Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/122

 no THE ROMAN DOMINION absolute authority was necessary, but that it must be veiled. He must present himself merely as the first citizen, tem- porarily endowed with exceptional powers for the good of the state, to be laid down when their exercise was no longer necessary. The Senate was treated officially as the seat of authority. And to the Senate were practically transferred by degrees the powers of the Assemblies ; but, as a matter of fact, the princeps held the Senate in the hollow of his hand. It was filled partly by those who had held the magistracies, partly by nominees of the princeps ; but since he also nominated for the magistracies candidates who were invariably elected, the great bulk of the senators were people who owed their rank to the emperor; and in course of time he acquired the right of removing the senators from the list. But beyond this he had conferred upon him the tribunician power by which he could initiate or veto legislation, and the Tribunician proconsular power which gave him the control of and Procon- the armies of the state. This requires some sular Power. ex pi ana tion. The provinces were divided into three groups : the Senatorial provinces, the Imperial provinces, and recently acquired territories such as Egypt and Judea, which were theoretically attached to what we may call the Crown, the princeps taking the place of the deposed dynasty. Now the Senatorial provinces were those which had long formed a portion of the Roman dominion; they were, so to speak, the inner circle, within which no foreign hostile powers existed ; they needed no armies. But the outer circle or frontier provinces, unlike the inner circle, required armies for defence, as well as, on occasion, for aggression. The pro- consul had command of the armies in his province, but the princeps was himself appointed proconsul of all these provinces which were in fact ruled by his legati or lieutenants. The third group of which we have spoken were similarly ruled by the emperor's viceroys or lieutenants called Praefecti or Procuratores. Thus all the actual armies of the state were entirely outside the control of the Senate, and within the control of the princeps.