Censor

Censor was an official in the Roman Republic. The name of this office comes from the word “judge” (censeo). The censor was one of the most important officials in the country, who was responsible for drawing up the census, caring for the morality of citizens and overseeing the state’s finances.

The first census was carried out during the reign of Servius Tullius – the sixth king of Rome. After the overthrow of the monarchy, this function was rewritten to consuls.

In 443 BCE, no consuls were elected and instead tribunes with consular authority were appointed. It was a movement of plebeians who wanted to gain more influence in the magistrate. In order to prevent plebeians from compiling a census, the patricians took this right from the consuls and tribunes, and then created a new office – the censor – reserved only for patricians. Two censors (according to the number of consuls) were always elected for a 5-year term. The decision on the selection of officials was made at the meetings of the centurial committees (comitia centuriata). This position was a one-off and re-election was prohibited. Despite such a long time in office, it took them no more than 18 months to complete all their tasks. Their headquarters was the Villa Publica on the Field of Mars, commissioned by a pair of censors Gaius Furius Pacilus and Marcus Geganius Macerinus. In the event of the death of one of the censors, his role was taken over by a colleague. This happened only once in history – in 393 BCE one of the censors died. The second official, however, did not take over his function and resigned. Two new magistrates were elected immediately.

The victory of the plebeians over the patricians allowed them to gain the right to apply for the position of censor in 351 BCE. The first censor from the commoners was Gaius Marcius Rutilus. Then, in 339 BCE, at the request of Quintus Polybius Philo, the lex Publilia Philonis de censore credendo was passed, where it was decided that at least one of the censors should be plebeian. Despite taking office, no plebeian censor carried out lustrum – that is, did not make an atoning sacrifice to the gods (often in the form of animal sacrifice, the so-called suovetaurilia) in the Fields of Mars – until 280 BCE In 131 BCE, for the first time, the office of censor was held by two plebeians.

Recognizing the great importance of this office, it was decided to make it difficult to hold the position. For this purpose, it was agreed that a censor could be a person who had undergone all cursus honourum (path of honours) and was a consul. Censors belonged to the so-called curule magisturas (magistratus curules), which means that they had the right to use a curial chair (sella curulis) in theatres and other public places while performing their functions.

The censors were the only magistrate who did not have an empire, which prevented them from having liqueurs carrying a bunch of horns (fasces). In turn, they were the only ones to be buried in a purple toga (toga praetexta), which was a sign of royal power.

Features

In the initial period of the censor’s office, the tasks were limited to preparing the censorship. Gradually, however, their role grew.

Censors’ duties can be divided into three groups:

• The oldest and most important duty of the censors was to compile an inventory of Roman citizens and their property (agere censum) and assign them to the proper tribus and centuria. The list was drawn up on the basis of declarations made by authorized citizens.
  Other responsibilities included establishing a list of 18th driving centuries and senators (lectio senatus) for the next term of office. They approved the Princeps Senatus who had to be the censor. Moreover, they established a list of equities (Ordo Equester). This was the first responsibility of the censors.
• The second scope of censors’ duties was cura morum, that is watching over the morality of citizens. In the event of the bad behaviour of a given citizen, a censorship note (nota censoria) was attached to his name, which transferred the citizen from the rural tribus to one of the four city tribus. This allowed to detract from the dignity of a citizen who passed into a region destined for, inter alia, freedmen. Another penalty was, for example, the removal of a citizen of the horsemen (equum adimere) and striking off the list senators (senate movere). Censors could even strip him of his political rights, then the censors were called aerari. The verdict was final and there was no chance of an appeal. Even the people’s tribune veto was unsuccessful. In this regard, the only inconvenience for the censors was that the decision on the punishment had to be approved by a comrade. As you can see, there was a lot of power in the hands of the censors.
• The third function was controlling state spending for public purposes, determining the cost of waging wars and expanding the army.

Conducting a census

Information about the census process is based on a fragment of Tabulae Censoriae, preserved thanks to Varro. The census was performed after auspices. The inhabitants were summoned in the Field of Mars by the city caller. The citizens of each tribus (residential district) were convened separately according to a pre-prepared list of people’s tribunes. Each paterfamilias had to personally appear in front of the censors who sat on curule chairs.

The censorship was carried out at the discretion of the censors – the so-called ad arbitrium censoris. Naturally, however, they had to follow certain rules, called leges censui censendo. According to these laws, each citizen had to present his / her origin, family and property under oath. He was the first to mention his full first name (praenomen, nomen and cognomen) and his father; if he was a liberator (libertus), he would give the name of his patron (patronus) and age. In addition to the name, age was also given. Then the citizen determined whether he was married and how many children he had. In this case, he also gave names and age.

Single women and orphans were represented by their guardians. Their names were listed on separate lists and were not included in the entire census.

After the citizen was “identified”, the property was then determined. At the beginning of the census, only general inspection of the citizen’s property was practised; over time, however, it was required that each Roman should present his achievements in detail. Particular attention was paid to the number of slaves and cattle.

Censors had the right to collect items or property, if the citizen did not take into account, for example, jewellery, clothes, carts.

A person who deliberately avoided censorship was subject to severe penalties. King Servius Tullius sentenced the guilty to prison and death for this type of behaviour. In the days of the republic, a Roman could have been sold into slavery; at the end of the republic, it was possible