Varro
Consu nominatus qui consuleret populum et senatum, nisi illinc potius unde Accius1 ait in Bruto:
Qui recte consulat, consul cluat.1
Praetor dictus qui praeiret iure et exercitu; a quo id Lucilius:
Ergo praetorum est ante et praeire.
81. Censor ad cuius censionem, id est arbitrium, censeretur populus. Aedilis qui aedis sacras et privatas procuraret. Quaestores a quaerendo, qui conquirerent publicas pecunias et maleficia, quae triumviri capitales nunc conquirunt; ab his postea qui quaestionum iudicia exercent quaes<i>tores1 dicti. Tribuni militum, quod terni tribus tribubus Ramnium, Lucerum, Titium olim ad exercitum mittebantur. Tribuni plebei, quod ex tribunis militum primum tribuni plebei facti, qui plebem defenderent, in secessione Crustumerina.
82. Dictator, quod a consule dicebatur, cui dicto audientes omnes essent. Magister equitum, quod
On the Latin Language, V
so named as the one who should consulere ‘ask the advice of’ people and senate, unless rather from this fact whence Accius takes it when he says in the Brutusb:
Let him who counsels right, be called the Consul.
The Praetor was so named as the one who should praeire ‘go before’ the lawc and the army; whence Lucilius said thisd:
Then to go out in front and before is the duty of praetors.
81. The Censor was so named as the one at whose censio ‘rating,’ that is, arbitrium ‘judgement,’ the people should be rated. The Aedile, as the one who was to look after aedes ‘buildings’ sacred and private. The Quaestors, from quaerere ‘to seek,’ who conquirerent ‘should seek into’ the public moneys and illegal doings, which the triumviri capitales ‘the prison board’ now investigate; from these, afterwards, those who pronounce judgement on the matters of investigation were named quaesitores ‘inquisitors.’ The Tribunia Militum ‘tribunes of the soldiers,’ because of old there were sent to the army three each on behalf of the three tribes of Ramnes, Luceres, and Tities. The Tribuni Plebei ‘tribunes of the plebs,’ because from among the tribunes of the soldiers tribunes of the plebs were first created,b in the Secession to Crustumerium, for the purpose of defending the plebs ‘populace.’
82. The Dictator, because he was named by the consul as the one to whose dictum ‘order’ all should be obedient.a The Magister Equitum ‘master of the
- bTrag. Rom. Frag. 39 Ribbeck3; R.O.L. ii. 564–565 Warmington.
- clure is dative.
- d1160 Marx.
- aThe tribunus was by etymology merely the ‘man of the tribus or tribe,’ and therefore did not derive his name from the word for ‘three,’ except indirectly; cf. § 55.
- bThat is, elected by the plebeians from among their military tribunes whom they had chosen to lead them in their Secession to the Sacred Mount (which may have lain in the territory of Crustumerium), in 494 b.c. Their persons were sacrosanct, enabling them to carry out their duty of protecting the plebeians against the injustice of the patrician officials.
- aRather, because he dictat ‘gives orders.’