Читать книгу Roman Public Life онлайн

83 страница из 145

Senators also must have been chiefly chosen as delegates of the king, except, perhaps, those appointed for subordinate command in war;[245] there military fitness would be chiefly looked to.

The chief of these delegates was the prefect of the city (praefectus urbi), an alter ego left behind in the capital by the king when he himself was absent in the field.[246] To him must have been delegated the whole of the executive power, and with it the right and duty of consulting the Senate. It is not probable that the right of questioning the people was or could be delegated.[247] In criminal jurisdiction a distinction was believed to have been made in the cases brought before the king; the more important were tried by himself in person, the less important transmitted to judges chosen from the Senate.[248] This may be the germ of a distinction which is said to have been perfected by Servius Tullius. Crimes affecting the public welfare he tried himself; wrongs done to private individuals he entrusted to others.[249]