Political Science Of The State

COMPOSITE GOVERNMENTS. 157

for years after they submitted to the Roman power.
had a peculiar government under the emperors.
During the republic praetors were sent out at first to regu-
Roman provincial late the provinces. Afterwards, those who had
government. been consuls or praetors were selected for this
purpose according to rules of the senate, and either were desig-
nated to a particular province or drew lots among themselves
to determine where they should go. Under Augustus, in the
year 727 U. C., the care of the provinces was divided between
him and the senate. To the latter belonged the very import-
ant consular provinces of Asia and of Africa — to which con-
sular men were sent — together with a considerable number of
others which were placed under men of praetorian rank.
Most of these lands needed no military defence, and the pro-
vincial rulers deputed by the senate now no longer had
regular military power in their hands. The emperor1 s provin-
ces were in some cases such as needed men invested with
military power at their head ; all the governors of this kind
were his agents and directly responsible to him. Their names
of presses (a comprehensive term), of legate, of procurator,
of prefect, have been mentioned already. The time of service
varied at different times. A law of 703 U. €., = 51 B. C.,
fixed the time at one year ; but Julius Caesar in 708 ex-
tended it to two. Augustus returned to one, but iteration
was now permitted in the senatorial provinces. In the
others directly under the emperor there was no law save his
will.
The account already given of the cities that were wholly
or in a degree free, will show how much control the provin-
cial governors had over the territories where they were sent.
There were scattered abroad through the Roman world publi-
cani, great farmers of the revenues, or their agents, commer-
cial men, travellers, officials and others, who were Roman
citizens. Over these the governors had jurisdiction accord-
ing to Roman law, and concurrently with them, in civil cases,
it .might be, the officers of the community. If the person
complained of was a Roman senator, the governor could