10

the public treasury came into increase, quaestors were appointed for its care, so named from the acquiring and guarding of the money. And since it was not permitted for the magistrates to vote for capital punishment against a Roman citizen, quaestors of parricide were put forward, as if judges and arbiters of those who had killed citizens.” The Romans call murderers of parents and murderers of citizens parricides homonymously, addressing both as *parentes*. But they offer a certain difference in this appellation: for by contracting the first syllable and making it short, they mean parents, but by extending it, they signify subjects. 27 In the two hundred and forty-third year of the consuls, during the consulship of Regulus and Julius, when the Romans decided to make war on the allies of Pyrrhus the 44 Epirote, a fleet was prepared and the so-called *classici* were put forward, as if admirals, twelve quaestors in number, as if treasurers and collectors of money. We have already said in what a quaestor differs from a *quaesitor*. And such a custom and collection of revenues was preserved for both the consuls and the praetors when they went abroad. 28 But concerning the quaestors of the palace, it is not at all difficult to learn from Ulpian the jurist. He speaks thus in his monograph *On the Office of Quaestor*: “except the quaestors who were the Caesar's candidates were exempt; for these were occupied only with the books read before the senate and they served the emperors’ letters.” It is a Roman custom to call those who wear white garments *candidati*. And no one about to read any speech whatsoever, and especially on behalf of the emperors, undertook the reading not wearing white garments; and those about to enter into the magistracies of the provinces were also called *candidati*, because they too went forth wearing white garments, thereby indicating that they would hold office. And a witness to these things is everyone not unacquainted with Roman history. For it is very well known to all that none of the magistrates used any other attire than the festal robe. And that this custom prevailed not only in Rome but also in the provinces I myself remember, as long as the senate-houses administered the cities, with the destruction of which the species were destroyed along with the genus. 29 That so many magistrates governed the affairs of the Romans under the kings for the two hundred and forty-three years for as long as the kings ruled, universal history has handed down; and for the rest, as if in darkness, the name of liberty shone forth.

46 CONCERNING THE CONSULSHIP AND ITS INSIGNIA 30

Greeks call *hypatoi* the high and the great, not having conjectured the true designation of the name; for *consul*, as nature has handed it down to the Italians, signifies not the high one but the chief magistrate. For Consus was considered Poseidon by them; and he is hidden and submarine and, as it pleased the poets, earth-shaker and land-shaker. And if anything is hidden, it is concealed; for this reason deliberations and secret plans are called *consilia* among them from *condere*, as if from "to hide"; and *consul* is the one of secretive mind from taking thought beforehand and, by himself, keeping vigil while considering the common good. For this reason the ancients also call the horse races *Consualia*; for myth calls Poseidon *Hippios*. 31 Such are some things concerning the Italian designation of the consuls. And since no one of all is ignorant of the names of those who first served as consuls, a few things must be said about Brutus. Junius was the man's proper name, but they called him Brutus in the manner of a surname from his feigned foolishness; for in the past the Italians in their native tongue called the foolish man *brutus* from the heaviness of his wits. This man, as I said, feigning simple-mindedness, sought an opportunity to expel Tarquin, the most savage of all tyrants who ever lived.

10

τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον τοῦ δήμου εἰς ἐπίδοσιν ἦλθεν, προεχειρίσθησαν κυαίστωρες ὑπὲρ τῆς αὐτοῦ φροντίδος ἀπὸ τῆς περιποιήσεως καὶ φυλακῆς τῶν χρημάτων οὕτως ὀνομασθέντες. ἐπειδὴ δὲ περὶ κεφαλικῆς τιμωρίας οὐκ ἐξῆν τοῖς ἄρχουσι κατὰ Ῥωμαίου πολίτου ψηφίσασθαι, προεβλήθησαν κυαίστωρες παρρικιδίου, ὡς ἂν εἰ κριταὶ καὶ δικασταὶ τῶν πολίτας ἀνελόντων.» παρρικίδας δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι ὁμωνύμως τούς τε γονέων τούς τε πολιτῶν φονέας ἀποκαλοῦσιν, παρέντης ἑκατέρους προσαγορεύοντες. διαφορὰν δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας ταύτην παρέχουσί τινα· συστέλλοντες γὰρ τὴν πρώτην συλλαβὴν καὶ βραχεῖαν ποιοῦντες τοὺς γονέας, ἐκτείνοντες δὲ τοὺς ὑπηκόους σημαίνουσιν. 27 Τῷ δὲ τρίτῳ καὶ τεσσαρακοστῷ καὶ διακοσιοστῷ τῶν ὑπάτων ἐνιαυτῷ, ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπατείας Ῥηγούλου καὶ Ἰουλίου, κρινάντων Ῥωμαίων πολεμεῖν τοῖς συμμαχήσασι Πύρρῳ τῷ Ἠπει 44 ρώτῃ, κατεσκευάσθη στόλος καὶ προεβλήθησαν οἱ καλούμενοι κλασσικοί, οἷον εἰ ναυάρχαι, τῷ ἀριθμῷ δυοκαίδεκα κυαίστωρες, οἷον ταμίαι καὶ συναγωγεῖς χρημάτων. τίνι δὲ διαφέρει κυαίστωρ κυαισίτωρος προειρήκαμεν. καὶ διεφυλάχθη ἡ τοιαύτη συνήθεια καὶ συναγωγὴ τῶν πόρων τοῖς τε ὑπάτοις τοῖς τε πραίτωρσιν ἐκδημοῦσιν. 28 Περὶ δὲ τῶν τοῦ παλατίου κυαιστώρων πυθέσθαι χαλεπὸν οὐδὲν Οὐλπιανοῦ τοῦ νομικοῦ. λέγει δὲ ὧδε ἐν μονοβίβλῳ Περὶ τῆς τοῦ Κυαίστωρος Τάξεως· «πλὴν ἐξῄρηντο οἱ κυαίστωρες οἱ κανδιδᾶτοι τοῦ Καίσαρος· οὗτοι γὰρ μόνοις τοῖς βιβλίοις τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς βουλῆς ἀναγινωσκομένοις ἐσχόλαζον καὶ ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς τῶν βασιλέων ὑπούργουν.» κανδιδάτους δὲ τοὺς λευχείμονας Ῥωμαίοις ἔθος καλεῖν. οὐδεὶς δὲ λόγον ὅντινα οὖν ἀναγνωσόμενος, καὶ μάλιστα ἐκ προσώπου βασιλέων, μὴ λευχείμων ἐπέβη τῆς ἀναγνώσεως· κανδιδᾶτοι δὲ καὶ οἱ μέλλοντες εἰς ἀρχὰς τῶν ἐπαρχιῶν παριέναι ἐλέγοντο, ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ λευχειμονοῦντες προῄεσαν, ταύτῃ παραδηλοῦντες ὡς ἀρχοντιῶσιν. καὶ τούτων μάρτυς πᾶς ὁ Ῥωμαϊκῆς οὐκ ἄμοιρος ἱστορίας. τὸ γὰρ μηδένα τῶν ἀρχόντων ἑτέρᾳ παρὰ τὴν ἐν ἑορταῖς στολῇ χρήσασθαι πᾶσίν ἐστι γνωριμώτατον. καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥώμης μόνης ἀλλὰ μὴν κἀν ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις τοῦτο κρατῆσαν αὐτὸς ἐγὼ διαμέμνημαι, ἕως ἂν τὰ βουλευτήρια διῴκουν τὰς πόλεις, ὧν ἀπολομένων συνεξώλισθε τοῖς ἐν γένει τὰ ἐν εἴδει. 29 Τοσούτους ἄρχοντας τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἰθῦναι ὑπὸ τοῖς ῥηξὶν ἐπὶ τοὺς τρεῖς καὶ τεσσαράκοντα καὶ διακοσίους ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐφ' ὅσους οἱ ῥῆγες ἐκράτησαν, ἡ καθ' ὅλου ἱστορία παραδέδωκεν· καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ὥσπερ ἐν σκότῳ τὸ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐξέλαμψεν ὄνομα.

46 ΠΕΡῚ ΤΗ͂Σ ὙΠΑΤΕΊΑΣ ΚΑῚ ΤΩ͂Ν ἘΝ ΑΤΗ͂ἘΠΙΣΉΜΩΝ 30

Ὑπάτους Ἕλληνες τοὺς ὑψηλοὺς καὶ μεγάλους λέγουσιν, οὐ στοχασάμενοι

τῆς ἀληθοῦς τοῦ ὀνόματος προσηγορίας· τὸ γὰρ κώνσουλ, ὡς Ἰταλοῖς ἡ φύσις παραδέδωκεν, οὐ τὸν ὑψηλὸν ἀλλὰ τὸν πρύτανιν σημαίνει. Κῶνσος γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὁ Ποσειδῶν ἐνομίσθη· κρύφιος δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ ὑποβρύχιος καί, ὡς τοῖς ποιηταῖς ἤρεσεν, ἐννοσίγαιος καὶ ἐνοσίχθων. εἴ τι δὲ κρύφιον, τοῦτο λεληθός· ταύτῃ καὶ κωνσίλια τὰ βουλεύματα καὶ μυστικὰ σκέμματα λέγεται παρ' ἐκείνοις ἀπὸ τοῦ κόνδερε, οἷον εἰ τοῦ κρύπτειν· καὶ κώνσουλ ὁ κρυψίνους ἀπὸ τοῦ προνοεῖν καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν κοινῶν σκεπτόμενον ἀγρυπνεῖν. ταύτῃ καὶ Κωνσουάλια τὰ ἱπποδρόμια καλοῦσιν οἱ ἀρχαῖοι· Ἵππιον γὰρ ὁ μῦθος τὸν Ποσειδῶνα λέγει. 31 Τοιαῦτα μέν τινα περὶ τῆς Ἰταλικῆς τῶν ὑπάτων προσηγορίας. ὅτι δὲ τῶν πάντων ἠγνόησεν οὐδεὶς τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν πρώτως ὑπατευσάντων, μέτριά τινα περὶ Βρούτου λεκτέον. Ἰούνιος μὲν κύριον ὄνομα τἀνδρὶ γέγονεν, Βροῦτον δὲ αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἐπωνυμίας τρόπον ἔλεγον ἀπὸ τῆς ὑποκεκριμένης αὐτῷ μωρίας· βροῦτον γὰρ τὸν μωρὸν ἐπεχωρίαζον Ἰταλοὶ τὸ πάλαι ἀπὸ τῆς βαρύτητος τῶν φρενῶν. οὗτος, ὡς ἔφην, εὐήθειαν σκηνευόμενος ἐζήτει καιρὸν τὸν Ταρκύνιον, ἄνδρα τῶν πώποτε τυράννων ἀπηνέστατον, ἐξωθῆσαι