Political Speeches (Oxford World's Classics) (67 page)

century
,
see
centuriate assembly
.

cognomen
the third component of a Roman’s name, serving to differentiate different branches of a clan (
gens
), and usually hereditary; the
cognomen
of Marcus Tullius Cicero is ‘Cicero’. It tended to be only the grander Romans (originally, the patricians) who had a
cognomen
; very grand Romans might have several, e.g. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica (four
cognomina
). The actual meaning of a
cognomen
(where it had one) might be not at all complimentary (
brutus
and
crassus
mean ‘stupid’;
calvus
, ‘bald’;
strabo
, ‘cross-eyed’;
verrucosus
, ‘covered with warts’).
Cognomina
were sometimes adopted by generals to commemorate their conquests (e.g. Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus). Some prominent Romans had no
cognomen
: Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) did not, though his father was Marcus Antonius Creticus. Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey) started off without one, but became Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (‘Great’) in 81
BC
.

colony
a town, usually in Italy, founded by official authority (for example, by Sulla in 81) and settled by Roman citizens.

conscript fathers
the ancient term for senators, which senators used formally in the senate.

consul
the most senior of the annual magistrates. The two consuls held office for the calendar year, which (in the absence of any numerical system) was named after them. Ex-consuls were called ‘consulars’ and were influential in the senate. Cicero was consul in 63
BC
.

curule magistrates
consuls, praetors, censors, and curule aediles were known as curule magistrates and enjoyed special privileges, including the right to sit on an ivory ‘curule’ chair (
sella curulis
). (Plebeian aediles, such as Cicero, also enjoyed these privileges by 70
BC
.)

dictator
in the early republic, an extraordinary magistrate with supreme powers appointed in an emergency for a maximum of six months. He appointed a deputy who was called Master of the Horse. In the later republic, Sulla and Caesar revived the office for their own ends, Caesar taking it for life. In some other communities, the dictator was simply the chief magistrate.

eques
,
see equites
.

equestrian
,
see equites
.

equites
the members of the Roman upper class who were not senators (originally, the
equites
were the cavalry); there was a property qualification of 400,000 sesterces. Unlike senators,
equites
were permitted to engage in trade, and some were involved in tax-farming in the provinces. The singular is
eques
(‘an
eques
’), the plural
equites
; it is often translated ‘knight’, but in this translation ‘equestrian’ is preferred (‘an equestrian’, ‘the equestrians’, ‘the equestrian order’). Cicero came from
an equestrian, not senatorial, family, and viewed himself as a representative of the
equites
and defender of their interests; but, as a senator, he wished to minimize conflict between the two groups and promote ‘harmony between the orders’ (
concordia ordinum
).

fasces
,
see
lictors
.

federate states
,
see
allies
.

freedman
an ex-slave. A freedman/freedwoman would normally remain a dependant of his/her former master.

legate
a senator serving as an assistant to a general or provincial governor.

lictors
attendants of senior magistrates. A consul had twelve, a praetor six. Each lictor carried
fasces
, a bundle consisting of an axe and some long rods tied together with red straps; the axe and the rods symbolized the right to inflict capital and corporal punishment respectively (though the axe was omitted within Rome, in recognition of Roman citizens’ right of appeal).

magistrate
the holder of a public office (technically, however, tribunes of the plebs were not magistrates). They are listed in T. R. S. Broughton’s
The Magistrates of the Roman Republic
(
see
Select Bibliography).

Master of the Horse
,
see
dictator
.

military tribune
a senior officer in the legions. The tribunes of the first four legions recruited each year were elected by the tribal assembly and enjoyed considerable prestige; those in the other legions were appointed by their commander, and were not necessarily military men.

new man
a
novus homo
, the first man of a family to reach the senate. Cicero was therefore a new man, but Lucius Licinius Murena, being descended from praetors, was not. The senate contained many new men, but few rose high (in the first half of the first century
BC
, only four besides Cicero reached the consulship).

noble
a direct descendant of a consul through the male line. Plebeians as well as patricians might be noble. Cicero was not a noble; his son was.

optimate
an aristocrat of conservative opinions, at the opposite end of the political spectrum from ‘popular’ politicians. Sulla was an optimate, but Marius and Caesar were popular politicians. In the 50s, Cicero wished to broaden the term ‘optimate’ to include all citizens who were concerned for the welfare of their country.

patricians
members of a select group of Roman clans (
gentes
). The distinction dated back to the regal period: it was believed that the patricians were descended from the 100 fathers (
patres
) chosen by Romulus to form the original senate. In early Rome, the patricians monopolized the priesthoods and the political offices, but by the late republic the offices had long been opened up to the plebeians (i.e. non-patricians) and, from a practical point of view, patrician birth brought
more disadvantages than advantages (patricians were ineligible for the offices of tribune of the plebs and plebeian aedile: Clodius had to be adopted into a plebeian family to become tribune). At the end of the republic, only fourteen patrician clans were still in existence. Cicero was not a patrician.

plebeian assembly
the
concilium plebis
(council of the plebs), an assembly consisting of plebeians only and organized on tribal lines (
see
tribal assembly
). It elected tribunes of the plebs and plebeian aediles, and passed plebiscites (which had the force of law from 287
BC
).

plebeians
,
see
patricians
.

pontifex
a member of the College of Pontiffs in charge of Rome’s religious affairs. There were fifteen members, holding office for life, and their head was called the
pontifex maximus
(‘chief pontiff’). Caesar was
pontifex maximus
from 63
BC
until his death. The office of
pontifex maximus
still exists: it is held by the Pope.

popular politician
a politican who set out to win the favour of the people in ways that more conservative politicans (optimates) would consider controversial or objectionable, for example by proposing land redistribution or cheaper grain. The tribunate, with its powers to initiate and veto legislation, was a natural ambition for aspiring popular politicians (e.g. Tiberius Gracchus in 133, Gaius Gracchus in 123 and 122, Saturninus in 103 and 100, and Clodius in 58). The civil conflict which resulted from the growth of popular politics was a major cause of the fall of the republic. Before he reached the consulship Cicero sometimes backed popular causes, for example the appointment of Pompey to the Mithridatic command in 66, but he was always opposed to the more extreme manifestations of popular politics.

praetor
the second most senior of the annual magistrates. In the late republic there were eight praetors each year. The city praetor (
praetor urbanus
) handled civil suits between citizens and the foreign praetor (
praetor peregrinus
) civil suits between citizens and non-citizens; the remaining six praetors presided over the permanent criminal courts (not all the criminal courts were presided over by a praetor). Cicero was praetor in 66
BC
, and presided over the extortion court. After their year of office, praetors regularly went out to govern a province as propraetors (consuls did the same as proconsuls).

prefecture
a district of Italy governed by a magistrate sent out annually from Rome.

private citizen
a Roman citizen not holding a civil or military public office.

proconsul
a magistrate who was not a consul but was given a consul’s authority in order to command an army or govern a province. Similarly,
a propraetor was a magistrate who was not a praetor but was given a praetor’s authority, for the same reasons. A proquaestor was an acting quaestor, appointed by a provincial governor to fill a vacancy in the quaestorship.

propraetor
,
see
proconsul
.

proquaestor
,
see
proconsul
.

quaestor
the most junior of the annual magistrates and the first stage in the ‘sequence of offices’ (
cursus honorum
); ex-quaestors automatically became members of the senate. Twenty quaestors were elected annually (their year of office began on 5 December, not 1 January); the two city quaestors were in charge of the treasury, while the rest were officials, mainly dealing with financial matters, in Italy and the provinces. Cicero was quaestor in 75
BC
, in western Sicily.

rostra
the speaker’s platform in front of the senate-house in the forum. It was named after the
rostra
, the bronze prows which adorned it, taken from warships of Antium (in Latium) captured in 338
BC
.

SCU
,
see
senate
.

senate
the supreme council of the Roman state, consisting of all exmagistrates (except those expelled as unworthy by the censors). The senate passed decrees, advised the magistrates, assigned provinces, negotiated with foreign embassies, and voted funds, but could not legislate. Its most famous (and controversial) decree was the emergency decree (
senatus consultum ultimum
, ‘ultimate decree of the senate’ or ‘SCU’), passed at moments of civil crisis. The 600 or so senators enjoyed a very high social status (and were forbidden to engage in trade), but only a minority were influential in politics: a small number of families predominated. The senate-house was at the north-east corner of the forum, but the senate sometimes met elsewhere.

sesterce
a silver coin, the equivalent of four
asses
.

tax-farmers
publicani
, private businessmen of equestrian rank whose companies leased from the state the right to collect taxes in the provinces. The system varied from province to province. For the most lucrative one, Asia, the state auctioned the right to collect taxes for a period of five years. The company which submitted the highest bid would be awarded the contract: it would pay the agreed amount up-front, and then set about recouping its outlay, plus an element of profit, from the province; the companies had no power, however, to alter the rates of tax, which were set by the state. If a company overestimated the likely revenue and bid too high, as happened towards the end of the Third Mithridatic War (perhaps in 65
BC
), its members could end up heavily out of pocket; in that particular case, the company was, exceptionally, refunded one-third of what it had paid, in 59.

tribal assembly
the
comitia tributa
, an assembly consisting of all Roman citizens divided into thirty five largely territorial ‘tribes’ (four urban and thirty-one rural); it elected the curule aediles, quaestors, and military tribunes, and passed some legislation.

tribe
,
see
tribal assembly
.

tribune (of the plebs)
one of ten annual officers (their year of office began on 10 December, not 1 January) elected to protect the interests of plebeians (the office was closed to patricians). A tribune could initiate legislation, exercise some jurisdiction, and veto any law, senatorial decree, election, or other act of a magistrate—powers which gave the office great political importance. In 81 Sulla removed or curtailed all these powers, and in addition disqualified tribunes from further public office; but the disqualification was removed in 75, and the other powers restored in 70. Tribunes of the plebs are not to be confused with military tribunes or with
tribuni aerarii
.

tribuni aerarii
‘treasury tribunes’, originally treasury officials, but from 70 to 46
BC
one of the three classes of jurors, after senators and
equites
. They may be considered as
equites
; there may have been a lower property qualification.