Ædīles

, Roman magistrates, that had the care of all buildings, baths, and aqueducts, and examined the weights and measures, that nothing might be sold without its due value. There were three different sorts: the Ædiles Plebeii , or Minores ; the Majores Ædiles, and the Ædiles Cereales . The plebeian ediles were two, first created with the tribunes; they presided over the more minute affairs of the state, good order, and the reparation of the streets. They procured all the provisions of the city, and executed the decrees of the people. The Majores and Cereales had greater privileges, though they at first shared in the labour of the plebeian ediles; they appeared with more pomp, and were allowed to sit publicly in ivory chairs. The office of an edile was honourable, and was always the primary step to greater dignities in the republic. The ediles were chosen from the plebeians for 127 years, till A.U.C. 338. Varro , De Lingua Latina , bk. 4 , ch. 14 .— Cicero , De Legibus , bk. 3 .