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 was elected dictator, presumably at the comitia centuriata under the guidance of a praetor. In the same year the distrust and misplaced confidence of the people raised M. Minucius, the master of the horse, to an equality of command with Fabius. Both acts were signs that the office was felt to be an anachronism, and the next year (216) marks the last instance of the military dictatorship. The last dictator (comitiorum habendorum causa) was appointed in 202; for the application of the name to Sulla and Caesar was the transference of the title of a constitutional office, in the first instance to a constituent authority, in the second to a monarchy, and in neither case was even the ancient mode of nomination preserved. The Magister Equitum

Every dictator, no matter for what purpose appointed, nominated as his delegate a master of the horse, who, unlike other delegates, possessed the imperium, six fasces, and a rank equal to the praetor. These distinctions justify the assertion that he was a magistrate,[10] and apparently one of curule rank, even though his tenure of power was strictly dependent on that of his nominator.[11] Like a magistrate he asked for a lex curiata