LĒGĀTUS

from lego , a person commi ioned or deputed to do certain things. They may be divided into three cla es:—1. Legati or amba adors sent to Rome by foreign nations; 2. Legati or amba adors sent from Rome to foreign nations and into the provinces; 3. Legati who accompanied the Roman generals into the field, or the proconsuls and praetors into the provinces. 1. Foreign legati at Rome, from whatever country they came, had to go to the temple of Saturn, and deposit their names with the quaestors. Previous to their admi ion into the city, foreign amba adors seem to have been obliged to give notice from what nation they came and for what purpose; for several instances are mentioned, in which amba adors were prohibited from entering the city, especially in case of a war between Rome and the state from which they came. In such cases the amba adors were either not heard at all, and obliged to quit Italy, or an audience was given to them by the senate ( senatus legatis datur ) outside the city, in the temple of Bell on a. This was evidently a sign of mistrust, but the amba adors were neverthele treated as public guests, and some public villa outside the city was sometimes a igned for their reception. In other cases, however, as soon as the report of the landing of foreign amba adors on the coast of Italy was brought to Rome, especially if they were persons of great distinction, or if they came from an ally of the Roman people, some one of the inferior magistrates, or a legatus of a consul, was despatched by the senate to receive, and conduct them to the city at the expense of the republic. When they were introduced into the senate by the praetor or consul, they first explained what they had to communicate, and then the praetor invited the senators to put their questions to the amba adors. The whole transaction was carried on by interpreters, and in the Latin language. [ Interpres . ] After the amba adors had thus been examined, they were requested to leave the a embly of the senate, who now began to discu the subject brought before them. The result was communicated to the amba adors by the praetor. In some cases amba adors not only received rich presents on their departure, but were at the command of the senate conducted by a magistrate, and at the public expense, to the frontier of Italy, and even farther. By the Lex Gabinia it was decreed, that from the 1st of February to the 1st of March, the senate should every day give audience to foreign amba adors. There was a place on the right-hand side of the senate-house, called Graecostasis, in which foreign amba adors waited. All amba adors, whencesoever they came, were considered by the Romans throughout the whole period of their existence as sacred and inviolable. 2. Legati to foreign nations in the name of the Roman republic were always sent by the senate; and to be appointed to such a mi ion was considered a great honour, which was conferred only on men of high rank or eminence: for a Roman amba ador had the powers of a magistrate and the venerable character of a priest. If a Roman during the performance of his mi ion as amba ador died or was killed, his memory was honoured by the republic with a public sepulchre and a statue in the Rostra. The expenses during the journey of an amba ador were, of course, paid by the republic; and when he travelled through a province, the provincials had to supply him with every thing he wanted. 3. The third cla of legati, to whom the name of amba adors cannot be applied, were persons who accompanied the Roman generals on their expeditions, and in later times the governors of provinces also. They are mentioned at a very early period as serving along with the tribunes, under the consuls. They were nominated ( legabantur ) by the consul or the dictator under whom they served, but the sanction of the senate was an e ential point, without which no one could be legally considered a legatus. The persons appointed to this office were usually men of great military talents, and it was their duty to advise and a ist their superior in all his undertakings, and to act in his stead both in civil and military affairs. The legati were thus always men in whom the consul placed great confidence, and were frequently his friends or relations: but they had no power independent of the command of their general. Their number varied according to the greatne or importance of the war, or the extent of the province: three is the smallest number that we know of, but Pompey, when in Asia, had fifteen legati. Whenever the consuls were absent from the army, or when a proconsul left his province, the legati or one of them took his place, and then had the insignia as well as the power of his superior. He was in this case called legatus pro praetore, and hence we sometimes read that a man governed a province as legatus without any mention being made of the proconsul whose vicegerent he was. During the latter period of the republic, it sometimes happened that a consul carried on a war, or a proconsul governed his province, through his legati, while he himself remained at Rome, or conducted some other more urgent affairs. When the provinces were divided at the time of the empire [ Provincia ], those of the Roman people were governed by men who had been either consuls or praetors, and the former were always accompanied by three legati, the latter by one. The provinces of the emperor, who was himself the proconsul, were governed by persons whom the emperor himself appointed, and who had been consuls or praetors, or were at least senators. These vicegerents of the emperor were called legati august i pro praetore , legati praetor i i , legati consul a res , or simply legati , and they, like the governors of the provinces of the Roman people, had one or three legati as their a istants. During the latter period of the republic it had become customary for senators to obtain from the senate the permi ion to travel through or stay in any province at the expense of the provincials, merely for the purpose of managing and conducting their own personal affairs. There was no restraint as to the length of time the senators were allowed to avail themselves of this privilege, which was a heavy burden upon the provincials. This mode of sojourning in a province was called legatio liber a , because those who availed themselves of it enjoyed all the privileges of a public legatus or amba ador, without having any of his duties to perform. At the time of Cicero the privilege of legatio liber a was abused to a very great extent. Cicero, therefore, in his consulship ( B.C. 63) endeavoured to put an end to it, but, owing to the opposition of a tribune, he only succeeded in limiting the time of its duration to one year. Julius Caesar afterwards extended the time during which a senator might avail himself of the legatio liber a to five years.