Appointment to and Holding of Collegiate Offices in the Early Principate Using the Example of Curatorial Colleges

Abstract

In the period of the Roman Republic, collegiality was one of the principles guiding the holding of offices. Its application, along with the application of the principles of election, term of office, lack of remuneration, and accountability, allowed for mutual control among those in power, and provided citizens with a sense of relative security against the potential return to monocracy. Single-member offices were thus filled extremely rarely and only in extraordinary circumstances. According to common practice and with few exceptions, ordinary offices in the Republic were filled by two people. The reign of Emperor Augustus brought major changes in this regard. While the first princeps did not abolish magistrates, he stripped them of many of their previous powers in favor of his own officials. These were the prefects and curatores appointed to take care of the City. While the prefects performed their functions individually, the curatoresacted in the form of boards. The internally hierarchical curatorial colleges, however, in no way resembled the collegially held republican offices. The following considerations will attempt to determine the rules according to which curatorial colleges for cura urbis matters functioned, and whether in the case of this sphere of public administration collegiality was an apt solution, and if so, what supports this conclusion. The considerations presented herein are based on the study of legal texts, in particular excerpts from the Digests of Justinian and literary texts. The most valuable sources of information are Frontinus’ De aquaeductu urbis Romae and Svetonius’ De vita Caesarum.