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Censor (ancient Rome)



 
 
A Censor was a magistrate of high rank in the ancient Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
. This position (called censura) was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality
Public morality

Public morality refers to morality enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the content of the Mass media, and to conduct in public places....
, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances.

The censors' regulation of public morality is the origin of the modern meaning of the words "censor" and "censorship."

census was first instituted by Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius was the sixth legendary Roman king of ancient Rome and the second king of the Etruria dynasty. The traditional dates of his reign are 578-535 BC....
, sixth king of Rome
King of Rome

The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. The kings, excluding Romulus who held office by his virtue as the city's founder, were all elected by the people of Rome to serve for life, with none of the kings relying on military force to gain the throne....
.






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A Censor was a magistrate of high rank in the ancient Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
. This position (called censura) was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality
Public morality

Public morality refers to morality enforced in a society, by law or police work or social pressure, and applied to public life, to the content of the Mass media, and to conduct in public places....
, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances.

The censors' regulation of public morality is the origin of the modern meaning of the words "censor" and "censorship."

Creation of the rank

The census was first instituted by Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius was the sixth legendary Roman king of ancient Rome and the second king of the Etruria dynasty. The traditional dates of his reign are 578-535 BC....
, sixth king of Rome
King of Rome

The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. The kings, excluding Romulus who held office by his virtue as the city's founder, were all elected by the people of Rome to serve for life, with none of the kings relying on military force to gain the throne....
. After the expulsion of the kings and the founding of the Republic
Republic

A republic is a state or country that is not led by a hereditary monarch but in which the people have an impact on its government. The word originates from the Latin term res publica....
, the census was taken over by consul
Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
s until 443 BC. In 442 BC, no consuls were elected, but rather military tribune
Military tribune

A Military tribune is both a military officer of the Roman Legion and an official of the Roman State.In the Roman Republican period, there were six appointed to each legion....
s with consular power were appointed in their stead; the plebeians were attempting to attain higher magistracies (since only patricians could be consuls, while some military tribunes were plebeians). To stop the plebeians from possibly gaining control of the census, the patrician
Patrician

The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elitism citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West....
s removed the consuls' -and consequently their representatives, the tribunes- right to take the census, and entrusted it to two magistrates, called censores (English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 censors), who were to be chosen exclusively from the patrician
Patrician

The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elitism citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West....
s in Rome.

The magistracy continued to be controlled by patrician
Patrician

The term "patrician" originally referred to a group of elitism citizens in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire became a term for Byzantine Imperial governors in the West....
s until 351 BC, when Gaius Marcius Rutilus
Gaius Marcius Rutilus

Gaius Marcius Rutilus was the first plebeian Roman dictator and Censor of ancient Rome, and consul four times.He was first elected consul in 357 BC, then appointed as dictator the following year in order to deal with an invasion by the Etruscans....
 was appointed the first plebeian censor. Twelve years afterwards in 339 BC, one of the Publilian laws required that one censor had to be a plebeian. Despite this, no plebeian censor performed the solemn purification of the people (the "lustrum"; Livy Periochae 13) until 280 BC. In 131 BC, for the first time, both censors were plebeians.

There were always two censors, because the two consuls had previously taken the census together. If one of the censors died during the time of his office, another had to be chosen to replace him, just as with consuls. This, however, happened only once, in 393 BC—the Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
s captured Rome in this lustrum (five-year period), so the Romans regarded it as "an offense against religion" thereafter. From then on, if one of the censors died, his colleague resigned, and two new censors were chosen to replace them.

Election

The censors were elected in the Centuriate Assembly, which met under the presidency of a consul. Barthold Niebuhr
Barthold Georg Niebuhr

Barthold Georg Niebuhr was a Germany statesman and historian....
 suggests that the censors were at first elected by the Curiate Assembly
Curiate Assembly

The Curiate Assembly was the principal assembly during the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these first decades, the People of Rome were organized into thirty units called "Curia"....
, and that the Assembly's selections were confirmed by the Centuriate; but William Smith
William Smith (lexicographer)

Sir William Smith , was a distinguished English lexicographer....
 believes that "there is no authority for this supposition, and the truth of it depends entirely upon the correctness of [Niebuhr's] views respecting the election of the consuls". Both censors had to be elected on the same day, and accordingly if the voting for the second was not finished in the same day, the election of the first was invalidated, and a new assembly had to be held.

The assembly for the election of the censors was held under different auspice
Auspice

An auspice is a type of omen already familiar to the king of Alasia in Cyprus who, in the Amarna correspondence has need of an 'eagle diviner' to be sent from Egypt....
s from those at the election of the consuls and praetor
Praetor

Praetor was a Title#Titles_for_heads_of_state granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, either before it was mustered or more typically in the field, or an elected Magistratus assigned duties that varied depending on the historical period....
s, so the censors were not regarded as their colleagues, although they likewise possessed the maxima auspicia. The assembly was held by the new consuls shortly after they began their term of office; and the censors, as soon as they were elected and the censorial power had been granted to them by a decree of the Centuriate Assembly (lex centuriata), were fully installed in their office.

As a general principle, the only ones eligible for the office of censor were those who had previously been consuls, but there were a few exceptions. At first, there was no law to prevent a person being censor twice, but the only person who was elected to the office twice was Gaius Marcius Rutilus
Gaius Marcius Rutilus

Gaius Marcius Rutilus was the first plebeian Roman dictator and Censor of ancient Rome, and consul four times.He was first elected consul in 357 BC, then appointed as dictator the following year in order to deal with an invasion by the Etruscans....
 in 265 BC. In that year, he originated a law stating that no one could be elected censor twice. In consequence of this, he received the surname
Cognomen

The cognomen was originally a middle name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary ....
 of Censorinus.

Attributes

The censorship differed from all other Roman magistracies in the length of office. The censors were originally chosen for a whole lustrum (the period of five years), but as early as ten years after its institution (433 BC) their office was limited to eighteen months by a law of the dictator
Roman dictator

Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. The dictator was above the three branches of government in the constitution of the Roman Republic as no other body or officer could check his power....
 Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus. The censors were also unique with respect to rank and dignity. They had no imperium
Imperium

Imperium in a broad sense translates as 'Power '. In ancient Rome the concept applied to people and meant something like 'power status' or 'authority' or could be used with a geographical connotation and meant something like 'territory'....
, and accordingly no lictor
Lictor

The lictor, derived from the Latin ligare , was a member of a special class of Rome civil servant, with special tasks of attending and guarding magistrates of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire who held imperium; essentially, a bodyguard....
s. Their rank was granted to them by the Centuriate Assembly, and not by the curia
Curia

A curia in early Ancient Rome times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs....
e
, and in that respect they were inferior in power to the consuls and praetors.

Notwithstanding this, the censorship was regarded as the highest dignity in the state, with the exception of the dictatorship; it was a "sacred magistracy" (sanctus magistratus), to which the deepest reverence was due. The high rank and dignity which the censorship obtained was due to the various important duties gradually entrusted to it, and especially to its possessing the regimen morum, or general control over the conduct and the morals of the citizens. In the exercise of this power, they were regulated solely by their own views of duty, and were not responsible to any other power in the state.

The censors possessed of course the "curule chair
Curule chair

According to Livy the curule seat , like the Toga, originated in Etruria, and it has been used on surviving Etruscan monuments to identify magistrates, but much earlier stools supported on a cross-frame are known from the New Kingdom of Egypt....
" (sella curulis), but there is some doubt with respect to their official dress. A well-known passage of Polybius describes the use of the imagines at funerals; we may conclude that a consul or praetor wore the purple-bordered toga praetexta, one who triumphed the embroidered toga picta, and the censor a purple toga peculiar to him; but other writers speak of their official dress as being the same as that of the other higher magistrates. The funeral of a censor was always conducted with great pomp and splendour, and hence a "censorial funeral" (funus censorium) was voted even to the emperors.

Abolition

The censorship continued in existence for 421 years, from 443 BC to 22 BC; but during this period many lustra passed by without any censor being chosen at all. According to one statement, the office was abolished by Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Although the authority on which this statement rests is not of much weight, the fact itself is probable, since there was no census during the two lustra which elapsed from Sulla's dictatorship to Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey)
Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'p?mpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman Republic....
's first consulship (82
82 BC

Year 82 BC was a year of the Roman calendar....
–70 BC), and any strict "imposition of morals" would have been found inconvenient to the aristocracy that supported Sulla.

If the censorship was done away with by Sulla, it was at any rate restored in the consulship of Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman Republic general and politician who commanded Sulla's decisive victory at Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the Slavery revolt led by Spartacus and entered into a secret pact, known as the First Triumvirate, with Pompey and Julius Caesar....
. Its power was limited by one of the laws of the tribune Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher , was a Roman Republic politician of the Populares cause, who passed several significant laws but was chiefly remembered for his feuds with Titus Annius Milo and Marcus Tullius Cicero and for his introduction of the grain dole....
 (58 BC), which prescribed certain regular forms of proceeding before the censors in expelling a person from the Roman Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
, and required that the censors be in agreement to exact this punishment. This law, however, was repealed in the third consulship of Pompey in 52 BC, on the urging of his colleague Caecilius Metellus Scipio
Caecilii Metelli

The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most important and wealthiest families in the Ancient Rome Roman Republic. They were nobles, although of plebeian, not of patrician stock....
, but the office of the censorship never recovered its former power and influence.

During the civil wars which followed soon afterwards, no censors were elected; it was only after a long interval that they were again appointed, namely in 22 BC, when Augustus caused Lucius Munatius Plancus
Lucius Munatius Plancus

Lucius Munatius Plancus was a Roman Senate, consul in 42 BC, and Censor in 22 BC with Aemilius Lepidus Paullus. Along with Talleyrand eighteen centuries later, he is one of the classic historical examples of men who have managed to survive very dangerous circumstances by constantly shifting their allegiances....
 and Aemilius Lepidus Paullus
Aemilius Lepidus Paullus

Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus was a member of the Roman Senate. Paullus was a member of the Aemilius. He was grandson to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Appuleia through their son Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus....
 to fill the office. This was the last time that such magistrates were appointed; the emperors in future discharged the duties of their office under the name of Praefectura Morum ("prefect of the morals").

Some of the emperors sometimes took the name of censor when they held a census of the Roman people; this was the case with Claudius
Claudius

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Claudius I was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from January 24, AD 41 to his death in AD 54....
, who appointed the elder Vitellius
Vitellius

Aulus Vitellius Germanicus, born Aulus Vitellius and commonly known as Vitellius , was a Roman Emperors who reigned from 16 April 69 to 22 December of the same year....
 as his colleague, and with Vespasian
Vespasian

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 A.D. until his death in 79 A.D. Vespasian was the founder of the short lived Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 A.D....
, who likewise had a colleague in his son Titus
Titus

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Titus , was a Roman Emperor who briefly reigned from 79 until his death in 81. Titus was the second emperor of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96, encompassing the reigns of Titus's father Vespasian , Titus himself and his younger brother Domitian ....
. Domitian
Domitian

Titus Flavius Domitianus , commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 September 81 until his death. Domitian was the last emperor of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96, encompassing the reigns of Domitian's father Vespasian , his elder brother Titus , and that of Domitian himself...
 assumed the title of "perpetual censor" (censor perpetuus), but this example was not imitated by succeeding emperors. In the reign of Decius
Decius

Gaius Messius Quintus Decius was the Roman Emperors from 249 - 251. In the last year of his reign, he co-ruled with his son Herennius Etruscus until both of them were killed in the Battle of Abrittus....
 we find the elder Valerian
Valerian

Valerian may refer to:In botany:* Valeriana, a genus of plants* Valerian , a medicinal plant* Red valerian, a garden flower, Centranthus ruber ...
 nominated to the censorship, but Valerian was never actually elected censor.

Duties

The duties of the censors may be divided into three classes, all of which were closely connected with one another:

  1. The Census, or register of the citizens and of their property, in which were included the reading of the Senate
    Roman Senate

    The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
    's lists (lectio senatus) and the recognition of who qualified for equestrian rank (recognitio equitum);
  2. The Regimen Morum, or keeping of the public morals; and
  3. The administration of the finances of the state, under which were classed the superintendence of the public buildings and the erection of all new public works.


The original business of the censorship was at first of a much more limited kind, and was restricted almost entirely to taking the census, but the possession of this power gradually brought with it fresh power and new duties, as is shown below. A general view of these duties is briefly expressed in the following passage of Cicero: "Censores populi aevitates, soboles, familias pecuniasque censento: urbis templa, vias, aquas, aerarium, vectigalia tuento: populique partes in tribus distribunto: exin pecunias, aevitates, ordines patiunto: equitum, peditumque prolem describunto: caelibes esse prohibento: mores populi regunto: probrum in senatu ne relinquunto."

Census

The Census, the first and principal duty of the censors, was always held in the Campus Martius
Campus Martius

The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 km? in extent. In the Middle Ages it was the most populous area of Rome....
, and from the year 435 BC onwards, in a special building called Villa Publica
Villa Publica

The Villa Publica was a public building in ancient Rome, which served as the Roman censor base of operation. It was erected on the Campus Martius in 435 BC....
, which was erected for that purpose by the second pair of censors, Gaius Furius Pacilus and Marcus Geganius Macerinus.

An account of the formalities with which the census was opened is given in a fragment of the Tabulae Censoriae, preserved by Varro. After the auspices had been taken, the citizens were summoned by a public crier to appear before the censors. Each tribe was called up separately, and the names in each tribe were probably taken according to the lists previously made out by the tribunes of the tribes. Every paterfamilias had to appear in person before the censors, who were seated in their curule chair
Curule chair

According to Livy the curule seat , like the Toga, originated in Etruria, and it has been used on surviving Etruscan monuments to identify magistrates, but much earlier stools supported on a cross-frame are known from the New Kingdom of Egypt....
s, and those names were taken first which were considered to be of good omen, such as Valerius
Valerius

Valerius originally was a Rome nomen of the gens Valeria, one of the oldest patrician families of the city. The name was in use throughout Roman history....
, Salvius
Salvius

Salvius was a flute player who was proclaimed king by the rebelling slaves of ancient Sicily during the Second Servile War. He assumed the name Tryphon, from Diodotus Tryphon, a Seleucid ruler....
, Statorius, etc.

The census was conducted according to the judgment of the censor (ad arbitrium censoris), but the censors laid down certain rules, sometimes called leges censui censendo, in which mention was made of the different kinds of property subject to the census, and in what way their value was to be estimated. According to these laws, each citizen had to give an account of himself, of his family, and of his property upon oath, "declared from the heart".

First he had to give his full name (praenomen
Praenomen

In Roman naming conventions, the praenomen was the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today....
, nomen, and cognomen
Cognomen

The cognomen was originally a middle name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary ....
) and that of his father, or if he were a Libertus ("freedman") that of his patron
Patronus

Latin translation: the protector. In archaic Latin: the father .Patronus was part of the social customs of Ancient Rome, a social term that referred to the senior party in one of several social relationships....
, and he was likewise obliged to state his age. He was then asked, "You, declaring from your heart, do you have a wife?" and if married he had to give the name of his wife, and likewise the number, names, and ages of his children, if any. Single women and orphans were represented by their guardians; their names were entered in separate lists, and they were not included in the sum total of heads.

After a citizen had stated his name, age, family, etc., he then had to give an account of all his property, so far as it was subject to the census. Only such things were liable to the census (censui censendo) as were property according to the Quiritarian law. At first, each citizen appears to have merely given the value of his whole property in general without entering into details; but it soon became the practice to give a minute specification of each article, as well as the general value of the whole.

Land formed the most important article of the census, but public land, the possession of which only belonged to a citizen, was excluded as not being Quiritarian property. If we may judge from the practice of the imperial period, it was the custom to give a most minute specification of all such land as a citizen held according to the Quiritarian law. He had to state the name and location of the land, and to specify what portion of it was arable, what meadow, what vineyard, and what olive-ground: and of the land thus described, he had to give his assessment of its value.

Slave
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
s and cattle formed the next most important item. The censors also possessed the right of calling for a return of such objects as had not usually been given in, such as clothing, jewels, and carriages. It has been doubted by some modern writers whether the censors possessed the power of setting a higher valuation on the property than the citizens themselves gave, but when we recollect the discretionary nature of the censors' powers, and the necessity almost that existed, in order to prevent fraud, that the right of making a surcharge should be vested in somebody's hands, we can hardly doubt that the censors had this power. It is moreover expressly stated that on one occasion they made an extravagant surcharge on articles of luxury; and even if they did not enter in their books the property of a person at a higher value than he returned it, they accomplished the same end by compelling him to pay a tax upon the property at a higher rate than others. The tax was usually one per thousand upon the property entered in the books of the censors, but on one occasion the censors compelled a person to pay eight per thousand as a punishment.

A person who voluntarily absented himself from the census was considered incensus and subject to the severest punishment. Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius was the sixth legendary Roman king of ancient Rome and the second king of the Etruria dynasty. The traditional dates of his reign are 578-535 BC....
 is said to have threatened such individuals with imprisonment and death, and in the Republican
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 period he might be sold by the state as a slave In the later times of the republic, a person who was absent from the census might be represented by another, and be thus registered by the censors. Whether the soldiers who were absent on service had to appoint a representative is uncertain. In ancient times, the sudden outbreaks of war prevented the census from being taken, because a large number of the citizens would necessarily be absent. It is supposed from a passage in Livy that in later times the censors sent commissioners into the provinces with full powers to take the census of the Roman soldiers there, but this seems to have been a special case. It is, on the contrary, probable from the way in which Cicero pleads the absence of Archias from Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 with the army under Lucullus
Lucullus

Lucius Licinius Lucullus , is one of the canonical great men of Roman history, always included in the biographical collections of leading generals and politicians, two of which survive today despite the slender surviving literature from the antiquity....
, as a sufficient reason for his not having been enrolled in the census, that service in the army was a valid excuse for absence.

After the censors had received the names of all the citizens with the amount of their property, they then had to make out the lists of the tribes, and also of the classes and centuries; for by the legislation of Servius Tullius the position of each citizen in the state was determined by the amount of his property (Comitia Centuriata). These lists formed a most important part of the Tabulae Censoriae, under which name were included all the documents connected in any way with the discharge of the censors' duties. These lists, insofar as they were connected with the finances of the state, were deposited in the aerarium, which was the temple of Saturn; but the regular depositary for all the archives of the censors was in earlier times the Atrium Libertatis, near the Villa publica, and in later times the temple of the Nymphs.

Besides the division of the citizens into tribes, centuries, and classes, the censors had also to make out the lists of the senators
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
 for the ensuing five years, or till new censors were appointed; striking out the names of such as they considered unworthy, and making additions to the body from those who were qualified. In the same manner they held a review of the Equestrians who received a horse from public funds (equites equo publico), and added and removed names as they judged proper. They also confirmed the princeps senatus
Princeps senatus

The princeps senatus was the first member by precedence of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the cursus honorum and owning no imperium, this office brought enormous prestige to the senator holding it....
, or appointed a new one. The princeps himself had to be a former censor.

After the lists had been completed, the number of citizens was counted up, and the sum total announced. Accordingly, we find that in the account of a census, the number of citizens is likewise usually given. They are in such cases spoken of as capita ("heads"), sometimes with the addition of the word civium ("of the citizens"), and sometimes not. Hence, to be registered in the census was the same thing as "having a head" (caput habere).

Census beyond Rome
A census was sometimes taken in the provinces, even under the republic. The emperor sent into the provinces special officers called Censitores to take the census; but the duty was sometimes discharged by the Imperial legati. The Censitores were assisted by subordinate officers, called Censuales, who made out the lists, &c. In Rome, the census was still taken under the empire, but the old ceremonies connected with it were no longer performed, and the ceremony of the lustration was not performed after the time of Vespasian. The jurists Paulus and Ulpian
Ulpian

Domitius Ulpianus , anglicized as Ulpian, was a Roman empire jurist of Tyre ancestry. The time and place of his birth are unknown, but the period of his literary activity was between AD 211 and 222....
 each wrote works on the census in the imperial period; and several extracts from these works are given in a chapter in the Digest (50 15).

Other uses of census
The word census, besides the conventional meaning of "valuation" of a person's estate, has other meaning in Rome; it could refer to:
  • the amount of a person's property (hence we read of census senatorius, the estate of a senator; census equestris, the estate of an eques).
  • the lists of the censors.
  • the tax which depended upon the valuation in the census. The Lexicons will supply examples of these meanings.


Regimen morum

Keeping the public morals (regimen morum, or in the empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 cura morum or praefectura morum) was the second most important branch of the censors' duties, and the one which caused their office to be one of the most revered and the most dreaded in the Roman state; hence they were also known as Castigatores ("chastisers"). It naturally grew out of the right which they possessed of excluding persons from the lists of citizens; for, as has been well remarked, "they would, in the first place, be the sole judges of many questions of fact, such as whether a citizen had the qualifications required by law or custom for the rank which he claimed, or whether he had ever incurred any judicial sentence, which rendered him infamous: but from thence the transition was easy, according to Roman notions, to the decisions of questions of right; such as whether a citizen was really worthy of retaining his rank, whether he had not committed some act as justly degrading as those which incurred the sentence of the law."

In this manner, the censors gradually assumed at least nominal complete superintendence over the whole public and private life of every citizen. They were constituted as the conservators of public morality; they were not simply to prevent crime or particular acts of immorality, but rather to maintain the traditional Roman character, ethics, and habits (mos majorum)- regimen morum also encompassed this protection of traditional ways, which was called in the times of the empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 cura ("supervision") or praefectura ("command"). The punishment inflicted by the censors in the exercise of this branch of their duties was called nota ("mark, letter") or notatio, or animadversio censoria ("censorial reproach"). In inflicting it, they were guided only by their conscientious convictions of duty; they had to take an oath that they would act biased by neither partiality nor favour; and, in addition to this, they were bound in every case to state in their lists, opposite the name of the guilty citizen, the cause of the punishment inflicted on him, Subscriptio censoria.

This part of the censors' office invested them with a peculiar kind of jurisdiction, which in many respects resembled the exercise of public opinion in modern times; for there are innumerable actions which, though acknowledged by every one to be prejudicial and immoral, still do not come within the reach of the positive laws of a country; as often said, "immorality does not equal illegality". Even in cases of real crimes, the positive laws frequently punish only the particular offence, while in public opinion the offender, even after he has undergone punishment, is still incapacitated for certain honours and distinctions which are granted only to persons of unblemished character.

Hence the Roman censors might brand a man with their "censorial mark" (nota censoria) in case he had been convicted of a crime in an ordinary court of justice, and had already suffered punishment for it. The consequence of such a nota was only ignominia and not infamia
Infamia

An infame was a person in Ancient Rome who had lost certain public rights for various reasons. Male and female prostitute, pimp, actor and some types of gladiator were classified as infames....
. Infamia and the censorial verdict was not a judicium or res judicata, for its effects were not lasting, but might be removed by the following censors, or by a lex
Lex

Lex or LEX may refer to:* Written law:** Legislation** Statute** Statutory law** Act of Parliament** Act of Congress*Lex programming tool...
 (roughly "law"). A censorial mark was moreover not valid unless both censors agreed. The ignominia was thus only a transitory reduction of status, which does not even appear to have deprived a magistrate of his office, and certainly did not disqualify persons labouring under it for obtaining a magistracy, for being appointed as judices
Judex

Judex is a 1916 in film silent film France movie Serial and a pulp Heroe ,like The Shadow, created by Louis Feuillade and Arthur Bern?de....
 by the praetor
Praetor

Praetor was a Title#Titles_for_heads_of_state granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, either before it was mustered or more typically in the field, or an elected Magistratus assigned duties that varied depending on the historical period....
, or for serving in the Roman armies
Roman army

The Roman Army was employed by the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire, as part of the Roman military. Its most important infantry constituent for much of its history was the Roman legion....
. Mamercus Aemilius was thus, notwithstanding the reproach of the censors (animadversio censoria), made dictator
Roman dictator

Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. The dictator was above the three branches of government in the constitution of the Roman Republic as no other body or officer could check his power....
.

A person might be branded with a censorial mark in a variety of cases, which it would be impossible to specify, as in a great many instances it depended upon the discretion of the censors and the view they took of a case; and sometimes even one set of censors would overlook an offence which was severely chastised by their successors. But the offences which are recorded to have been punished by the censors are of a threefold nature.
  1. Such as occurred in the private life of individuals, e.g.
    1. Living in celibacy at a time when a person ought to be married to provide the state with citizens. The obligation of marrying was frequently impressed upon the citizens by the censors, and the refusal to fulfil it was punished with a fine (aes uxorium).
    2. The dissolution of matrimony or betrothment in an improper way, or for insufficient reasons.
    3. Improper conduct towards one's wife or children, as well as harshness or too great indulgence towards children, and disobedience of the latter towards their parents.
    4. Inordinate and luxurious mode of living, or an extravagant expenditure of money. A great many instances of this kind are recorded. At a later time the leges sumtuariae were made to check the growing love of luxuries.
    5. Neglect and carelessness in cultivating one's fields.
    6. Cruelty towards slaves or clients.
    7. The carrying on of a disreputable trade or occupation, such as acting in theatres.
    8. Legacy-hunting, defrauding orphans, &c.
  2. A variety of actions or pursuits which were thought to be injurious to public morality, might be forbidden by an edict, and those who acted contrary to such edicts were branded with the nota and degraded. For an enumeration of the offences that might be punished by the censors with ignominia, see Niebuhr.


A person who had been branded with a nota censoria, might, if he considered himself wronged, endeavour to prove his innocence to the censors, and if he did not succeed, he might try to gain the protection of one of the censors, that he might intercede on his behalf.

Punishments
The punishments inflicted by the censors generally differed according to the station which a man occupied, though sometimes a person of the highest rank might suffer all the punishments at once, by being degraded to the lowest class of citizens. But they are generally divided into four classes:—
  1. Motio ("removal") or ejectio e senatu ("ejection from the Senate"), or the exclusion of a man from the ranks of senators. This punishment might either be a simple exclusion from the list of senators, or the person might at the same time be excluded from the tribes and degraded to the rank of an aerarian. The latter course seems to have been seldom adopted; the ordinary mode of inflicting the punishment was simply this: the censors in their new lists omitted the names of such senators as they wished to exclude, and in reading these new lists in public, quietly omitted the names of those who were no longer to be senators. Hence the expression praeteriti senatores ("senators passed over") is equivalent to e senatu ejecti (those removed from the senate).


In some cases, however, the censors did not acquiesce to this simple mode of proceeding, but addressed the senator whom they had noted, and publicly reprimanded him for his conduct. As, however, in ordinary cases an ex-senator was not disqualified by his ignominia for holding any of the magistracies which opened the way to the senate, he might at the next census again become a senator.
  1. The ademptio equi, or the taking away the publicly-funded horse from an equestrian. This punishment might likewise be simple, or combined with the exclusion from the tribes and the degradation to the rank of an aerarian.
  2. The motio e tribu, or the exclusion of a person from his tribe. This punishment and the degradation to the rank of an aerarian were originally the same; but when in the course of time a distinction was made between the rural or rustic tribes and the urban tribes, the motio e tribu transferred a person from the rustic tribes to the less respectable city tribes, and if the further degradation to the rank of an aerarian was combined with the motio e tribu, it was always expressly stated.
  3. The fourth punishment was called referre in aerarios or facere aliquem aerarium, and might be inflicted on any person who was thought by the censors to deserve it. This degradation, properly speaking, included all the other punishments, for an equestrian could not be made an aerarius unless he was previously deprived of his horse, nor could a member of a rustic tribe be made an aerarius unless he was previously excluded from it.


It was this authority of the Roman censors which eventually developed into the modern meaning of "Censor
Censor

selfref|For Wikipedia's policy concerning censorship, see...
" and "censorship
Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of freedom of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor....
" - i.e. officials who review published material and forbid the publication of material judged to be contrary to "public morality" as the term is interpreted in a given political and social environment.

Administration of the finances of the state

The administration of the state's finances was another part of the censors' office. In the first place the tributum, or property-tax, had to be paid by each citizen according to the amount of his property registered in the census, and, accordingly, the regulation of this tax naturally fell under the jurisdiction of the censors. They also had the superintendence of all the other revenues of the state, the vectigalia, such as the tithes paid for the public lands, the salt
Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
 works, the mines, the customs, etc.

The censors typically auctioned off to the highest bidder for the space of a lustrum the collection of the tithes and taxes. This auctioning was called venditio or locatio, and seems to have taken place in the month of March, in a public place in Rome The terms on which they were let, together with the rights and duties of the purchasers, were all specified in the leges censoriae, which the censors published in every case before the bidding commenced. For further particulars see Publicani.

The censors also possessed the right, though probably not without the assent of the Senate, of imposing new vectigalia, and even of selling the land belonging to the state. It would thus appear that it was the duty of the censors to bring forward a budget for a five-year period, and to take care that the income of the state was sufficient for its expenditure during that time. In part, their duties resembled those of a modern minister of finance. The censors, however, did not receive the revenues of the state. All the public money was paid into the aerarium
Aerarium

Aerarium was the name given in Ancient Rome to the Treasury, and in a secondary sense to the public finances.The treasury contained the monies and accounts of the state Roman finance....
, which was entirely under the jurisdiction of the senate; and all disbursements were made by order of this body, which employed the quaestor
Quaestor

Quaestor is a type of public official.In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers....
s as its officers.

In one important department the censors were entrusted with the expenditure of the public money, though the actual payments were no doubt made by the quaestors. The censors had the general superintendence of all the public buildings and works (opera publica), and to meet the expenses connected with this part of their duties, the senate voted them a certain sum of money or certain revenues, to which they were restricted, but which they might at the same time employ according to their discretion. They had to see that the temples and all other public buildings were in a good state of repair, that no public places were encroached upon by the occupation of private persons, and that the aqueduct, roads, drains, etc. were properly attended to.

The repairs of the public works and the keeping of them in proper condition were let out by the censors by public auction to the lowest bidder, just as the vectigalia were let out to the highest bidder. These expenses were called ultrotributa, and hence we frequently find vectigalia and ultrotributa contrasted with one another. The persons who undertook the contract were called conductores, mancipes, redemptores, susceptores, etc.; and the duties they had to discharge were specified in the Leges Censoriae. The censors had also to superintend the expenses connected with the worship of the gods, even for instance the feeding of the sacred geese in the Capitol; these various tasks were also let out on contract.

Besides keeping existing public buildings and facilities in a proper state of repair, the censors were also in charge of constructing new ones, either for ornament or utility, both in Rome and in other parts of Italy, such as temples, basilica
Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
e, theatre
Theatre

Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more actor, isolated in time and/or Theater , present themselves to Audience." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story telling....
s, porticoes, fora
Roman Forum

The Roman Forum , sometimes known by its original Latin name, is located between the Palatine hill and the Capitoline hill of the city of Rome. It is the central area around which the Ancient Rome developed....
, walls of towns, aqueducts, harbours, bridges, cloacae, roads, etc. These works were either performed by them jointly, or they divided between them the money, which had been granted to them by the senate. They were let out to contractors, like the other works mentioned above, and when they were completed, the censors had to see that the work was performed in accordance with the contract: this was called opus probare or in acceptum referre.

The aedile
Aedile

Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals....
s had likewise a superintendence over the public buildings, and it is not easy to define with accuracy the respective duties of the censors and aediles, but it may be remarked in general that the superintendence of the aediles had more of a police character, while that of the censors were more financial in subject matter.

Lustrum

After the censors had performed their various duties and taken the five-yearly census, the lustrum
Lustrum

Lustrum, in ancient Rome, was originally a sacrifice for expiation and purification offered by one of the censors of Rome in the name of the Roman people at the close of the taking of the census, which took place every five years....
, a solemn purification of the people, followed. When the censors entered upon their office, they drew lots to see which of them should perform this purification; but both censors were of course obliged to be present at the ceremony.

Long after the Roman census was no longer taken, the Latin word lustrum has survived, and been adopted in some modern languages, in the derived sense of a period of five years, i.e. half a decennium.

Census statistics


CensusPopulationEconomic crisesWarsEpidemics
508 BC 130,000  
505-504 BC  
503 BC 120,000  
499 or 496 BC  
498 BC150,700  
493 BC110,000  
492-491 BC  
486 BC  
474 BC103,000474 BC 474 BC  
465 BC104,714  
459 BC117,319  
456 BC  
454 BC 454 BC
440-439 BC  
433 BC 433 BC
428 BC 428 BC
412 BC 412 BC
400 BC  
396 BC  
392 BC152,573 392 BC 392 BC
390 BC 390 BC
386 BC  
383 BC 383 BC
343-341 BC  
340 BC165,000 340-338 BC  
326-304 BC  
323 BC150,000  
299 BC  
298-290 BC  
294 BC262,321  
293/292 BC
289 BC272,200  
281 BC  
280 BC287,222 280-275 BC  
276 BC271,224 276 BC?
265 BC292,234  
264-241 BC  
252 BC297,797  
250 BCE 250 BC  
247 BC241,712  
241 BC260,000  
234 BC270,713  
216 BC216 BC 
211-210 BC211-210 BC 
209 BC137,108  
204 BC214,000 204 BC  
203 BC  
201 BC  
200 BC 200-195 BC  
194 BC143,704  
192-188 BC  
189 BC258,318  
187 BC
182-180 BC
179 BC258,318  
176-175 BC
174 BC269,015  
171-167 BC  
169 BC312,805  
165 BC
164 BC337,022  
159 BC328,316  
154 BC324,000  
153 BC  
147 BC322,000  
142 BC322,442 142 BC
138 BC  
136 BC317,933  
131 BC318,823  
125 BC394,736  
123 BC  
115 BC394,336  
104 BC  
87 BC
86 BC463,000  
75 BC  
70 BC910,000  
67 BC  
65 BC  
54 BC  
49-46 BC  
43 BC  
28 BC4,063,000  
23-22 23-22  
8 BC4,233,000  
5-6  
10  
14 AD4,937,000  

Sources

  • Brunt, P. A. Italian Manpower 225 BC-AD 14. Oxford, 1971;
  • Wiseman, T. P. The Census in the first century B.C. Journal of Roman Studies, 1969;
  • Virlouvet, C. Famines et émeutes à Rome, des origines de la République à la mort de Néron. Roma, 1985;
  • Suder, W., Góralczyk, E. Sezonowosc epidemii w Republice Rzymskiej. Vitae historicae, Ksiega jubileuszowa dedykowana profesorowi Lechowi A. Tyszkiewiczowi w siedemdziesiata rocznice urodzin. Wroclaw, 2001.


Andrea Doria as "perpetual censor"

Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria

Andrea Doria or D'Oria was a Genoa Condottieri and admiral....
, the famous 16th Century Genoese
Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
 admiral
Admiral

Admiral is the military rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral....
, was rewarded for his services to his city by getting the title of "perpetual censor" - inspired by, though not precisely identical with, the Roman one.

See also

  • Constitution of the Roman Republic
    Constitution of the Roman Republic

    The Constitution of the Roman Republic or also known as mos maiorum was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent....
  • Cursus honorum
    Cursus honorum

    The cursus honorum was the Sequence order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in both the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire....
  • Lex Caecilia De Censoria
    Lex Caecilia De Censoria

    Lex Caecilia De Censoria was passed by Metellus Scipio, Roman Consul of 52 BC. It repealed a law passed by the tribune Publius Clodius Pulcher in 58 BC, which had prescribed certain rules for the Censors in exercising their functions as inspectors of public morals ....
  • List of topics related to ancient Rome
  • List of censors
    List of censors

    This is an incomplete list of Censor s of the Roman Republic...
  • Political institutions of Rome
    Political institutions of Rome

    This is a tentative list of topics regarding political institutions of Ancient Rome....
  • Roman Republic
    Roman Republic

    The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....