Part 23 (2/2)

CENSORS.

There were two Censors, chosen from Ex-Consuls, and they held office for eighteen months. They were elected once every five years, this period being called a _l.u.s.trum_. They ranked as higher magistrates without possessing the _imperium_. Their duties were:

(1) To take the census, i.e. register the citizens and their amount of property, and to fill all vacancies in the Senate. (2) To have a general oversight of the finances, like our Secretary of the Treasury; to contract for the erecting of public buildings, and for the making or repairing of public roads, sewers, etc.; to let out the privilege of collecting the taxes, for five years, to the highest bidder.(Footnote: In the intervals of the censors.h.i.+p, the duties under (2) fell to the Aediles. ) (3) To punish gross immorality by removal of the guilty parties from the Senate, the Equites, or the tribe.

DICTATOR.

In cases of great danger the Senate called upon the Consuls to appoint a Dictator, who should possess supreme power, but whose tenure of office could never exceed six months. In later times Dictators were not appointed, but Consuls were invested with the authority if it was thought necessary. Sulla and Caesar, however, revived the office, but changed its tenure, the latter holding it for life.

MAGISTER EQUITUM.

This was an officer appointed by the Dictator, to stand next in authority to him, and act as a sort of Vice-Dictator.

PONTIFICES.

The priests formed a body (_collegium_) of fifteen members, at the head of whom was the Pontifex Maximus (high priest). Their tenure of office was for life, and they were responsible to no one in the discharge of their duties. Their influence was necessarily very great.

IMPERIUM.

This was a power to command the armies, and to exercise judicial functions conferred upon a magistrate (Dictator, Consul, or Praetor) by a special law pa.s.sed by the Comitia Curiata. The _Imperium_ could be exercised only outside of the city walls (_pomoerium_), except by special permission of the Senate for the purpose of celebrating a triumph. The one receiving the _Imperium_ was called IMPERATOR.

POTESTAS.

This was the power, in general, which _all_ magistrates possessed.

CHAPTER XLVI. HOUSES, CUSTOMS, INSt.i.tUTIONS, ETC.

The private houses of the Romans were poor affairs until after the conquest of the East, when money began to pour into the city. Many houses of immense size were then erected, adorned with columns, paintings, statues, and costly works of art. Some of these houses are said to have cost as much as two million dollars.

The princ.i.p.al parts of a Roman house were the _Vestibulum_, _Ostium_, _Atrium_, _Alae_, _Tablinum_, _Fauces_, and _Peristylium_. The VESTIBULUM was a court surrounded by the house on three sides, and open on the fourth to the street. The OSTIUM corresponded in general to our front hall. From it a door opened into the ATRIUM, which was a large room with an opening in the centre of its roof, through which the rain-water was carried into a cistern placed in the floor under the opening. To the right and left of the Atrium were side rooms called the ALAE, and the TABLiNUM was a balcony attached to it. The pa.s.sages from the Atrium to the interior of the house were called FAUCES.

The PERISTYLIUM, towards which these pa.s.sages ran, was an open court surrounded by columns, decorated with flowers and shrubs. It was somewhat larger than the Atrium.

The floors were covered with stone, marble, or mosaics. The walls were lined with marble slabs, or frescoed, while the ceilings were either bare, exposing the beams, or, in the finer houses, covered with ivory, gold, and frescoing.

The main rooms were lighted from above; the side rooms received their light from these, and not through windows looking into the street. The windows of rooms in upper stories were not supplied with gla.s.s until the time of the Empire. They were merely openings in the wall, covered with lattice-work. To heat a room, portable stoves were generally used, in which charcoal was burned. There were no chimneys, and the smoke pa.s.sed out through the windows or the openings in the roofs.

The rooms of the wealthy were furnished with great splendor. The walls were frescoed with scenes from Greek mythology, landscapes, etc. In the vestibules were fine sculptures, costly marble walls, and doors ornamented with gold, silver, and rare sh.e.l.ls. There were expensive rugs from the East, and, in fact, everything that could be obtained likely to add to the attractiveness of the room.

Candles were used in early times, but later the wealthy used lamps, which were made of terra-cotta or bronze. They were mostly oval, flat on the top, often with figures in relief. In them were one or more round holes to admit the wick. They either rested on tables, or were suspended by chains from the ceiling.

<script>