A-dictionary-of-greek-and-roman-antiquities-william-smith

CENSOR.
to the highest bidder for the space of a lustrum or
five rears. The act of letting was called venditio
•r locatia, and seems to have taken place in the
month of March (Macron. .So*, u 12), in a public
place in Rome (Cic. de Leg. Ayr. i. 3, u. 21).
The terms on which they were let, together with
the rights and duties of the purchasers, were all
specified in the leges censoriae, which the censors
published in every case before the bidding comtaenced.
(Cic ad Qu, Fr. i. 1. § 12, Vmrr. iii. 7,
de .Vox. Dear, iii. 19, Varr. de Re Rust, ii 1.)
For further particulars sec Publica nl The cen
sors also possessed the right, though probably not
without the concurrence of the senate, of imposing
new vectigalia (Liv. xxix. 37, xL 61), and even
of selling the land belonging to the state (Liv.
xxxii. 7 Jl It would thus appear that it was the
duty of the censors to bring forward a budget for
a lustrum, and to take care that the income of the
state was sufficient for its expenditure during that
tune. So Car their duties resembled those of a
modern minister of finance. The censors, how
ever, did not receive the revenues of the state.
AD the public money was paid into the aerarium,
which was entirely under the jurisdiction of the
senate ; and all disbursements were made by order
of this body, which employed the quaestors as its
officers. [Axrarium ; Senatus.]
In one important department the censors were
entrusted with the expenditure of the public money ;
though the actual payments were no doubt made by
the quaestors. The censors had the general super
intendence of all the public buildings and works
(operxipnUica) ; and to meet the expenses connected
with this part of their duties, the senate voted them
a certain sum of money or certain revenues, to which
they were restricted, but which they might at the
same time employ according to their discretion.
(Polyb. tL 13 ; Liv. xL 46, xlir. 16.) They had
to see that the temples and all other public build
ings were in a good state of repair (aedes sacrus
tmeri and surta tecia exigere^ Lir. xxiv. 18, xxix.
37, xlii. 3, xlv. 15\ that no public places were en
croached upon by the occupation of private persons
{lota txeri, Liv. xlii. 3, xliiL 16), and that the
aquaedncts, roads, drains, Ac. were properly at
tended to. [Aquaeductcs; Via»; Cloacae.]
The repairs of the public works and the keeping
of them in proper condition were let out by the
censors by public auction to the lowest bidder, just
as the vec&jalia were let out to the highest bidder.
These expenses were called ultrotributa ; and hence
we frequently find vectujalia and tdtrotributa con
trasted with one another. (Lir. xxxix. 44, xliii.
16.) The persons who undertook the contract
were called conductores, mancipet, redemptores, ruseeptore*,
&c ; and the duties they had to discharge
were specified in the Lege* Censoriac. The censors
had also to superintend the expenses connected
with the worship of the gods, even for instance the
feeding of the sacred geese in the Capitol, which
were also let out on contract. (Plut Quaest. Rom,
98 ; Plin. //. N. x. 22 ; Cic. pro Rote. Am. 20.)
Besides keeping existing public works in a prop r
state of repair, the censors also constructed new
ones, either for ornament or utility, both in Rome
and in other parts of Italy, such as temples,
basil icae, theatres, porticoes, fora, walls of towns,
aqueducts, harbours, bridges, cloacae, roads, &c.
These works were either performed by them jointly,
or they divided between them the money, which
CKNSOR.
had been granted to them by the senate. (Liv.
xL 51. xliv. 16.) Tbey were let out to contractors
like the other works mentioned above, and when
they were completed, the censors had to see that
the work was performed in accordance with the
contract : this was called ojms jmJmire or in aeceptmm
re/erre, (Cic Verr. i. 57 \ Liv. iv. 22, xlv.
15 ; Lex PuteoL p. 73, Spang.) •
The aediles had likewise a superintendence over
the public buildings ; and it is not easy to define
with accuracy the respective duties of the censors
and aediles : but it may be remarked in general
that the superintendence of the aediles had more
of a police character, while that of the censors bad
reference to all financial matters.
After the censors had performed their various
duties and taken the census, the lustrum or solemn
purification of the people followed. When the
censors entered upon their office, they drew lots to
see which of them should perform this purification
(hutruM facert or condere^ Varr. / . L. vi. 86 ; Liv.
xxix. 37, xxxv. 9, xxxriiL 36, xlii. 10) ; but both
censors were obliged of course to be present at the
ceremony. [ Li srat M. ]
In the Roman and Latin colonics and in the
municipia there were censors, who likewise bore
the name of quim/nennales. They are spoken of
under Coloma.
A census was sometimes taken in the provinces,
even under the republic (Cic. Verr. ii. 53, 56) ; but
there seems to have been no general census taken
in the provinces till the time of Augustus. This
emperor caused an accurate account to Ik* taken of
all persons in the Roman dominion, together with
the amount of their propcrtr (iVc. Zvcue, ii. 1, 2 ;
Joseph. Ami. JucL zvil 13. | 5, xviiL 1. | 1.
2. § 1.) ; and a similar census was taken from time
to time by succeeding emperors, at first every
ten, and subsequently every fifteen years. (Savigny,
Romische Steuerver/assung^ in Zrttschri/i^ voL
vi. pp. 375—383.) The emperor sent into the
provinces especial officers to take the census, who
were called Censiiorts (Dig. 50. tit 15. a 4. § 1 Cassiod. For. ix. 1 1 ; Orelli, Inscr. No. 3652) ;
but the duty was sometimes discharged by the im
perial legati. (Tar. Ann. i. 31, ii. 6.) TheOmst*
tores were assisted by subordinate officers, called
Censuales^ who made out the lists, &c. (Capitol.
Gorditm. 12 ; Symmach. Ep. x. 43 ; Cod. Theod.
8. tit 2.) At Rome the census still continued to
be taken under the empire, but the old ceremonies
connected with it were no longer continued, and the
ceremony of the lustration was not performed after
the time of Vespasian. The two great jurists,
Paulus and Ulpian, each wrote works on the
census in the imperial period ; and several extracts
from these works are given in a chapter in the
Digest (50. tit 15), to which we must refer our
readers for further details respecting the imperial
census.
The word census, besides the meaning of M valua
tion " of a person's estate, has other significations,
which must be briefly mentioned : 1. It signified
the amount of a persons property, and hence we
read of census senatunus, the estate of a senator ;
census cquestris^ the estate of nn equea. 2. The lists
of the censors. 3. The tax which depended upon
the valuation in the census. The Lexicons will
supply examples of these meanings.
(A considerable portion of the preceding article
has been taken from Becker's excellent i