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

6738 LEGATUS. LEGATUS.
came from an ally of the Roman people, some one they served (Sallust. Jzuq. 28; Cic. ad ltt. xv. 11,
of the inferior magistrates, or a legatus of a consul, ad Fam. vi. 6, pro Leg. Manil. 19), but the
was despatched by the senate to receive and con- sanction of the senate (senatusconsultutnt) was an
duct them to the city at the expense of the re- essential point without which no one could be
public. When they were introduced into the legally considered a ]egatus (Cic. c. VaFtin. 1. c.,
senate by the praetor or consul, they first ex- pro Sext. 14); and from Livy (xliii. 1; compare
plained what they had to communicate, and then xliv. 18) it appears that the nomination by the
the praetor invited the senators to put their ques- magistrates (consul, praetor, or dictator) did not
tions to the ambassadors. (Liv. xxx. 22.) The take place until they had been authorised by a
manner in which this questioning was frequently decree of the senate. The persons appointed to
carried on, especially when the envoys came from this office were usually men of great military
a state with which the Romans were at war, re- talents, and it was their duty to advise and assist
sembled more the cross-questioning of a witness their superior in all his undertakings, and to act
in a court of justice, than an inquiry made with a in his stead both in civil and military affairs.
view to gain a clear understanding of what was (Varro, de Ling. Lat. v. 87, -Miiller.) The legati
proposed. (Liv. 1. c. with Gronov's note.) The were thus always men in whom the consul placed
whole transaction was carried on by interpreters, great confidence, and were frequently his friends or
and in the Latin language. [INTERPREs.] Vale- relations; but they had no power independent of
rius Maximus (ii. 2. ~ 3) states that the Greek the command of their general. (Caes. de Bell. Civ.
rhetorician Molo, a teacher of Cicero, was the first ii. 17, iii. 51; Appian, de Bell. Civ. i. 38.) Their
foreigner who ever addressed the Roman senate in number varied according to the greatness or imhis own tongue. After the ambassadors had thus portance of the war, or the extent of the province:
been examined, they were requested to leave the three is the smallest number we know of, but
assembly of the senate, who now began to discuss Pompey, when in Asia, had fifteen legati. Whenthe subject brought before them. The result was ever the consuls were absent from the army, or
communicated to the ambassadors by the praetor. when a proconsul left his province, the legati or
(Liv. viii. 1.) In some cases ambassadors not only one of them took his place, and then had the inreceived rich presents on their departure, but were signia as well as the power of his superior. IHo
at the command of the senate conducted by a was in this case called legatus pro praetore (Liv.
magistrate, and at the public expense, to the fron- xxix. 9; Lydus, de AIaMgistr. iii. 3; Caes. de Bell.
tier of Italy, and even further. (Liv. xlv. 14.) By Gall. i. 21), and hence we sometimes read that a
the Lex Gabinia it was decreed that from the first man governed a province as a legatus without any
of February to the first of March, the senate should mention being made of the proconsul whose viceevery day give audience to foreign ambassadors. gerent he was. (Sallust. Cat. 42.) During the
(Cic. ad Quint. FIrat. ii. 11, 12, ad Farm. i. 4.) latter period of the republic, it sometimes hapThere was at Rome, as Varro (De Ling. Lat. v. pened that a consul carried on a war, or a pro155, Miiller) expresses it, a place on the right- consul governed his province through his legati,
hand side of the senate-house called Graecostasis, while he himself remained at Rome, or conducted
in which foreign ambassadors waited. some other more urgent affairs.
All ambassadors, whencesoever they came, were When the provinces were divided at the time
considered by the Romans throughout the whole of the empire [PRovINCIA], those of the Roman
period of their existence as sacred and inviolable. people were governed by men who had either been
(Cic. c. Verr. i. 33; Dionys. Hal. Ant. Rom,. xi. consuls or-praetors, and the former were always
25; Tacit. Ann. i. 42; Liv. xxi. 10; Dig. 50. accompanied by three legati, the latter by one.
tit. 7. s. 17.) (Dion Cass. liii. 13; Dig. 1. tit. 16.) The proII. Legati to foreign nations in the name of the vinces of the emperor, who was himself the proRoman republic were always sent by the senate consul, were governed by persons whom the
(Cic. c. Vatin. 15); and to be appointed to such a emperor himself appointed, and who had been conmission was considered a great honour which was suls or praetors, or were at least senators. These
conferred only on men of high rank or eminence; vicegerents of the emperor were called legati Anzfor a Roman ambassador, according to Dionysius, gusti bpro praetore, legati j,'aetorii, legati consithad the powers (E5ovoia cral vacyls) of a magis- lases, or simply legati, and they, like the governors
trate and the venerable character of a priest. If of the provinciae populi Romani, had one or three
a Roman during the performance of his mission as legati as their assistants. (Strabo, iii. p. 352; cornambassador died or was killed, his memory was pare Dig. 1. tit. 18. s. 7; Tacit. Ann. xii. 59,
honoured by the republic with a public sepulchre Agricol. c. 7; Spanheim, de Usu et praest. NumZisnl.
and a statue in the Rostra. (Liv. iv. 17; Cic. ii. p. 595.)
Philip. ix. 2.) The expenses during the journey Durilug the latter period of the republic it had
of an ambassador were, of course, paid by the re- become customary for senators to obtain from the
public; and when he travelled through a province, senate the permission to travel through or stay in
the provincials had to supply him with everything any province at the expense of the provincials,
he wanted. merely for the purpose of managing and conducting
III. The third class of legati, to whom the their own personal affairs. There was no restraint
name of ambassadors cannot be applied, were per- as to the length of time the senators were allowed
sons who accompanied the Roman generals on their to avail themselves of this privilege, which was a
expeditions, and in later times the governors of hleavy burden upon the provincials. This mode of
provinces also. Legati, as serving under the con- sojourning in a province was called legatio libera,
suls in the Roman armies, are mentioned along because those who availed themselves of it enwith the tribunes at a very early period. (Liv. ii. joyed all the privileges of a public legatus or
b9, iv. 17.) These legati were nominated (leya- ambassador, without having any of his duties to
bantur) by the consul or the dictator under whom perform. At the time of Cicero the privilege of