Political Speeches (Glossary), Cicero

GLOSSARY
aedile the third of the annual magistrates, below consul and praetor. There were
four aediles, two curule and two plebeian; they were responsible for city
administration, the corn supply, and for putting on public games. Cicero was
plebeian aedile in 69 BC, and gave three sets of games.
allies the socii or ‘federate states’, native communities, in Italy or overseas (e.g.
in Sicily), linked to Rome by treaties of alliance; they provided Rome with
troops and received certain benefits in return. In 91–87 BC the Italian allies
rebelled against Rome in the Social War (the war against the socii) and won
their goal of Roman citizenship and incorporation within the Roman state.
augur a member of the College of Augurs, the official interpreters of religious

auspices (sacred signs or omens revealing the gods’ approval or disapproval
of an action contemplated or in progress). When an augur announced that
an omen was unfavourable, the action that was in progress (e.g. the passage
of a law, or an election) would be suspended. As with the College of Pontiffs,
there were fifteen members, all high-ranking aristocrats. Cicero was elected
to membership in 53 (or 52) BC.
auspices, see augur.

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Campus Martius the ‘Plain of Mars’, a flood plain to the north-west of the city,
between the Capitol and the Tiber. It was used for military training, for
elections, and as the place where the census was taken. In Cicero’s time it
was already starting to be built over.
censor one of two magistrates elected every five years for a maximum period of
eighteen months. They conducted the census (register of names, ages, and
property of all adult male citizens), and revised the list of senators and
equites by excluding the unworthy; they also leased out the right to collect
taxes and acted as guardians of public morals. The office was of great
Cicero. Political Speeches, Oxford University Press, UK, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/brooklyn-ebooks/detail.action?docID=422411.
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importance and prestige, and was normally held by ex-consuls.
centuriate assembly the comitia centuriata, an assembly consisting of all Roman

citizens divided into 193 ‘centuries’ (military units), grouped into five census
classes based on wealth; it elected the consuls, praetors, and censors, and
occasionally passed legislation (it passed the law recalling Cicero from exile
in 57 BC). The centuries were unequally composed so as to give greater
voting power to the rich, and the voting system also favoured the rich. A
result was usually declared before the poorest citizens had had the
opportunity to vote.
century, see centuriate assembly.
cognomen the third component of a Roman’s name, serving to differentiate

different branches of a clan (gens), and usually hereditary; the cognomen of
Marcus Tullius Cicero is ‘Cicero’. It tended to be only the grander Romans
(originally, the patricians) who had a cognomen; very grand Romans might
have several, e.g. Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica (four
cognomina). The actual meaning of a cognomen (where it had one) might be
not at all complimentary (brutus and crassus mean ‘stupid’; calvus, ‘bald’;
strabo, ‘cross-eyed’; verrucosus, ‘covered with warts’). Cognomina were
sometimes adopted by generals to commemorate their conquests (e.g.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus). Some prominent
Romans had no cognomen: Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) did not, though
his father was Marcus Antonius Creticus. Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey) started
off without one, but became Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (‘Great’) in 81 BC.
colony a town, usually in Italy, founded by official authority (for example, by

Sulla in 81) and settled by Roman citizens.
conscript fathers the ancient term for senators, which senators used formally in
the senate.
consul the most senior of the annual magistrates. The two consuls held office for
the calendar year, which (in the absence of any numerical system) was
named after them. Ex-consuls were called ‘consulars’ and were influential in
the senate. Cicero was consul in 63 BC.
curule magistrates consuls, praetors, censors, and curule aediles were known as
curule magistrates and enjoyed special privileges, including the right to sit
on an ivory ‘curule’ chair (sella curulis). (Plebeian aediles, such as Cicero,
also enjoyed these privileges by 70 BC.)
dictator in the early republic, an extraordinary magistrate with supreme powers

appointed in an emergency for a maximum of six months. He appointed a
deputy who was called Master of the Horse. In the later republic, Sulla and
Caesar revived the office for their own ends, Caesar taking it for life. In
some other communities, the dictator was simply the chief magistrate.
eques, see equites.
equestrian, see equites.
equites the members of the Roman upper class who were not senators
(originally, the equites were the cavalry); there was a property qualification
of 400,000 sesterces. Unlike senators, equites were permitted to engage in
trade, and some were involved in tax-farming in the provinces. The singular
is eques (‘an eques’), the plural equites; it is often translated ‘knight’, but in
this translation ‘equestrian’ is preferred (‘an equestrian’, ‘the equestrians’,
‘the equestrian order’). Cicero came from an equestrian, not senatorial,

family, and viewed himself as a representative of the equites and defender of
their interests; but, as a senator, he wished to minimize conflict between the
two groups and promote ‘harmony between the orders’ (concordia ordinum).
fasces, see lictors.
federate states, see allies.
freedman an ex-slave. A freedman/freedwoman would normally remain a

dependant of his/her former master.
legate a senator serving as an assistant to a general or provincial governor.
lictors attendants of senior magistrates. A consul had twelve, a praetor six. Each
lictor carried fasces, a bundle consisting of an axe and some long rods tied
together with red straps; the axe and the rods symbolized the right to inflict
capital and corporal punishment respectively (though the axe was omitted
within Rome, in recognition of Roman citizens’ right of appeal).
magistrate the holder of a public office (technically, however, tribunes of the

plebs were not magistrates). They are listed in T. R. S. Broughton’s The
Magistrates of the Roman Republic (see Select Bibliography).
Master of the Horse, see dictator.
military tribune a senior officer in the legions. The tribunes of the first four
legions recruited each year were elected by the tribal assembly and enjoyed
considerable prestige; those in the other legions were appointed by their
commander, and were not necessarily military men.
new man a novus homo, the first man of a family to reach the senate. Cicero was
therefore a new man, but Lucius Licinius Murena, being descended from
praetors, was not. The senate contained many new men, but few rose high
(in the first half of the first century BC, only four besides Cicero reached the
consulship).
noble a direct descendant of a consul through the male line. Plebeians as well as
patricians might be noble. Cicero was not a noble; his son was.
optimate an aristocrat of conservative opinions, at the opposite end of the

political spectrum from ‘popular’ politicians. Sulla was an optimate, but
Marius and Caesar were popular politicians. In the 50s, Cicero wished to
broaden the term ‘optimate’ to include all citizens who were concerned for
the welfare of their country.
patricians members of a select group of Roman clans (gentes). The distinction

dated back to the regal period: it was believed that the patricians were
descended from the 100 fathers (patres) chosen by Romulus to form the
original senate. In early Rome, the patricians monopolized the priesthoods
and the political offices, but by the late republic the offices had long been
opened up to the plebeians (i.e. non-patricians) and, from a practical point
of view, patrician birth brought more disadvantages than advantages
(patricians were ineligible for the offices of tribune of the plebs and plebeian
aedile: Clodius had to be adopted into a plebeian family to become tribune).
At the end of the republic, only fourteen patrician clans were still in
existence. Cicero was not a patrician.
plebeian assembly the concilium plebis (council of the plebs), an assembly

consisting of plebeians only and organized on tribal lines (see tribal
assembly). It elected tribunes of the plebs and plebeian aediles, and passed
plebiscites (which had the force of law from 287 BC).
plebeians, see patricians.
pontifex a member of the College of Pontiffs in charge of Rome’s religious

affairs. There were fifteen members, holding office for life, and their head
was called the pontifex maximus (‘chief pontiff’). Caesar was pontifex
maximus from 63 BC until his death. The office of pontifex maximus still exists:
it is held by the Pope.
popular politician a politican who set out to win the favour of the people in
ways that more conservative politicans (optimates) would consider

controversial or objectionable, for example by proposing land redistribution
or cheaper grain. The tribunate, with its powers to initiate and veto
legislation, was a natural ambition for aspiring popular politicians (e.g.
Tiberius Gracchus in 133, Gaius Gracchus in 123 and 122, Saturninus in 103
and 100, and Clodius in 58). The civil conflict which resulted from the
growth of popular politics was a major cause of the fall of the republic.
Before he reached the consulship Cicero sometimes backed popular causes,
for example the appointment of Pompey to the Mithridatic command in 66,
but he was always opposed to the more extreme manifestations of popular
politics.
praetor the second most senior of the annual magistrates. In the late republic
there were eight praetors each year. The city praetor (praetor urbanus)
handled civil suits between citizens and the foreign praetor (praetor
peregrinus) civil suits between citizens and non-citizens; the remaining six
praetors presided over the permanent criminal courts (not all the criminal
courts were presided over by a praetor). Cicero was praetor in 66 BC, and
presided over the extortion court. After their year of office, praetors
regularly went out to govern a province as propraetors (consuls did the
same as proconsuls).
prefecture a district of Italy governed by a magistrate sent out annually from

Rome.
private citizen a Roman citizen not holding a civil or military public office.
proconsul a magistrate who was not a consul but was given a consul’s authority
in order to command an army or govern a province. Similarly, a propraetor
was a magistrate who was not a praetor but was given a praetor’s authority,
for the same reasons. A proquaestor was an acting quaestor, appointed by a
provincial governor to fill a vacancy in the quaestorship.
propraetor, see proconsul.

proquaestor, see proconsul.
quaestor the most junior of the annual magistrates and the first stage in the
‘sequence of offices’ (cursus honorum); ex-quaestors automatically became
members of the senate. Twenty quaestors were elected annually (their year
of office began on 5 December, not 1 January); the two city quaestors were
in charge of the treasury, while the rest were officials, mainly dealing with
financial matters, in Italy and the provinces. Cicero was quaestor in 75 BC, in
western Sicily.
rostra the speaker’s platform in front of the senate-house in the forum. It was
named after the rostra, the bronze prows which adorned it, taken from
warships of Antium (in Latium) captured in 338 BC.
SCU, see senate.
senate the supreme council of the Roman state, consisting of all exmagistrates
(except those expelled as unworthy by the censors). The senate passed
decrees, advised the magistrates, assigned provinces, negotiated with foreign
embassies, and voted funds, but could not legislate. Its most famous (and
controversial) decree was the emergency decree (senatus consultum ultimum,
‘ultimate decree of the senate’ or ‘SCU’), passed at moments of civil crisis.
The 600 or so senators enjoyed a very high social status (and were forbidden
to engage in trade), but only a minority were influential in politics: a small
number of families predominated. The senate-house was at the north-east
corner of the forum, but the senate sometimes met elsewhere.
sesterce a silver coin, the equivalent of four asses.
tax-farmers publicani, private businessmen of equestrian rank whose companies

leased from the state the right to collect taxes in the provinces. The system
varied from province to province. For the most lucrative one, Asia, the state
auctioned the right to collect taxes for a period of five years. The company
which submitted the highest bid would be awarded the contract: it would pay
the agreed amount up-front, and then set about recouping its outlay, plus an
element of profit, from the province; the companies had no power, however,
to alter the rates of tax, which were set by the state. If a company
overestimated the likely revenue and bid too high, as happened towards the
end of the Third Mithridatic War (perhaps in 65 BC), its members could end
up heavily out of pocket; in that particular case, the company was,
exceptionally, refunded one-third of what it had paid, in 59.
tribal assembly the comitia tributa, an assembly consisting of all Roman citizens
divided into thirty five largely territorial ‘tribes’ (four urban and thirty-one
rural); it elected the curule aediles, quaestors, and military tribunes, and
passed some legislation.
tribe, see tribal assembly.
tribune (of the plebs) one of ten annual officers (their year of office began on
10 December, not 1 January) elected to protect the interests of plebeians
(the office was closed to patricians). A tribune could initiate legislation,
exercise some jurisdiction, and veto any law, senatorial decree, election, or
other act of a magistrate—powers which gave the office great political
importance. In 81 Sulla removed or curtailed all these powers, and in
addition disqualified tribunes from further public office; but the
disqualification was removed in 75, and the other powers restored in 70.
Tribunes of the plebs are not to be confused with military tribunes or with
tribuni aerarii.
tribuni aerarii ‘treasury tribunes’, originally treasury officials, but from 70 to 46

BC one of the three classes of jurors, after senators and equites. They may be
considered as equites; there may have been a lower property qualification.


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GLOSSARY

augur a member of the College of Augurs, the official interpreters of religious

auspices, see augur.

centuriate assembly the comitia centuriata, an assembly consisting of all Roman

century, see centuriate assembly.

cognomen the third component of a Roman’s name, serving to differentiate

colony a town, usually in Italy, founded by official authority (for example, by

dictator in the early republic, an extraordinary magistrate with supreme powers

eques, see equites.

equestrian, see equites.

‘the equestrian order’). Cicero came from an equestrian, not senatorial,

fasces, see lictors.

federate states, see allies.

freedman an ex-slave. A freedman/freedwoman would normally remain a

magistrate the holder of a public office (technically, however, tribunes of the

Master of the Horse, see dictator.

optimate an aristocrat of conservative opinions, at the opposite end of the

patricians members of a select group of Roman clans (gentes). The distinction

plebeian assembly the concilium plebis (council of the plebs), an assembly

plebeians, see patricians.

pontifex a member of the College of Pontiffs in charge of Rome’s religious

ways that more conservative politicans (optimates) would consider

prefecture a district of Italy governed by a magistrate sent out annually from

propraetor, see proconsul.

proquaestor, see proconsul.

SCU, see senate.

sesterce a silver coin, the equivalent of four asses.

tax-farmers publicani, private businessmen of equestrian rank whose companies

tribe, see tribal assembly.

tribuni aerarii ‘treasury tribunes’, originally treasury officials, but from 70 to 46

considered as equites; there may have been a lower property qualification.

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