a capable man, supported by a powerful following, the guide of the destinies of the state.[1]
The Praetors
We have seen how the functions of civil jurisdiction were given to a minor colleague of the consuls, and how a second colleague was subsequently added to try cases in which the interests of peregrini were involved.[2] The needs for judicial magistrates could not end here. The provinces of Sicily and Sardinia, acquired as a consequence of the first Punic war, required jurisdiction, and two praetors were given them about the year 227 B.C.; two more were added in 198 B.C. for the two newly acquired Spanish provinces, thus bringing up the full number to six. A lex Baebia (circa 180 B.C.) enacted that four and six praetors should be elected in alternate years, probably for the wise purpose of making the praetorian government of the difficult Spanish provinces biennial; but this law was soon suspended, and six praetors continued to be annually elected until the time of Sulla (81 B.C.).[3] It is true that between 198 and 81 many provinces had been added to the Roman Empire; but the principle of administration by pro-magistrates had gained recognition while these were being created; the praetors were becoming, like the consuls, more and more city officials, and the necessity for adding to their number came from the development of the criminal law. At least eight praetors were needed for the presidency of the civil and criminal courts at Rome, and consequently two were added by Sulla to the original six.
The variety of functions performed by the praetors was due to their having a general and a special character. On entering office, after election by the centuries, they were at once, as inferior colleagues of the consuls, capable of any of the duties which flowed from the imperium. They were then assigned some special office, some definite provincia; but the exercise of
- ↑ The consul was the "legitimus tutor" of the state (Cic. post Red. ad Quir. 5, 11) and "quasi parens bonus aut tutor fidelis" (de Or. iii. 1, 3).
- ↑ p. 120.
- ↑ Two praetors for Sicily and Sardinia (Liv. Ep. xx.), two more for the Spanish provinces (Liv. xxxii. 27). For the lex Baebia see Liv. xl. 44. For the restoration of the number six see Vell. ii. 16. Pomponius says that four were added by Sulla (Dig. 1, 2, 2, 32), but eight are found in 47 B.C. (Dio Cass. xlii. 51).
