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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: DEM-DIO |
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DICTATOR (from the Lat. dictare, frequentative of dicere, to speak) . In modern usage this term is loosely used for a personal ruler enjoying extraordinary and extra-constitutional power. The etymological sense of one who " dictates "i.e. one whose word (dictum) is law (from which that of one who " dictates," i.e. speaks for some writer to record, is to be distinguished)has been assisted by the historical use of the term, in ancient times, for an extraordinary magistrate in the Roman commonwealth. It is unknown precisely how the Roman word came into use, though an explanation of the earlier official title, magister populi, throws some light on the subject. That designation may mean "head of the (infantry) host" as opposed to his subordinate, the magister equitum, who was " head of the cavalry." If this explanation be accepted, emphasis was thus laid in early times on the military aspect of the dictatorship, and in fact the office seems tohave been instituted for the purpose of meeting a military crisis such as might have proved too serious for the annual consuls with their divided command. Later constitutional theory held that the repression of civil discord was also one of the motives for the institution of a dictatorship. Such is the view expressed by Cicero in the De legibus (iii. 3, 9) and by the emperor Claudius
function
Minor , or merely formal, needs of the state might lead to the creation of other types of this office. Thus we find dictators destined to hold the elections, to make out the list
minor purposes were expected to retire from office as soon as their function
The powers of a dictator were a temporary revival of those of the kings; but there were some limitations to his authority. He was never concerned with civil jurisdiction, and was dependent on the senate for supplies of money. His military authority was confined to Italy; and his power of life and death over the citizens was at an early period limited by law. It was probably the lex Valeria of 300 B.C. that made him subject to the right of criminal appeal (provocatio) within the limits of the city. But during his tenure of power all the magistrates of the people were regarded as his subordinates; and it was even held that the right of assistance (auxilium), furnished by the tribunes of the plebs to members of the citizen body
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Tradition represents the dictatorship as having a life of three centuries in the history of the Roman state. The first dictator is said to have been created in 501 B.c.; the last of the " administrative " dictators belongs to the year 216 B.C. It was an office that was incompatible both with the growing spirit of constitutionalism and with the greater security of the city; and the epoch of the Second Punic War was marked by experiments with the office, such as the election of Q. Fabius Maximus by the people, and the co-dictatorship of M. Minucius with Fabius, which heralded its disuse (see PUNIC WARS). The emergency office of the early and middle Republic has few points of contact, except those of the extraordinary position and almost unfettered authority of its holder, with the dictatorship as revised by Sulla and by Caesar. Sulla's dictatorship was the form taken by a provisional government. He was created " for the establishment
Lange, Romische Alterthumer, i. 542 foil. (Berlin, 1856, &c.) ; Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques et romaines, ii. 161 foil. (1875, &c.) ; Haverfield, " The Abolition of the Dictatorshi ,' in Classical Review, iii. 77. (A. H. J. G. ' End of Article: DICTATOR (from the Lat. dictare, frequentative of dicere, to speak) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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