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PROVINCE (Lat. provincia; perhaps a c...
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See also:PROVINCE (See also:Lat. provincia; perhaps a contraction of providentia) , a See also:term originally applied, in See also:ancient See also:Rome, to the See also:department or See also:sphere of See also:duty assigned to one of the higher magistrates, the consuls and praetors.' When, with the spread of the See also:Roman arms, the See also:government of conquered countries See also:grew to be one of the most important duties of the higher magistrates, the term province, from designating the government of a conquered See also:country as one particular duty of a Roman See also:magistrate, came to be used generally as a designation of the country itself. Thus in later days it was applied to analogous territorial sub-divisions of a country, as opposed to the centre of government; and apart from any territorial signification, the term is used generally for a sphere of duty. It is to the older sense of the term as a subject territory lying outside of See also:Italy and governed by Roman magistrates that the following See also:historical remarks apply: As distinguished from Italy, the provinces paid See also:tribute to Rome, for, at least from the See also:time of the Gracchi, it was a recognized constitutional principle that the provinces were the estates of the Roman See also:people and were to be managed for its benefit. Under the See also:republic the constitution of a province was See also:drawn up by the victori6us Roman See also:general assisted by ten commissioners appointed by the See also:senate from its own See also:body, and the province was henceforth governed on the lines laid down in this constitution or See also:charter (See also:lea provinciae). For administrative purposes the province was divided into districts, each with its See also:capital, the magistrates and See also:council of which were responsible for the collection of the See also:district taxes. For judicial purposes the province was divided into circuits (conventus), and in the See also:chief See also:town of each See also:circuit the See also:governor of the province regularly held assizes. ' Only those magistrates who had imperium (military See also:power) had a province. When the province of a See also:quaestor is mentioned it refers to the province of the See also:consul or See also:praetor to whom the quaestor is subordinate. In See also:familiar See also:language any business was called a province. Cities taken by the See also:sword were destroyed, and their lands were turned into Roman domains and were let out by the censors at Rome to private persons, who undertook to pay a certain See also:pro-portion of the produce. Royal domains, such as those of See also:Syracuse, See also:Macedonia, See also:Pergamum, See also:Bithynia and See also:Cyrene were also confiscated. On the other See also:hand communities which surrendered without offering an obstinate resistance were usually allowed to retain their See also:personal freedom and private See also:property, and their chief town was See also:left in the enjoyment of its territory and See also:civil rights; but all the lands were subjected to a tax, consisting either of a See also:payment in See also:kind (vectigal) or of a fixed sum of See also:money (tributum, stipendium), and in some cases a See also:custom-duty (portorium) was levied. It is to this latter class of communities (the civitates vectigales or stipendiariae) that the large See also:majority of the provincial states belonged. In a better position were those states whose freedom was guaranteed by Rome on the ground of old alliances or See also:special See also:loyalty. Their freedom was recognized either by a treaty or by a See also:decree of the Roman people or senate. As a decree of the people or senate could at any time be recalled, the position of the See also:free states without a treaty was more pre-carious than that of the treaty states (civitates foederatae). The latter, though not allowed to meddle in See also:foreign politics, enjoyed a certain amount of See also:internal freedom, retained their lands, paid no taxes, and were See also:bound to render those services only which were expressly stipulated for in the See also:original' treaty, such as furnishing See also:ships and troops, supplying See also:corn at a certain See also:price and receiving Roman officials and soldiers en route. Amongst these treaty states were Massilia (See also:Marseilles), See also:Athens, See also:Rhodes and See also:Tyre. The privileges of the free but not treaty states were somewhat similar, but, as stated, more See also:precarious. All See also:political distinctions, See also:save that between slave and See also:freeman, disappeared when See also:Caracalla bestowed the Roman See also:franchise on the whole See also:empire. Provincial Diets.—Apart from the government by Roman officials, every province appears to have had, at least under the empire, a provincial See also:assembly or See also:Diet of its own (concilium or See also:commune), and these Diets are interesting as the first attempts at representative assemblies. The Diet met annually, and was composed of deputies (legati), from the provincial districts. It arranged for the celebration of religious See also:rites and See also:games, especially (under the empire) for the See also:worship of the See also:emperor, the neglect of which was severely punished. The actual celebration was under the conduct of the high See also:priest of the province, a See also:person of much dignity and importance, perhaps the forerunner of the See also:Christian See also:bishop. The Diet also decreed the erection of statues and monuments; it passed votes of thanks to the outgoing governor, or forwarded complaints against him to Rome; and it had the right of sending embassies See also:direct to the senate or the emperor. The Provincial Governor.—The provinces were administered by See also:governors sent direct from Rome, who held See also:office for a See also:year. From the formation of the first provinces in 227 B.c. down to the time of See also:Sulla (82 B.C.) the governors were praetors (see PRAETOR); from the time of Sulla to that of See also:Augustus the praetors remained in Rome during their year of office, and at the end of it assumed the government of a province with the See also:title of propraetor. This applies, however, only to provinces which were in a settled See also:state and could consequently be administered without a large military force. A province which was the seat of See also:war, or was at least in a disturbed state, was committed to the care either of one of the consuls for the year or of a See also:commander specially appointed for the purpose with the title of proconsul, who might be one of the consuls of the pre-ceding or of a previous year, or else a former praetor, or even, in rare cases, a private individual who had held neither consulship nor praetorship. Thus the distinction between consular (or pro-consular) and praetorial (or propraetorial) provinces varied from year to year with the military exigencies of different parts of the empire. At the See also:close of the republic, however, we find even such a peaceful province as See also:Asia administered by a proconsul. In the earlier See also:period of the republic the senate either before ar after the elections determined which provinces were to be governed by consuls and which by praetors, and after their See also:election the consuls arranged between themselves by See also:lot or otherwise which of the provinces nominated by the senate each should have, and similarly with the praetors. But in See also:order to guard against partiality the Sempronian See also:law of 123 B.C. provided that the senate should yearly nominate the two consular provinces before the election of the II consuls, and that the consuls should after their election but before classes were recruited from the ranks of the Roman knights, and, since from the legislation of See also:Gaius See also:Gracchus (122 B.C.) the juries were drawn at first exclusively and after Sulla's time (81 B.C.) partially from the knightly order,' the provincial governor could not check the excesses of those See also:blood-suckers without risking a condemnation at the hands of their brethren. Accordingly he generally made See also:common cause with them, backing their exactions when needful by military force. The Provinces under the Empire.—Under the empire the provinces fared much better. The See also:monarchy tended to obliterate the distinction between See also:Romans and provincials by reducing both to a common level of subjection to the emperor, who meted out equal See also:justice to all his subjects. The first centuries of the Christian era were probably for some of the countries included in the Roman Empire the happiest of their See also:history; See also:Gibbon indeed fixed on the period from the See also:death of See also:Domitian to the See also:accession of See also:Commodus (96–18o A.D.) as the happiest See also:age of the See also:world. Augustus, in 27 B.C., divided the provinces into imperial and senatorial. Those which, from their proximity to the frontier or the turbulence of their See also:population, required the presence of an See also:army were placed under the direct See also:control of the emperor; those which needed no troops were left to be administered by the senate. (t) The senatorial provinces were ruled by an See also:annual governor as under the republic. Of these provinces Augustus ordained that See also:Africa and Asia should be consular, the See also:rest praetorian; but all the governors of the senatorial provinces were now called pro-consuls. Their See also:powers and dignities were much the same as they had been under the republic, except that they had now no troops, or only a handful to maintain order. (2) The imperial provinces were governed by imperial lieutenants (legati Caesaris), who were nominated by the emperor and held office at his See also:pleasure; all of them had the power of the sword (See also:jus gladii). For the See also:administration of the finances these lieutenants had procurators under them, while the governors of the senatorial provinces continued to have quaestors as under the republic. Another class of imperial provinces consisted of those which from the See also:physical nature of the country (as the Alpine districts) or the backward state of See also:civilization (as See also:Mauretania and See also:Thrace) or the stubborn See also:character of the people (as See also:Judaea and See also:Egypt) were not adapted to receive a See also:regular provincial constitution. These were regarded as domains of the emperor, and were managed by a See also:procurator (in the See also:case of Egypt by a See also:praefect, see PRAEFECT) nominated by and responsible to the emperor. Under the empire all provincial governors received a fixed See also:salary. Complaints against them were brought before the senate, and the accusers were allowed a senator to See also:act as their See also:advocate. The lengthened periods during which the governors, at least in the imperial provinces, held office, together with the oversight exercised by the emperor, alleviated materially the position of the provincials under the empire. In order to keep himself well informed of what was passing in the empire, Augustus established a See also:post whereby See also:official despatches were forwarded by couriers and official persons were conveyed by coaches. The post, however, was only for the use of the government; no private person was allowed, unless by an exceptional concession, to avail himself of it. (J. G. FR.; X.) their entry on office arrange between themselves which of the two provinces each should have. The Pompeian law of 53 B.C. enacted that no one should hold the governorship of a province till at least five years after his consulship or praetorship. This law was re-pealed by See also:Caesar after the See also:battle of Pharsalia, but was re-enacted under Augustus; it severed the connexion which had previously existed between an See also:urban magistracy and the governorship of a province, and turned the latter, from the See also:mere prolongation of a Roman magistracy, into an See also:independent office. Like magistracies at Rome a provincial governorship was regularly held for one year; but, unlike them, it could be prolonged, formerly by a See also:vote of the people, later by a decree of the senate. The See also:Julian law of Caesar (46 B.C.) enacted that the governorship of a consular province should be held for two, that of a praetorian province for one'year. The necessary supplies of men and money were voted to the governor by the senate. His See also:staff consisted of one or more lieutenants (legati), a quaestor (q.v.) and numerous subordinates. The lieu-tenants were nominated by the senate from men of senatorial See also:rank; if they proved incompetent, the governor dismissed them; if they showed ability, he entrusted there with military or judicial functions. Besides these the governor took with him from Rome a number of See also:young men of the upper classes to assist him in the government. These were known as the companions (comites) or See also:suite of the governor, sometimes, but incorrectly, as the praetorian See also:cohort (see See also:PRAETORIANS). These members of his suite were chosen by the governor himself, who was responsible for them, but they were maintained at the expense of the state, and under the empire received regular pay. In addition there was a See also:crowd of beadles, clerks, couriers, criers, doctors, dragomans, &c., not to speak of freedmen and slaves for the personal service of the governor. Under the republic the governor was not allowed to take his wife with him to his province; under the empire he might do so, but he was See also:answer-able for her conduct. Before setting out for his province the governor, clad in the See also:purple military robe of his office, offered See also:sacrifice on the Capitol; then immediately after receiving the imperium or military command he marched out of the See also:city (for the imperium could only be exercised outside of Rome and was forfeited by staying in the city),. preceded by his sergeants (lictores), and accompanied by his suite. He was bound to travel direct to his province; the means of transport were supplied partly by the state, partly by the provinces through which he travelled. His year of office began from the See also:day he set See also:foot in his province, but the time of arrival varied with the length and difficulty of the route. In the hands of the governor all powers military and civil were See also:united. He commanded all the troops in the province, and had power to raise levies of Roman citizens as well as of provincials, and to make requisitions of war material. He possessed both criminal and civil See also:jurisdiction; as criminal See also:judge he had the power of See also:life and death, and from his See also:sentence none but Roman citizens could See also:appeal; as' civil judge he was guided partly by the charter of the province (lex provinciae), partly by the See also:edict which it was customary for him to issue before his entrance on office (compare PRAETOR), partly by the original See also:laws of the country so far as their validity was acknowledged by the charter or by the governor's own edict. Under the empire Gaius wrote a commentary on the provincial edict, and it is usually supposed that this was a general edict drawn up for use in all the provinces and superseding all See also:separate edicts for the different provinces. See also:Mommsen, however, is of See also:opinion that Gaius only commented on the edict of a particular province. See also:Condition of the Provinces under the Republic.—Under the republic the Roman people regarded the provinces as so many estates from which they were to derive See also:revenue. The weal or woe of the provincials was of no moment, but the development of the material resources of the provinces was of See also:great moment. Hence See also:agriculture and See also:commerce were encouraged, settlements were made, roads and aqueducts were constructed; in See also:short, the Roman aimed at exploiting his empire by a See also:system of prudent See also:economy as far as possible removed from the See also:blind rapacity which has turned the empire of the Turk from a See also:garden into a See also:wilderness. But the Roman governors were too See also:apt to look on their provinces as their own See also:peculiar See also:prey; they had usually bought their way to office at vast expense, and they now sought in the provinces the means of reimbursing themselves for the See also:expenditure they had incurred at Rome. The annual See also:change of governor was thus a frightful calamity to the provincials, for every year brought a repetition of the same extravagant demands to be met by the same or, as the province became exhausted, still heavier sacrifices. Redress was to be had originally by a complaint to the senate; after 149 B.C. there was a regular See also:court established at Rome for the trial of cases of See also:extortion (repetundae) by provincial governors. But, even when after much trouble and expense the provincials had arraigned their oppressor, it was difficult to secure his condemnation at the hands of juries composed (as they usually were) of men who had a See also:fellow-feeling for the offender because they had themselves committed or hoped for means of committing similar offences. Besides the governor, two classes of See also:harpies joined in wringing the uttermost See also:farthing from the unhappy provincials. These were the See also:publicani or farmers of the taxes, and the money-lenders (negotiatores), who supplied a temporary See also:accommodation at ruinous rates of See also:interest. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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