Government by Committee

Rome under Augustus



 

Committee:
Establishment:
References:
Roads Commission from 20 B.C. Dio 54. 8.5
Temples and Public Buildings
Curatores aedium sacrarum et operum locorumque publicorum
  ILS 5939
Aqueducts
Curatores aquarum (Messalla Corvinus was the first President)
after 12 B.C. Frontinus II. 98-104
Banks of the Tiber
Curatores riparum (consuls of 8 B.C.)
ca. 15 A.D. Tacitus Annales I. 79
Economy Commission from 6 A.D. Dio 55. 25.6
Rome's food supply
2 Curatores annonae; an Equestrian Praefectus annonae
  Tacitus Annales I. 7
Extortion Court
4 consulares, 3 praetorii, and two other senators
4 B.C. Cyrene Edicts V.
Committee of Consulars on Foreign Affairs   Dio 55. 33.5
     

The Cyrene Edicts: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum IX. 8:

V. ....

Decree of the Senate [ de rebus repetundis ]:

Whereas the consuls Gaius Calvisius Sabinus and Lucius Passienus Rufus (coss. 4 B.C.) spoke . . . .

... In order that the cases of those bringing such charges in the Senate may be heard, the magistrate who grants them access to the Senate shall the same day, in the presence of the Senate, with not less than two hundred being present, choose by lot four from all those of consular rank wo are in Rome itself or within twenty miles of the City; likewise, three from all those of praetorian rank who are in Rome itself or within twenty miles of the City; likewise, two from all the other senators and those possessing the right to voice opinion in the Senate who are then either in Rome or less than twenty miles from the City. But he shall not choose anyone who is seventy years of age or over, or is the incumbent of a magistracy or an authority, or presiding officer of a law court, or commissioner of grain distribution, or anyone prevented by illness from performing this duty, who excuses himself on oath before the Senate and presents three members of the Senate who attest to this on oath, or anyone who is so closely related by consanguinity or affinity to the accused that he may not, in accordance with the Julian Judiciary Law, be compelled to give evidence in a public action against his will; or anyone who the accused swears before the Senate is hostile to him (but he shall not by oath eliminate more than three persons). From the nine selected in this way, the magistrate who draws the lots shall see to it that, within two days, those claiming the money and the person from whom they claim it make rejections alternately until five [panelists] are left. If any of these judges dies before the case is decided, or some other cause prevents him from rendering his decision, and his excuse is approved by the sworn statement of five members of the Senate, then the magistrate, in the presence of the judges and of those claiming the money and the person from whom they claim it, shall again choose by lot from those members who are of the same rank or have held the same magistracies as the man who is being replaced, provided that he does not thus choose a member of the Senate who may not by this Decree of the Senate be chosen to try the accused.
              The judges chosen shall hear and inquire into only those cases in which a man is accused of having appropriated money from a community or from private parties; and, rendering their decision within thirty days, they shall order the man to restore such sum of money, public or private, as the accusers prove was taken from them. Those whose duty it is to inquire into and pronounce judgment in these cases shall, until they complete the inquiry and pronounce their judgment, be exempted from all public duties except public worship....

 


January 24, 2010 3:11 PM

John Paul Adams, CSUN
john.p.adams@csun.edu

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