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21 - Roman History- The Early Empire by William Wolfe Capes · Roman History- The Early Empire

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty one of Roman History The Early Empire by
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  Speaker 1: William wolf Capes. This LibriVox recording is in the public
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  Speaker 1: domain recording by Pamel Nagami, Chapter twelve, The Position of
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  Speaker 1: the Emperor. After studying the lives of the early emperors
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  Speaker 1: in some detail, it may be well to call attention
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  Speaker 1: to the marked peculiarities of the position which they held
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  Speaker 1: Number one. Henceforth, the emperor is virtually the sole source
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  Speaker 1: of law, for all the authorities quoted in the codes
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  Speaker 1: are embodiments of his will. As magistrate, he issued edicts
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  Speaker 1: in accordance with old usage and connection with the higher
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  Speaker 1: offices which he held, as did the priters of earlier days.
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  Speaker 1: When sitting judicially, he gave decrees, He sent mandates to
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  Speaker 1: his own officials, and rescripts. When consulted by them. He
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  Speaker 1: named the authorized jurists, whose responses had wait in the
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  Speaker 1: nice points of law. Above all, he guided the decisions
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  Speaker 1: of the Senate, whose sanatas consulta took the place of
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  Speaker 1: the forms of the Republican Legislation. Two. He was called
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  Speaker 1: on also to interpret law, either in the ordinary course
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  Speaker 1: of his functions. When he served as yearly magistrate or
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  Speaker 1: as the high court of appeal from the sentences of
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  Speaker 1: lower tribunals, or through the Senate, which became a court
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  Speaker 1: of judicature for large classes of trials, and looked constantly
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  Speaker 1: for imperial guidance. We read often in the lives of
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  Speaker 1: the earlier rulers of the unremitting care with which they
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  Speaker 1: took part in such inquiries. Three. As head of the executive,
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  Speaker 1: the emperor must enforce the law. Most of the officials
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  Speaker 1: soon became his nominees, though a few of the dignified
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  Speaker 1: posts were filled up with some show of free election
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  Speaker 1: in the Senate. But the master of the legions holds
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  Speaker 1: the power of the sword, and cannot share with others
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  Speaker 1: if he would. The powers of express was unique in kind.
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  Speaker 1: It extended over the whole civilized world, over all the
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  Speaker 1: cities of historic fame, and all the great nations of antiquity.
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  Speaker 1: It rested upon an overwhelming military force, and was met
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  Speaker 1: by no threat of physical resistance from within. Nor were
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  Speaker 1: there controlling influences to be counted on, such as monarchy
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  Speaker 1: has commonly to face of political assemblies. The popular Comytea
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  Speaker 1: passed speedily away, and the Senate became the instrument of
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  Speaker 1: his will, consisting chiefly of his nominees, and never asserting
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  Speaker 1: the right of independent action. There was no power of
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  Speaker 1: privilege to face him, such as orders of nobility and
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  Speaker 1: corporations have claimed and held in other states. There was
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  Speaker 1: no powerful civil service or bureaucracy such as canthwart while
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  Speaker 1: seeming to obey and afford a potent but impalpable resistance
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  Speaker 1: even to a despot's will. There was no sentiment of
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  Speaker 1: public morality or national pride that he might not dare
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  Speaker 1: to outrage, For the people of Rome were a mixed rabble,
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  Speaker 1: swollen rapidly by slaves who had gained the boon of
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  Speaker 1: freedom and recruited from every race under the sun. The
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  Speaker 1: men of dignity and moral worth might frown or shudder
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  Speaker 1: when Caligula played mad pranks and Nero acted on the
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  Speaker 1: public stage, but their displeasure mattered little if the populace
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  Speaker 1: were merry and the army loyal. Religion itself had no
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  Speaker 1: counteracting force, for at Rome it was more a matter
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  Speaker 1: of formal observance than of moral faith. It was not
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  Speaker 1: organized in outward forms to balance the authority of the
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  Speaker 1: civil power, and by a curious anomaly. The emperor was
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  Speaker 1: at once the highest functionary of the state religion as
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  Speaker 1: Supreme Pontiff, and was also soon to be deified and
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  Speaker 1: to become the object of the venoration of the world.
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  Speaker 1: It was a system of unqualified despotism, without ministry, nobles, church,
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  Speaker 1: or parliaments, such as it is impossible to parallel, such
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  Speaker 1: as was likely to produce the best and worst of governors.
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  Speaker 1: According as men were sobered by the responsibilities or maddened
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  Speaker 1: by the license of absolute power from the imperial will,
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  Speaker 1: there was no escape. The Emperor might and did commonly
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  Speaker 1: observe the constitutional forms and act on the sentence of
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  Speaker 1: the courts of law. Or he might dispense with such
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  Speaker 1: tedious formalities and send the quiet message to bid a
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  Speaker 1: man set his house in order, or let his veins
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  Speaker 1: be opened in a bath. A few soldiers could carry
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  Speaker 1: the death warrant to the greatest of his subjects in
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  Speaker 1: a far off land and execute it in the midst
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  Speaker 1: of his retainers. There seemed no hope of flight, for
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  Speaker 1: only barbarians or deserts lay beyond the Roman world. But
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  Speaker 1: in return there was no escape for the emperor himself.
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  Speaker 1: He could not weary of the cares of state and
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  Speaker 1: lay his burdens down in peace. There was no cloistered
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  Speaker 1: calm for him like that which Christian princes have sometimes found.
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  Speaker 1: He could not abdicate in favor of his natural successor.
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  Speaker 1: He must rule on to be the mark for the
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  Speaker 1: dagger of every malecontent, and see a possible rival and
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  Speaker 1: successor in every great man or military chief. The emperor's
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  Speaker 1: power again was based on physical force. It rested on
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  Speaker 1: no sanctions of religion, noble birth, immemorial usage, or definite election,
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  Speaker 1: for it was of revolutionary origin, and it took its
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  Speaker 1: very title from the power of the sword. Yet after Julius,
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  Speaker 1: the early emperors were not men of war and had
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  Speaker 1: no military policy or ambition. They had everything to lose
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  Speaker 1: and nothing seemingly to get from war. The balance of
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  Speaker 1: the empire might be lost while the chief was on
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  Speaker 1: the distant frontier, and a successful general might prove a
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  Speaker 1: dangerous usurper. They seldom even saw the armies, for these
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  Speaker 1: were far away upon the borders, and at home, there
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  Speaker 1: was so little need of armed repression that a handful
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  Speaker 1: of the city watch and a few thousand of the
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  Speaker 1: household troops sufficed for the police of all the central
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  Speaker 1: countries of the Empire. Municipal self rule kept the towns contented,
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  Speaker 1: and though the nationalities had lost their ancient freedom, they
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  Speaker 1: seldom showed a wish to strike a blow to win
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  Speaker 1: it back. In Rome itself, the old nobility was little
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  Speaker 1: to be feared. They had no powerful following of clients
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  Speaker 1: or retainers, no rallying cry nor hold upon the imaginations
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  Speaker 1: of the masses, and their feelings might be outraged, their
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  Speaker 1: fortunes pillaged with impunity. If only the populace could be
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  Speaker 1: kept in cheerful humor, and the praetorians and legions did
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  Speaker 1: not stir end of Section twenty one