Roman Empire in 1900 AUC (Superpowers)

Roman Empire
Senatus Populusque Romanus
SPQR
trans. Roman Republic

Population	344 million inhabitants
Area	10,508,000 km²
Capital     2nd largest city	Roma    Byzantium
Population density	32.7 inhb/km²
de jure language	Latin
de facto languages	Greek Gallic Coptic
Demonym	Romanus
Government Emperor (Caesar)	Mixed Republic Ap. Vergius Angelus Augustus
Legislature	Senatus Romanus Comitia Curiata
GDP	- billion Dn
Slavery	n/a
History	Foundation : 21 April 753 BCE Republic : 244 AUC Principate : 726 AUC Christianization : 1088 AUC Corpus Juris Civilis : 1288 AUC Bellum Civile : 1750-1768 AUC
Currencies	Denarius (Dn) Sestertius (HS)
Territory	Europe up to Vistula and Tyras Rivers, Britannic Isles, Egypt, Armenia, North Africa, Ethiopia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Sinai, coast of Arabia, Mesopotamia.

The Roman Empire (Latin: SPQR) is the larger of the two superpowers of Eurasia, eclipsing China in both population and land. After its civil war, Rome entered a period of rapid social reform in accord with the tenets of recent moral philosophers. These ideas are introducing new perspectives on old political institutions, convincing the government of the need for reforming them to meet modern ideals.

Rome holds sway over the entire Mediterranean Basin, a basin referred to by its citizens as their sea. With the acquisition of parts of Arabia, the Red Sea is becoming similarly exclusive territory for Roman ships. In the rest of Europe, everything is Roman up to the rivers Vistula and Dniester. In Africa, the empire extends into Ethiopia and the jungles of Ghana.

Political power is concentrated in only a few cities but its legitimacy is dependent on the authority of a widespread citizenry. In this sense, the empire is not a monarchy but a republic. Roman culture treats regimes that are not republics - referred to by the disdainful word regnum - as no different than nationwide systems of slavery and regards the subjects of kings as no more free than slaves. Now that this similarity is clear to the Roman Senate, its actions have begun to disregard the authority of regal laws and governments, treating foreign subjects only according to the law of nations - a code with jurisdiction over all rational beings.

As the only republic among kingdoms, Rome conferred upon itself the authority to adjudicate on matters in any part of the world, in order to uphold the law of nations. The global need for a republic to enforce the international principles of fairness in diplomacy, commerce, and war was made clear to Rome by the consequences of allowing the Caliphate of Persia to grow unchecked. The atrocities that the Persians committed in Syria are a fresh memory, reminding the Senate of the duties of Rome.

Name

Roma (Rome) is the primary endonym for the institutions that constitute the government and public affairs of the Roman Empire. This term refers both to the capital city itself and, by synecdoche, to the state as a whole. Its symbolic importance has grown with the age of Rome and emphasizes the unique status of the city within the community of Roman cities.

Civil documents, laws, and philosophers use more technical names. The Roman state is the Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR), translating in most languages into a synonym for the Roman Republic. In this sense, the Latin word populus refers both to a people and to a form of government where the people govern themselves. The only other form of government is a regnum (kingdom), referring both to aristocracies and monarchies. Mixtures of these two extremes have more nuanced terminology, as seen in the name of the Roman Republic itself which recognizes that its government is partially aristocratic through its Senate.

Another term that gets thrown around in discussions about the Roman Republic is the territory under the command of Romans or in Latin, the Imperium Romanum. Since citizens are considered Romans (Romani) and the lands of the Republic are seen as being under the political authority of the citizens, the lands of the Republic are often called the Roman Empire or Imperium Romanum.

Politics

A balance is struck by Rome between rule by the many (democracy), rule by the few (aristocracy), and rule by one (autocracy). The political system incorporating these different parts is maintained by a complicated network of checks and balances that defies explanation in terms used for other systems of government. For this reason, the most efficacious way to describe Roman politics is using the terminology of Roman philosophers, since the evolution of the Republic has been their primary model.

Public life

Following the Greeks, Romans consider civic participation (officium) the basis of politics and consider the involvement of people in governance to be the primary distinction between a populus (republic) and a regnum (kingdom). There are numerous ways that a citizen can engage in politics, encompassing more than voting (suffragatio) and running for office (cursatio). Altogether, these activities constitute the public life (civilitium) of a citizen. By contrast, the private life of people is constituted by leisure (otium) and business (negotium). Politicians especially draw sharp lines between activities done in each compartment of their lifestyles, allowing political opponents to sometimes be close friends or business partners.

Commoners tend to have simple public lives. Heralds, periodicals, and rumors keep them abreast of ongoing political issues and of notable political figures over the course of the year. When a popular assembly is called, a citizen weighs the inconvenience of going to his place of assembly against his desire to voice his opinion on the issues. Although law requires every vote to occur the day before the national market day on the second day of the week (Lundis) and only after a minimum four weeks of notice, most citizens do not participate on any given vote. Only elections draw more than the majority of voters registered by the census.

The Census itself is the other side of the coin in the public life of the average citizen. Roughly every five years, a Roman citizen can expect to be visited by a censitoris (census-taker) to whom he must publicize his private affairs. The process takes only about five minutes, since everyone knows the drill, but a tremendous amount of information is divulged in that short span. Although most data is pertinent to taxation, the modern Census also records travel history, medical history, religious observances, military service, family ties, and other miscellaneous information on lifestyle choices. Privacy is a non-issue for the Census since compliance with the censitores is ingrained into Roman culture.

Patronage

From the bottom to the top, much of the politics of Rome takes the form of patronage (clientela) - a relationship between one powerful faction and factions that depend on the exercise of its power but give their support in return. At an individual level, a patronus (patron) is a citizen of wealth and influence who offers support and protection (patronitium) to his clientes (clients) in the form of loaning money, being a guarantor for bank loans, supporting candidacy in elections, lobbying for votes, representation in court, facilitating business contracts, and making social connections. Clientela between individual citizens forms a hierarchical network that includes the majority of Roman citizens. In this mutual relationship, clients are socially obligated to follow their patron in voting, to protect their patron from threats to his life, and to speak highly of their patron to others. In general, a man's number of clients affects his political clout and partially determines his auctoritas (authority and influence), since it becomes more difficult to oppose a man as he has a larger number of loyal supporters.

At the level of nations, Rome itself is considered the patron of the nations in its sphere of influence. The Republic is constituted by the clientela of Rome with its co-dependent client nations (foederatae) and independent client kingdoms (foederati). The latter are not seen as under the Roman Empire - they are not directly within the imperium of Rome - but they also send soldiers to fight in its wars, pay a tribute similar to taxation, and direct a great deal of their trade toward Roman cities. The primary difference is that the people of client nations that are not states (i.e. kingdoms) often have the benefits of Roman citizenship, are within the bounds of Roman military fortifications, and enjoy some of the benefits of the expenditure of the Roman Senate. Furthermore, client states do not possess any colonies of citizens, unlike client nations whose cities are mostly colonies or former colonies.

Finally, on a societal level, the emperor is regarded as the patron of the citizenry as a whole. His patronage takes the form of the free dole of grain distributed out of his palace, the daily audiences he holds with citizens, and the hosting of festivals, games, and theatrical performances in cities that he visits during his reign. In this way, the emperor is the ultimate patron in Roman culture and as a result, has the greatest authority of any noble in the Republic.

Power

Roman culture is fixated on certain social concepts that distinguish its politics from governance in other nations. Although these ideas have a basis in ancient traditions, their current form is the result of a history of evolution and political philosophy.

A magistratus (magistrate) is a member of the Senate in whom the people of Rome have vested a power to command citizens for a specific purpose. In other words, the orders of a magistrate within a specific context must be followed by citizens, otherwise they face a legal reprisal from the state. The ability of a magistrate to command his fellow citizens in certain respects is his imperium, a power delegated to him for the duration of his term in office.

The imperium of a magistracy may have either geographical or contextual restrictions. For example, magistrati provinciales are elected to positions within specific provinces or nations, preventing any exercise of power outside that jurisdiction. Other limitations on imperium pertain to the range of orders that the magistrate may issue and the citizens to whom he may issue them. In addition, there is an obvious temporal restriction on the imperium of a magistrate, meaning the time in which he is vested with his powers. Only censors and emperors have no endpoint for their terms in office, unless they are forced to abdicate.

A concept that has changed from ancient times more than the idea of imperium is the auctoritas of a senator. While a magistrate enforces his decisions through the threat of legal ramifications for disobeying, a senator or private citizen can assert himself in the popular assemblies or the Senate through his personal influence. Discounting illegal coercion, a person has auctoritas over his peers through their awareness that refusal to comply will upset the common people or the members of the Senate. In other words, the auctoritas of a man is greater as there are more commoners or senators who are obliged to support his decisions. Nuances of traditional and moral authority have been lost from the word auctoritas, as it has come to refer to the more explicit influence of a person over others. Nevertheless, religious authority is a potent source for auctoritas, as it has always been in Rome, since going against the suggestions of religious authorities tends to upset the citizenry.

As Roman society became more pragmatic, auctoritas became divorced from the dignitas (reputation and social standing) of a person; social obligations are now the primary source of auctoritas. A person to whom many are in social debt due to past assistance or patronage is a man of tremendous auctoritas, although he may have little dignitas if his moral character is lacking. The fact of the matter is that people are supported nowadays more for auctoritas than for being respectable or effective, although, much like religious authority, dignitas is a useful means toward greater auctoritas. A person of a poor reputation is less likely to be sought for assistance or patronage, leaving fewer avenues for enlarging his influence.

On the whole, imperium differs from auctoritas in the sense that the repercussions for disobeying someone with the latter are not enforced through the law - the reprisal results from relationships and is usually less severe. A senator with auctoritas can block the actions of his opponents using his influence over voters - senatorial or popular - and through his clients refusing to deal with the enemies of their patron. For a senator of Rome, auctoritas can be more useful than imperium.

Pomerium

A number of constitutional laws employ the notion of a legal boundary to the city of Rome (Pomerium), extending the term to the cities of Byzantium in Thrace, Alexandria in Egypt, Carthago in Africa, Parisium in Gaul, and Antioch in Syria. These cities are the core members of the Roman community and important national capitals in their own rights, earning them a great deal of respect in Roman culture and laws.

The Pomerium denotes a geographical jurisdiction for the imperium of a category of magistrates known as magistrati curules (imperial magistrates), distinguished from the magistrati provinciales (provincial magistrates) who have a jurisdiction of a specific province or nation within the empire. An imperial magistrate cannot exercise his political authority outside the boundaries of the six cities incorporated into the Pomerium, unless the Senate grants him an extension to his powers. All magistrates and military officers above a certain rank fall under one of the above categories, except the emperor (whose jurisdiction extends over the entire empire).

Using the concept of the Pomerium, Roman law establishes strict geographic boundaries to its most powerful magistrates, keeping them from commanding armies or impinging on the domains of other magistrates without the approval of the Senate. This act of protenatio (spatial extension of imperium) is similar to the prorogatio (temporal extension of imperium) that the Senate continues to use to appoint former magistrates as governors of the provinces.

Other laws associated with the Pomerium forbid generals from crossing its boundary without relinquishing their command of legions and outlaw edged weapons within its limits (restricting praetorians to blunt instruments even in defense of the emperor). The ancient prohibition on soldiers wearing military dress has long been dropped but legionaries are still forced to wear civilian clothes during their visits to cities incorporated into the Pomerium.

Historically, Pomerium had persisted as an important concept to Roman politicians after its appropriation by the Christian Church as an extension of the earlier sacred boundary that defined the city of Rome. In 847, the latest city of Parisium became included in the legal definition of the Pomerium, following the entries of the other cities mentioned above. Today, the Pomerium retains some religious significance as symbolic of pax (peace) and concordia (harmony) between Christians or between citizens.

Government

Despite its history as a democracy that became an absolute monarchy, Rome now employs a mixed form of government, based on Greek, Roman, and Chinese models. In its own terms, Rome is a republic (populus) that relies on the executive decisions of an aristocratic assembly (senatus). The people that constitute this republic are citizens (cives romanes) and possess different rights than the non-citizens (peregrini) who also live on the lands of the Roman Republic.

Comitia Curiata

In reference to the earliest democratic assemblies, the Senate reformed the Comitium Gentium (National Assembly) by dividing the citizenry into groups with more nuanced distinctions between social orders. After a censitoris records the private information of a Roman citizen, he confirms if that citizen intends to vote in the foreseeable future. If the citizen does plan on voting, then he or she is asked polar questions about major legislative and national events in the preceding five years. The answers of each citizen to this civil examination are recorded for eventual analysis by specific magistrates. All of the questions concern matters of fact and are designed to determine the recent diligence of the citizen in paying attention to events that would have affected voting. Around an hour is devoted to administering these examinations for every citizen that resolves to vote.

Every citizen that asks to participate in the popular assemblies is assigned to a curia (weighted voting group). There are a total of 3,600 curiae for the entire population of citizens but not all curiae are the same. Differences between groups come in the form of the numbers of members. Citizens that are deemed fidatia (civically responsible), based on analysis of their examinations, are placed in curiae with less than a third as many citizens as regular curiae. In this way, the votes of citizens are unequal by design but weighting is based on civic knowledge rather than social class. This system comes from the immediate reactions of senators to the equal weighting of votes in the Comitium Gentium, appealing to the earlier manner of weighing votes based on social status and to the Chinese custom of allocating political power using civil examinations. Citizens whose votes are weighted more heavily in the Comitia Curiata (Civil Assembly) have the status of gines (pl. ginites) from the Chinese jinshì (進士) and shì (士).

Citizens who have failed to achieve the status of gines retain the default status of plebis (pl. plebes). The creation of the above meritocratic class is a divergence from the financial separation of society into plebis and eques while the new voting system is seen as an improvement over the old system where members of the equestrian order voted in smaller groups than plebeians (improved only after an attempt to institute equal voting had been made by an emperor). In practice, there are other inequalities in votes due to incomplete attendance in popular assemblies but this issue is mitigated by selecting the members of each curia suffragia from across a range of distances from their assigned place of assembly.

On the whole, the Civil Assembly is one of two direct democratic components of the Roman government. Neither magistrates nor senators can attain their offices without election in the Comitia Curiata. No alterations can be made to jus publicum (public law) except through majority agreement within this type of assembly. Furthermore, changes to jus privatum (private law) are possible through the popular assemblies, but are less common due to how often private law must be modified and how much private law varies among the provinces. Romans are proud of their reliance on popular assemblies for their most important legislation.

Senatus Romanus

Of the appointed or non-popular assemblies of Rome, the largest is the Senatus Romanus (Roman Senate). Members of this body are known as senatores (sing. senator) and form a third status of citizenship. Prerequisites for joining the Senate are recognition as a gines through the Census and recognition as an eques (pl. equites) by wealth - i.e. all senators are ginites and equites.

Once he meets the wealth and responsibility requirements, a male citizen only requires evidence of his competence to become eligible as a candidate for the seats in the Senate that opened up for new members since the last July. There are several ways of demonstrating the level of competence required for the Senate:

• graduating from the Academia Bellica (War Academy) and fulfilling a term of service as an officer in the Legion
• spending seven years as an avocatus (legal advocate) with a record that meets the approval of the emperor
• spending seven years as a numerarius (accountant), an argentarius (banker), or an adeptarius (import-export merchant)
• graduating from a medical academy and working as a medicus before achieving the rank of archiator (medical chief)

Regardless of the chosen path, the prospective senator must pass a civil examination in Rome that verifies literacy, financial skills, knowledge of the law, and understanding of proper morals. Failure in any category disqualifies the person unless he can succeed in the examinations at the start of the next year. Once a citizen passes, he may apply to the Senate for the yearly selection of auditor-generals for the provinces and for the treasury. After a year as an auditor-general, he can finally enter his name in the yearly elections for senators, in which he requires both majority approval and placement, by number of curiae, above a sufficient number of other candidates to get one of the available seats.

At its heart, the Senate is the place where the most capable men who have the luxury of spending days on end discussing the affairs of the state (rei publicae) do exactly that sort of thing. Whether for the Comitia or for the Senate, every bill is drafted by a committee of senators who have received the permission of both a chief justice and a representative of the people to form a drafting committee. There are restrictions on committee membership for different types of bills. There is a wide variety of possible bills that can be debated in the Senate, with varying results should a vote end in favor of certain types of bills:

• alterations to jus privatum (private law), including additions, abolitions, and edits.
• levies or abolitions of taxes (vectigales) and tariffs (portorii) for the treasury.
• budgets for how treasury funds are to be allocated to treasury officials in each client nation.
• extensions to the jurisdiction of a magistrate in either duration (prorogatio) or region (protenatio).
• public statements declaring war against foreign nations, cities, or institutions.
• requests to the treasury to commission public works.
• requests to the treasury for funds to disburse for a stated purpose.
• orders to a magistrate or department of the government to abide by a specific policy or to take a specific action.
• orders to a department of the government to reduce or enlarge the size of its officium (staff) of civil servants.
• requests to the emperor to abide by a specific policy or to perform a specific action.
• requests to the clergy of the Christian Church to perform a specific action.
• public statements on the stance of the entire Senate on a bill going before the Comitia Curiata.
• public statements defaming a specific individual either inside or outside the Republic.

When the Senate meets its quorum (numera satis) and achieves a majority vote on a bill, the bill itself is presented by messenger to its stated recipients. Requests and public statements are only issued as senatus consulta (recommendations of the Senate), indicating that they only represent the advice of the Senate to the recipient. In particular, the senatus consultum issued before any vote by popular assembly is the advice of a body recognized for its wisdom, indicating the direction voters should take. Orders that are addressed to magistrates or departments must be followed by the recipient without question. However, some magistrates are beyond the authority of the Senate in certain matters, forcing the Senate to limit itself to issuing a recommendation.

On the whole, the Senate is the core aristocratic component of the Roman government. Actions taken in the name of Rome are always interpreted through the lens of approval or disapproval of the Senate. Its members are some of the most competent men in the Republic, among male citizens who are wealthy enough to devote their time to politics and ambitious enough to pursue politics. A maximum of 1000 equites can be in the Senate but the actual number falls as members die between elections. Since every organ of the government employs senators as its executive officials, this assembly is essential to the operation of the Republic.

Concilium Tribunum

The other direct democratic component of the government is the Concilium Tribunum (Legislative Council). The greatest honor for men without wealth - members of the ordo plebeianus (lower class) - is to become a tribunus plebis (tribune of the plebs). Three male plebes or ginites are selected each year by lottery from every nation in the Republic and named tribune of their nation. Aside from the requirement of order, a male citizen is only included in the lottery for the tribuneships if he is over 29 years of age and has not committed any crimes in the past. Although a tribune is financially compensated at the end of his year, a selected pleb may refuse the powers and responsibilities, as many do to stay with family or to maintain their businesses.

As an individual, a tribunus possesses the imperium tribunum which allows him to intercede (intercessio) in the passing of any bill in the Senate and to schedule a popular assembly for voting on a bill drafted by a committee of senators. Every tribune has the power of veto on his own but the entire Concilium of 39 tribunes must vote to continue the action if even one tribune vocally speaks against the veto as it is announced in the Senate. If a majority of tribunes support going ahead with the action, then the veto carries through and the bill is only recorded as a senatus auctorum (will of the Senate) without any executive force. For this reason, the action is far less effective against bills for delivering public statements or requests.

As a council, the tribunes can overrule the major veto of the emperor but only when a majority of tribunes are opposed to its use. Majorities in the Concilium can also reverse the judicial verdicts of the chief justices or prohibit a project that demands funds from the treasury. Any individual tribune also possesses the authority to provide sanctuary to any citizen facing prosecution, housing him in the Basilica Popula, a large private residence east of the main forum in Rome.

In many ways, the office of tribune has been designed to accommodate the fact that tribunes are merely random male citizens from the various cities of the Roman Empire. All tribunes live in the same building and eat their meals together, ensuring that tribunes are almost always within sight of other tribunes. A cohort of 500 praetorian guards watches their comings and goings to record any suspicious behavior and to send an escort any time a tribune leaves the residence or the Senate. Combining this with other laws, bribery is made next to impossible - being bribed as a tribune and bribing a tribune are serious offensives on the level of treason. Furthermore, every tribune is paid a salary of 3000 Dn for his year in office, both supporting his family in his absence and allowing him to easily restore any decay of his estates upon his return.

On the whole, the tribuneship is an influential populist check on the powers of the Senate and the emperor, preventing the passing of laws that are opposed to the desires of a random sampling of commoners from Roman cities. Furthermore, tribunes are a key component of the Comitia Curiata, as a tribune must agree to call the assembly if a committee of senators is to get their bill passed by popular referendum. Roman philosophers view the lottery nature of the tribuneship as a superior form of democracy than the mass gathering of people for votes, due to the mob mentality that can dominate in the latter. For this reason, the tribuneship is praised more by philosophers than the popular assemblies.

Magisterium

The collective body of the departments of the government of the Roman Republic is known as the Curulis Magisterium. This institution formed as a system of organization for the various officia publica (civil staffs) that were subordinate to the Senate and its magistrates. In this way, the different departments (magisteriae) can more easily share apparitores (civil servants) and closely share information gathered and processed for the purposes of each specific department.

Although the Fiscus (Department of the Treasury) is the largest magisteria, other departments have grown in influence over the centuries of Roman rule, evolving from the ancient Concilium Civium (Council of Citizens). Hiring, organizing, and supervising the various civil servants of the Magisterium is the Magister Officium (Chief of Staff), head of the small Magisteria Officis. His tasks are to coordinate who works with what department on which days and to ensure that a sufficient number of officials are available for the purposes of the entire Magisterium.

Some magisteriae only occasionally require the services of apparitores, requesting them from the Chief of Staff on a regular basis. Among these magistries, the most vital is the department of the Magister Archiatorum (Surgeon General of the Republic). Among his constant duties, the Surgeon General appoints all of the archiatores (medical chiefs) for public hospitals throughout the empire and regulates their decisions on staff size, public funding, and equipment. In general, the Magister Archiatorum determines Rome's health care policies, in concord with the intentions of the Senate and the popular assemblies.

Other magisters in the Roman Republic, in addition to their duties, are:

• Magister Correctores (Overseer of Overseers) - oversees the activities of provincial governors and recalls governors who are suspected of extortion, violating the law, or generally any improper conduct.
• Magister Memoriae (Master of Public Knowledge) - oversees the distribution of information to the people through praecones (heralds) and periodic publications; supervises the design of coins; and arranges the public appearances of the emperor.
• Magister Militum (Master of the Soldiers) - oversees the distribution of funds to the legions throughout the empire and writes messages to generals from the Senate and emperor.
• Magister Scholasticum (Master of Learning) - oversees the distribution of funds to the various musaea (universities) throughout the empire and supervises the scholarches (headmasters) appointed to each institution of higher learning.
• Magister Alimentum (Master of the Grain) - oversees the shipping routes for grain and appoints praefecti annonarum as supervisors for the major grain ports in the empire.
• Magister Censorium (Master of the Census) - the censor that supervises the activities of the censitores.
• Magister Vehiculorum (Postmaster General) - organizes the routes of the public postal service and oversees its couriers.
• Magister Itinerarium (Master of Travels) - organizes the routes for the public carriage and boat services, and oversees the maintenance on the public highways throughout the empire (through the equestrian praefecti viarum).

In general, every magister is responsible for submitting a budget request for his department and for advising other magistrates in his area of expertise. Unlike other magistrates, the magisters are regularly voted extensions to their imperium by the Senate, often once someone who is suited to the work gets voted into the job by the people. In this way, a magister tends to remain in office for decades, unless an event demonstrates incompetence to the Senate.

Although the power of most magisters is great compared with other magistracies - sufficing to warrant assigning each a guard of twelve praetorians - the responsibilities and pressure of the positions are sufficient to keep out most people who are unsuited for its tasks. For example, the Surgeon General tends to have been a medical chief before joining the Senate and the Master of Coins tends to have been an accountant or other financial expert during the proving phase of his career.

Fiscus

Since a great deal of the power of the Senate comes from its wealth, the Treasury is its largest and most powerful department. The tremendous responsibilities and powers of the Magister Fiscalis (Master of the Purse) reflect this concentration of imperium. The powers of the Magister Fiscalis include authorizing appointments of the quaestores (auditor-generals) by the Senate, authorizing budgets passed by the Senate, and blocking individual items of expenditure on the grounds of wastefulness. Since justifications are required for these decisions, they can be overturned by the tribunes or other regulatory bodies of government.

In Rome itself, the highest officer of the Treasury is the Praefectus Argentarius (Overseer of the Silver), a low ranking magistrate who supervises the operation of the imperial mints and supervises the handling of new coins being disseminated through banks and other services. However, the primary facilities for the Treasury are in the Aerarium (Treasury Vaults) in Byzantium, where the golden aquillae (eagle standards) of celebrated legions, the gold reserves of the state, and hundreds of millions of denarii in coins are stored. From these vaults on the second hill of Byzantium, funds are constantly disseminated to the rest of the empire for the purposes of the government in Rome.

No money leaves the Aerarium without the written approval of an aedilis (financial overseer). Within the Pomerium, there are ten aediles curules available to sign for individual items of spending or minor withdrawals of funds. Reports from all aediles are sent to Byzantium for review by the Magister Fiscalis. Each imperial aedile has special duties within the Pomerium, such as arranging festivals, public games and military triumphs, financing the public grain dole, and maintaining the public buildings (basilicae). These duties are mirrored in the tasks assigned to each aedilis provincialis of a nation in the empire.

While an aedilis is always involved in removing money from the Treasury, the internal management of finances and the oversight of money collected for the Treasury is in the hands of the auditor-generals of the empire. A quaestor curulis (treasury auditor) may be assigned by the Magister Fiscalis either to Byzantium or to Rome. At the Aerarium, a quaestor would be comparing accounts at the various stages between revenue and expenditure, ensuring the consistency of account documents. Otherwise, quaestors there would be preparing financial statements for Rome and assisting in formulating predictions based on past finances. At the Senate, a quaestor curulis would be tasked with organizing financial documents and communicating with Byzantium.

Auditor-generals appointed by the Senate with fewer votes are deployed as quaestores provinciales, where each of them audits the tax reports for an entire province and oversees the usage of treasury funds in that same province. A provincial auditor has a less prestigious position than a treasury auditor but once he completes his year of service, he is also eligible to run as a senatorial candidate in the following July. Since there are nearly three times as many of the former as there are treasury auditors, the majority of senators have started their career in the government as a quaestor provincialis.

Although they are not yet senators, quaestors are highly respectable men within the empire as every quaestor has a high level of education and has a past career in a distinguished profession such as medical administration, legal practice, or military command. A quaestorship is in some sense the final test for men of wealth and honor before they can attempt to join the Senate. Campaigns for a senatorship often revolve around reputations built as a quaestor, especially when one's career before being appointed to a quaestorship by the Senate was not especially noteworthy in the eyes of the public.

Aside from its quaestors and senators, the Treasury employs thousands of civil servants as numerarii (accountants), fiscatores (tax collectors), argentarii (bankers), and monetores (coin pressers). As the largest institution in the government, even exceeding the Senate itself in membership, the Treasury also has thousands of secretaries, aides, and messengers in addition to its own facilities containing offices, meeting rooms, and archives. Due to its function, the Treasury interacts with every branch of the state and has civil servants in every province and nearly every major settlement within the Roman Empire.

Comitia Censoria

The primary regulative government body besides the Legislative Council is the Comitia Censoria (Censorial Assembly), a group of ten senators chosen from among the most accomplished members of the Senate. Members of this assembly are known officially as censores (sing. censor). Each censor is chosen by existing censors from among the senators elected for life as curatores pro censores (acting censors), who assist the full censors in their more laborious duties. Although no more than ten senators can be on the assembly itself, there are forty positions for procensors that are filled by direct election.

Procensors are only given two related duties: approving the assignments of legal status to people based on regular census data and keeping abreast of the activities of high profile citizens, through civil servants that gather information for them. In principle, this provides no additional political power to procensors - who are anyway the most authoritative senators in the Republic - but together these responsibilities make them the most common instigators of investigations that would strip senators of their offices and other citizens of their wealth or citizenship. The only judgement that they pass is the decision to investigate a person but that alone can be a tremendous power, adding to the deference accorded to them by other senators and citizens.

More importantly, the procensors are the only senators eligible for positions on the Comitia Censoria itself. As a whole, this judicial body votes on the stripping of imperium from senators and the revoking of citizenship from Romans, in extreme cases, even voting on forcing the emperor to abdicate or to remove citizens from the Senate. No decisions can be made on the voting rights or legal status of a person, with the exception of naturally granting citizenship to children, unless eight out of ten votes are in favor of the course of action. No other body in the government of the Roman Empire has such authority.

The Comitia Censoria often judges large groups in a single case, such as deciding whether a certain act of treason committed by numerous citizens was offensive enough to strip the citizenship of anyone who took part in that act. Since citizens are immune to the death penalty, this verdict is the worst that can befall a citizen and usually leads to exile. Although the Comitia has this power over citizens, its use is regulated by requiring the instigation of a procensor and the authorization of five chief justices. Also, the powers of the Comitia Censoria are restrained by the ability of the Senate to remove any of its members if a majority approve of the abdication, although a majority of the Concilium Tribunum must second this approval before it takes effect.

Justitia

Each year, a senator is elected to the position of princeps judex (First of the Judges), filling the role of supreme justice of the Republic. In his position, the princeps judex may overturn a verdict of any other judge, except of the censors. At other times, the princeps judex presides over the Justitia (supreme court of Rome), where legal disputes of national importance are decided. Since verdicts in this court may ignore the prescriptions of existing criminal and private law, on the principle that cases only come before this court when injustice was served by the lower courts, the Justitia has been a venue for introducing new precedents to the law. Due to the high profile nature of cases in the Justitia, these precedents usually pressure the Senate into modifying civil law. While injustices have been overturned by this court, there have been cases of senators using it to evade prosecutions. However, the fully public proceedings of the supreme court - like any public court of Roman law - prevents the most obvious injustices from occurring.

Although the Justitia is the highest public court in Rome, the praetorian courts are not far down. Of the 30 praetores curules (chief justices), five-sixths hold court regularly in a public space in the capital and another four hold court elsewhere in the sacred region of the Pomerium. The last and most important chief justice is the praetor urbanus (urban praetor), who supervises the other praetors on behalf of the populus and selects the cases that merit judgement before the Justitia.

The praetor legionis (chief justice of the army) presides over the military tribunals for members of the Legion, holding court in the main plaza of the War Academy in Carthage. The praetor fiscalis (chief justice of the treasury) presides over tribunals over misconduct by members of the Treasury, unless the case goes to the public courts for treason, embezzlement, or extortion. The other two praetors sent outside Rome are the praetor gentis (chief justice of the law of nations), who presides over tribunals of people who are not citizens (such as foreign rulers or local non-citizens), and the praetor scholastis (chief justice of academia), who presides over tribunals for serious academic misconduct by teachers or students.

Other praetors preside over their own public courts, distinguished by the crime that concerns them. In effect, any prosecution that is instigated by the state itself is tried in one of these 25 public courts, including cases that the state takes over at the request of the defendant, where each praetor has the liberty to refuse or accept at his discretion.

Other courts of law in Rome are presided over by judges (judices) recognized in the album judicum, the list of judges licensed by each praetor to preside over specific cases of criminal or private law. For private disputes of a non-criminal nature, judges go onto the list at the discretion of the urban praetor, who must concern himself with such suits in law. Litigation in this sense is the most common type of case brought before the Justitia, since criminal affairs are only brought there under serious accusations of legal misconduct. For this reason, the Justitia is regarded as the public court for lawsuits.

The public courts outside Rome are each presided over by a praetor provincialis (justice of the peace) assigned to the province in which the crime occurred. Unlike in Rome, there is only one senatorial judge in each province, resulting in most cases going to the judges licensed by the justice of the peace to preside over courts in his province.

In general, praetors and Roman judges can only take cases involving Roman citizens - non-citizens are left to their own devices regarding their legal affairs. The exception is a violation of the Law of Nations, usually by powerful individuals in another state. Rome has taken upon itself the responsibility of upholding these laws among all human beings.

Caesar

Each component of the Roman government contributes to its utility for the public. The directly democratic parts reduce corruption and promote fairness; the aristocratic components reduce the bandwagon effect and promote skillful leadership; and the unique autocratic component reduces discord and promotes efficient deliberation. Selected by his predecessor and authorized by the Roman Senate, people, and clergy, the princeps civitatis (First Citizen of the State) and princeps senatus (First of the Senate) is the peerless leader of the Roman Republic, known to other cultures as the Emperor of Rome.

Although he is first among equals (primus inter pares) - which is to say he is without equal - the princeps has his powers heavily regulated by the people and the Senate. Despite reigning for life, the emperor can be deposed by decision of the Comitia Censoria and any of his actions can be blocked by a majority vote by the Senate and the tribunes. Furthermore, a number of magisters can overrule his decisions within their respective jurisdictions, on the basis that, in their expertise, they deem the action unwise.

Unlike before the civil war, an emperor cannot dismiss most magistrates at will. Censors and tribunes have always been immune to dismissal but now the list of independent magistrates includes magisters, praetors, and the leaders of client nations. An emperor is still within his rights to dismiss provincial governors, prefects, and military officers. With this power, an emperor commands great authority within the provinces and his word is almost always followed to the letter by citizens below the rank of magistrate.

In the complicated system that is Roman politics, an emperor must be careful to avoid losing face before the Senate or the common people of Rome. Otherwise, his auctoritas may be called into question and his role as a ideological leader for the Republic, one that brings unity to the conflicting ambitions and desires of hundreds of senators, becomes untenable. Although as pater patriae - the great patron of the people - an emperor can almost always rely on popular support, his auctoritas in the Senate is undermined when senators believe that following his political stances is less palatable than suffering the ire of the commoners and clergy. This type of event requires either tremendous ideological unity among senators against him or undeniable incompetence in his decisions. In either case, his services are no longer to the benefit of the Republic and his lawful deposition is warranted.

Maintaining this role of concorditor (keeper of the peace), the princeps has a number of powers besides dismissal:

• summoning senators to the Senate for a discussion or vote.
• arranging for the Comitia Curiata to assemble for a vote.
• presiding over some assemblies of the Senate (among several magistrates with this power).
• requesting funds from the Treasury, without question, to a maximum of 5% of state revenues.
• beginning the process of acquiring citizenship for any foreigner or group of foreigners.
• circumventing the lottery of provinces to appoint a praetor as the next governor of any province.
• intervening in the passing of legislation by the Senate or Comitia Curiata, unless the tribunes disapprove by majority.

Aside from these political actions, the princeps can act in his capacity as pontifex maximus (Supreme Pontiff or Pope) to form the policies of the Christian Church. In order to control ecclesiastical policy, the emperor may issue epistulae canonae (papal charters) to the bishops, either to provide practical advice for responding to contemporary events or spiritual advice for answering theological questions. Furthermore, the princeps may appoint episcopes (bishops), as opposed to the usual process of election by the clergy. Lastly, as Patriarch of Latium - spiritual leader of the Latin liturgy - he ultimately settles decisions on how to worship, decisions that tend to be imitated by the other four Patriarchs of the Church in leading their respective liturgies.

At this time, the princeps has become a unifying force for the Republic, encouraging the Senate to find agreement on issues that would otherwise split the assembly along partisan lines. The reigning emperor is powerful enough not to require allegiance to any partisan groups of senators to remain in power but not enough to abuse the Senate as a political tool. For this reason, the public regards the emperor as a symbol of concordia and for his military authority, they regard him as a symbol of pax - the two principle virtues that Romans praise about their Republic.

Military

Peace and harmony within the Roman Republic would be impossible without the presence of a professional army of volunteers. Since the dominion of Rome can only be guaranteed using militaristic power, the priority of the Senate is to fund its armed forces and motivate some of the citizenry to enter military service for a large portion of their lives. At any given time, nearly a million men are milites (soldiers) within the Legion (professional army), Auxilia Limitana (border guard), or Classis Romanis (Roman Fleet). The core branch of these forces consists primarily of the elite horsemen known as legionaries.

Legionary

As the foundation of its army, legionaries are the best trained and best equipped soldiers of the Republic. Although once heavy infantry, the legionary has been refitted as a heavy cavalry unit in the wake of the war with Islamic Persia. A single legionary is covered from head-to-toe in crucible steel plate armor - weighing around 27 kg - with a removable visor across the face. Plates are ridged to more easily deflect arrows and the shoulders are covered by segmented plates in a long tradition of legion armor. On joints, legionary armor employs lames, i.e. riveted strips of plate that form a large section of the armor. Coverage is sufficiently extensive that harming a legionary requires penetrating steel plate, excepting a lucky strike through the circular visor grating.

Every legionary rides his own war horse in combat. These chargers come from an equine stock that has been bred for battle over nearly a millennium, making them leaner and more muscular than any other breed but smaller than draft horses. Since these horses are almost entirely covered in solid and lamellar plate, there is no significance to the coat colors of different war horses, although selection of mounts is prioritized by rank and Romans have a tendency to favor black coats on horses. In desert regions, legionaries are mounted on camels since the empire has over a millennium of experience with desert warfare.

Since heavy cavalry is not suitable for many battlefields, legionaries are trained for both mounted and dismounted combat, in effect making the Legion the most versatile force in human history - able to alternate the entire backbone of its army between foot and cavalry to match presented conditions. Military academies place heavy emphasis on an understanding of terrain and on finding the appropriate tactics based on circumstances such as environment and the types of soldiers fielded by an enemy, making the legion commanders adept at configuring their versatile resources for each battle.

Adding to their versatility, legionaries each carry a repeating crossbow, known as a polytrahos, that is used to engage enemies from a distance, replacing earlier uses of the pilum (spear). They are instructed not to carry this weapon away from their mounts as its presence hinders movement on foot, despite its small size and weight. As a ranged weapon, the handheld polytrahos is on the low end of the scale for penetration and distance but outclasses other bows with its high rate of fire. With this light crossbow, the common soldier has access to even more roles in combat than cavalry and infantry.

The diverse array of functions of the legionary would be impossible without the five years of training that each volunteer receives before he is assigned to a legion. Tirones (legionary trainees) are subject to a grueling regime that builds physical strength, forces unflinching discipline, and practices skills such as riding, digging, woodworking, brickworking, and melee combat. Once a trainee is accepted as a munifex (green recruit) in a legion he goes through five years of military service before he is eligible for specialized training in a certain field of military logistics or operations. When the specialists in his chosen field recognize his skills, usually after a minimum of four years, the legionary is granted the rank of immunis (specialist) in his field.

An immunis is not a commanding officer (CO) of the other soldiers but receives certain benefits as befit more experienced soldiers. Outside of combat, the immunes are exempt from the more arduous tasks involved in setting up camp - both as a reward for years of service and as a practical measure to allow them time to attend to their more specialized duties. Options for specialization within the Legion include: artillery maintenance, medical staff assistance, military architecture, resource management, and cartography. Furthermore, immunes tend to get selected over untrained legionaries for promotions to CO.

Commanding Officers

The basic squad for legionaries is the camp (conturnia). When an army of legionaries makes camp, legionaries sleep in tents with the same ten brothers-in-arms - the most senior of whom directs his fellows in setting and dismantling the camp. The lowest officer rank in the Legion is the commander of a centuria (century) of 80 legionaries - the famous centurion. Most centuriones come from promoted legionaries, in sharp contrast to the majority of higher rank officers. With few exceptions each year, the highest rank that a citizen can achieve without going to the war academy is primus pilus - the principle centurion of his cohort.

A signiferius commands a cohort of six centuries, each distinguished by a different color displayed by its centurion. On the field, officers of this rank are distinguished by bearing the vexillum (cloth standard) of their respective cohorts while the highest ranking signiferius of a legion carries its aquillum (golden eagle standard).