, 57, vi. 2, vii. 21, viii. 17, ix. 29,
vested in the hands of a single person, who should x. 11,. xxii.. 57); and in the few instances, in which
possess for a season absolute power, and from whose the appointment by the consul is alone spoken of,
decision there should be no appeal to any other the senatus consultum is probably not mentioned,
body. Thus it came to pass that in a. c. 501, simply because it was a matter of course. Niebuhr
nine years after the expulsion of the Tarquins, the indeed supposes (Hist. of Rome, vol. i. p. 56(7)
dictatorship (dictatura) was instituted. The name that the dictator was originally created by the
of the first dictator and the immediate reason of his curiae, like the kings. According to his view the
appointment were differently stated in the annalists. senate proposed a person as dictator, whom the
The oldest authorities mention T. Larcius, one of curiae elected and the consul then proclaimed
the consuls of the year, as the first dictator, but (cliit); and after this proclamation the neawly
others ascribed this honour to M'.Valerius. (Liv. ii. elected magistrate received the imperium from the
18.) Livy states (I. c.) that a formidable war with curiae. Niebuhr further supposes that the right of
the Latins led to the appointment; and he also conferring the imperium may have led the curiae
found mentioned in the annals that the consuls of to dispense with voting on the preliminary nominal
this year were suspected of belonging to the party tion of the senate. But this election of the dieof the Tarquins; but in the latter case T. Larcius tator by the curiae is only supported by two pas.
could not have been one of the consuls. Dionysius sages, one of Dionysius and the other in Festus,
relates at length (v. 63-70) that the plebs, who neither of which is concltsive in favour of Niebuhr's
were oppressed by the weight of their debts, took view. Dionysius simply says (v. 70) that the die.
advantage of the danger of the republic to obtain tator should be one " whom the senate should
some mitigation of their sufferings, and refused to nominate and the people approve of" (Exn, sVio.
serve in the army, and that thereupon recourse'or'Tal), but this may merely refer to the granting
was had to a dictator to bring them to their duty. of the imperium by the curiae. In Festus (p. 198)
But as Livy makes no mention of any internal we read "M. Valerius - qui primus magister a
disturbances in this year, and does not speak of populo creatus est;" bhit even if these were no
any commotions on account of debts till four years corruption in this passage, we need only under.
subsequently, we may conclude that Dionysius has stand that a dictator was appointed in virtue of a
in this case, as he has in many others, deserted the senatus consultum, and certainly need not suppose
annalists in order to give what appeared to him a that by populus the curiae are intended: there
more satisfactory reason. It is true that the pa- can however be hardly any doubt that the passage
tricians frequently availed themselves of the dic- is corrupt, and that the true reading is " qui
tatorship as a means of oppressing the plebs; but primus nregister populi ereatus est." WVe may
it is certainly unnecessary to seek the first institu- therefore safely reject the election by the curiae.
tion of the office in any other cause than the simple The nomination or proclamation of the dictator
one mentioned by Livy, namely, the great danger by the consul was, however, necessary in all cases.
with which the state was threatened. Modern It was always made by the consul, probably withscholars have stated other reasons for the establish- out any witnesses, between midnight and morning,
raent of the dictatorship, which are so purely con- and with the observance of the auspices (surgens or
jectural and possess such little inherent probability, oriens noete silentio * dictatorens dicebat, Liv. viii.
that they do not require any refutation. Thus 23, ix. 38, xxiii. 22; Dionys. x. 11). The techNiebuhr infers (Hist. of Rome, vol. i. p. 564) from nical word for this nomination or proclamation was
the Roman dictator being appointed only for six dicere (seldom oreare orfacere). So essential was
months, that he was at the head both of Rome and the nomination of the consuls, that we find the
of the Latin league, and that a Latin dictator pos- senate on one occasion having recourse to the trisessed the supreme power for the other six months bunes of the people to compel the consuls to nomi.
of the year; but this supposition, independent of nate a dictator, when they had refused to do so
other considerations, is contradicted by the fact, (Liv. iv. 26); and after the battle at the lake
that in the year in which the dictator was first ap-. Trasimenus, when all communication with the surpointed, Rome and the Latins were preparing for viving consul was cut off, the senate provided for
war with one another. In like manner Huschke the emergency by causing the people to elect a
(Verfassummg d. Servius Tulliuss, p. 516) starts the prodictlitor, because, says Livy, the people could
strange hypothesis, that the dictatorship was part of not elect (creare) a dictator, having never up to
the constitution of Servius Tullius, and that a dic- that time exercised such a power (Liv. xxii. 8)..
tator was to be nominated every decennium for the
purpose of fixing the clavus asnalhis and of holding * Respecting the neaning of silentim in rela.
the census, | tion to the auspices, see AU ou, P. 176, b,
D na 3