Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/282

 26i THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, of the Roman statesmen and lawyers. It may be suf- " ficient for the historian to select two singular and salu- tary provisions intended to restrain the abuse of autho- rity. 1 . For the preservation of peace and order, the governors of the provinces were armed with the sword of justice. They inflicted corporal punishments, and they exercised, in capital offences, the power of life and death. But they were not authorised to indulge the condemned criminal with the choice of his own exe- cution, or to pronounce a sentence of the mildest and most honourable kind of exile. These prerogatives were reserved to the prefects, who alone could impose the heavy fine of fifty pounds of gold : their vicege- rents were confined to the trifling; weight of a few ounces y. This distinction, which seems to grant the larger, while it denies the smaller degree of authority, was founded on a very rational motive. The smaller degree was infinitely more liable to abuse. The pas- sions of a provincial magistrate might frequently pro- voke him into acts of oppression which affected only the freedom or the fortunes of the subject ; though, from a principle of prudence, perhaps of humanity, he might still be terrified by the guilt of innocent blood. It may likewise be considered, that exile, considerable fines, or the choice of an easy death, relate more par- ticularly to the rich and the noble ; and the persons the most exposed to the avarice or resentment of a provincial magistrate, were thus removed from his ob- scure persecution to the more august and impartial tribunal of the pretorian prefect. 2. As it was reason- ably apprehended that the integrity of the judge might be biassed, if his interest was concerned, or his affec- tions were engaged ; the strictest regulations were es- tablished, to exclude any person, without the special dispensation of the emperor, from the government of y The presidents, or consulars, could impose only two ounces ; the vice- prefects, three ; the proconsuls, count of the east, and prefect of Egypt, six. See Heineccii Jur. Civil, torn. i. p. 75; Pandect. 1. xlviii. tit. xix. n. 8, Cod. Justinian. 1. i. tit. liv. es. 4. 6.