CHAP. After the Prætorian præfects had been difmiffed XVII. from all military command, the civil functions which they were ordained to exercife over fo many fubject nations, were adequate to the ambition and abilities of the most confummate minifters. To their wifdom was committed the fupreme administration of justice and of the finances, the two objects which, in a ftate of peace, comprehend almost all the refpective duties of the fovereign and of the people; of the former, to protect the citizens who are obedient to the laws; of the latter, to contribute the fhare of their property which is required for the expences of the state. The coin, the highways, the posts, the granaries, the manufactures, whatever could intereft the public profperity, was moderated by the authority of the Prætorian præfects. As the immediate reprefentatives of the Imperial majefty, they were empowered to explain, to enforce, and on fome occafions to modify, the general edicts by their difcretionary proclamations. They watched over the conduct of the provincial go, vernors, removed the negligent, and inflicted punishments on the guilty. From all the inferior jurifdictions, an appeal in every matter of importance, either civil or criminal, might be brought before the tribunal of the præfect; but bis fentence was final and abfolute; and the emperors themselves refused to admit any complaints against the judgment or the integrity of a magi

vinces of the Prætorian præfects, we should frequently have been perplexed amidst the copious details of the Code, and the circumRantial minutenefs of the Notitia.

ftrate whom they honoured with fuch unbounded CHAP. confidence 10° His appointments were fuitable XVII. to his dignity 101; and if avarice was his ruling paffion, he enjoyed frequent opportunities of collecting a rich harvest of fees, of presents, and of perquifites. Though the emperors no longer dreaded the ambition of their præfects, they were attentive to counterbalance the power of this great office by the uncertainty and fhortness of its duration 102.

fects of

nople.

From their fuperior importance and dignity, The pre Rome and Conftantinople were alone excepted Rome and from the jurifdiction of the Prætorian præfects. ContantiThe immenfe fize of the city, and the experience of the tardy, ineffectual operation of the laws, had furnished the policy of Auguftus with a fpecious pretence for introducing a new magiftrate, who alone could restrain a fervile and turbulent popu

100 See a law of Conftantine himself. A præfe&tis autem prætorio provocare, non finimus. Cod. Justinian, 1. vii. tit. Ixii. leg. 19. Charifius, a lawyer of the time of Conftantine (Heinec. Hift. Juris Romani, p. 349.), who admits this law as a fundamental principle of jurifprudence, compares the Prætorian præfects to the mafters of the horfe of the ancient dictators. Pandect. 1. i. tit. xi.

101 When Juftinian, in the exhausted condition of the empire, inftituted a Prætorian præfect for Africa, he allowed him a falary of one hundred pounds of gold. Cod. Juftiniin. l. i. tit. xxvii. leg. 1.

102 For this, and the other dignities of the empire, it may be fufficient to refer to the ample commentaries of Pancirolus and Godefroy, who have diligently collected and accurately digested in their proper order all the legal and historical materials. From those authors, Dr. Howell (Hiftory of the World, vol. ii. p. 24—77.) had deduced a very diftinct abridgement of the state of the Roman empire.

lace

103

CHAP. lace by the ftrong arm of arbitrary power to XVII. Valerius Meffalla was appointed the firft præfect

of Rome, that his reputation might countenance fo inviduous a measure: but, at the end of a few days, that accomplished citizen 104 refigned his office, declaring with a spirit worthy of the friend of Brutus, that he found himself incapable of exercifing a power incompatible with public freedom Iòs. As the sense of liberty became less exquifite, the advantages of order were more clearly understood; and the præfect, who seemed to have been defigned as a terror only to flaves and vagrants, was permitted to extend his civil and criminal jurisdiction over the equestrian and noble families of Rome. The prætors, annually created as the judges of law and equity, could not long dispute the poffeffion of the Forum with a vigor

103 Tacit. Annal. vi. 11. Eufeb. in Chron. p. 155. Dion Caffius, in the oration of Mecenas (1. vii. p. 675.), describes the prerogatives of the præfect of the city as they were established in his own time.

104 The fame of Meffalla has been fcarcely equal to his merit. In the earliest youth he was recommended by Cicero to the friendfhip of Brutus. He followed the ftandard of the republic till it was broken in the fields of Philippi: he then accepted and deferved the favour of the most moderate of the conquerors; and uniformly afferted his freedom and dignity in the court of Auguftus. The triumph of Meffalla was juftified by the conquest of Aquitain. As an orator, he disputed the palm of eloquence with Cicero himflf. Meffalla cultivated every mufe, and was the patron of every man of genius. He spent his evenings in philofophic converfation with Horace; affumed his place at table between Delia and Tibullus; and amused his leisure by encouraging the poetical talents young Ovid.

of

10s Incivilem effe poteftatem conteftans, fays the tranflator of Eufebius. Tacitus expreffes the fame idea in other words: quaf nefcius exercendi.

ous and permanent magiftrate, who was ufually CHAP. admitted into the confidence of the prince. Their XVII. courts were deferted, their number, which had once fluctuated between twelve and eighteen 106, was gradually reduced to two or three, and their important functions were confined to the expenfive obligation 107 of exhibiting games for the amusement of the people. After the office of the Roman confuls had been changed into a vain pageant, which was rarely difplayed in the capital, the præfects affumed their vacant place in the fenate, and were foon acknowledged as the ordinary prefidents of that venerable affembly. They received appeals from the distance of one hundred miles; and it was allowed as a principle of jurisprudence, that all municipal authority was derived from them alone 109. In the discharge of his laborious employment, the governor of Rome was affifted by fifteen officers, fome of whom had been originally his equals, or even his fuperiors. The principal departments were relative to the command of a numerous watch established as a

106 See Lipfius, Excurfus D. ad 1 lib. Tacit. Annal.

107 Heineccii Element. Juris Civilis fecund. ordinem Pandect. tom. i. p. 70. See likewife Spanheim de Ufu Numifmatum, tom. ii. differtat. x. p. 119. In the year 450, Marcian published a law, that three citizens should be annually created Prætors of Constantinople by the choice of the fenate, but with their own confent. Cod. Juftinian. 1. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 2.

108 Quidquid igitur intra urbem admittitur, ad P. U. videtur pertinere; fed et fiquid intra centefimum milliarium. Ulpian in Pandect. 1. i. tit. xiii. n. 1. He proceeds to enumerate the various offices of the præfect, who, in the code of Juftinan (1. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 3.), is declared to precede and command all city magistrates, fine injuriâ ac detrimento honoris alieni.

fafeguard

XVII.

CHAP. fafeguard against fires, robberies, and nocturnal disorders; the custody and diftribution of the public allowance of corn and provifions; the care of the port, of the aqueducts, of the common fewers, and of the navigation and bed of the Tyber; the inspection of the markets, the theatres, and of the private as well as public works. Their vigilance enfured the three principal objects of a regular police, fafety, plenty, and cleanlinefs; and as a proof of the attention of government to preserve the splendour and ornaments of the capital, a particular infpector was appointed for the ftatues; the guardian, as it were, of that inanimate people, which, according to the extravagant computation of an old writer, was fcarcely inferior in number to the living inhabitants of Rome. About thirty years after the foundation of Conftantinople, a fimilar magistrate was created in that rifing metropolis, for the fame ufes, and with the fame powers. A perfect equality was established between the dignity of the two municipal, and that of the four prætorian, præfects 109.

The pro

vice-præ

Thofe who, in the Imperial hierarchy, were confuls, diftinguished by the title of Refpectable, formed an fects, &c. intermediate clafs between the illuftrious præfects and the honourable magiftrates of the provinces. In this clafs the proconfuls of Afia, Achaia, and Africa, claimed a pre-eminence, which was yield

169 Befides our ufual guides, we may obferve, that Felix Can telorius has written a separate treatife, De Præfecto Urbis; and that many curious details concerning the police of Rome and Conantinople are contained in the fourteenth book of the Theodofian Code.

ed