DICTATOR DICT10NAR ST. 



669 



gress until about two years afterwards. He then 

 returned, earnest in the cause of independence. His 

 zeal was shown in the ardent address of congress to 

 the several states, of May, 1779, which he wrote and 

 reported. He was afterwards president of the states 

 of Pennsylvania and Delaware, successively ; and, in 

 the beginning of 1788, being alarmed by the hesita- 

 tion orsome states to ratify the constitution proposed 

 by the federal convention the year before, he pub- 

 lished, for the purpose of promoting its adoption, 

 nine very able letters under the signature of Fabius. 

 This signature he again used in fourteen letters, pub- 

 lished in 1797, the object of which was to produce a fa- 

 vourable feeling in the United States towards France, 

 whose revolution he believed to be then at an end. 

 Before the period last mentioned, he had withdrawn 

 to private life, at Wilmington, in the state of Delaware, 

 where he died, Feb. 14, 1808. His retirement was 

 spent in literary studies, in charitable offices, and the 

 exercise of an elegant hospitality. His conversation 

 and manners were very attractive ; his countenance 

 and person, uncommonly fine. His public services 

 were eminent : his writings have been justly describ- 

 ed as copious, forcible, and correct ; sometimes elo- 

 quently rhetorical and vehement, and generally rich 

 in historical references and classical quotations. 



DICTATOR. We shall state first the opinions 

 commonly entertained respecting the Roman dictator, 

 and afterwards some of the views of Niebuhr respect- 

 ing this officer, as given in his Roman History. This 

 magistrate, the highest in the Roman republic, was 

 appointed only in extraordinary emergencies, which 

 demanded the fullest power in the executive. The 

 authority of the dictator was, therefore, almost with- 

 out restrictions in the administration of the state and 

 of the army, and from it there was no appeal. It 

 continued only six months. In fact, the dictators 

 commonly resigned their office as soon as the object 

 was accomplished for which they had been appointed. 

 There are only a few instances of their continuing 

 a longer time ; for example, in the cases of Sylla 

 and of Caesar. The authority of all civil magistrates, 

 except that of tribunes of the people, immediately 

 ceased on the appointment of a dictator. The con- 

 suls, indeed, continued in the discharge of their office ; 

 but they were subject to the orders of the dictator, 

 and in his presence had no badges of power. The 

 dictator, on the contrary, both within and without the 

 city, was attended by 24 lictors, with their fasces and 

 axes. He had the power of life and death, and was 

 only restrained in not being permitted to spend the 

 public money arbitrarily, or to leave Italy, or to 

 enter the city on horseback. He might also be com- 

 pelled to account for his conduct, when he laid down 

 his office. The choice of dictator was not, as in the 

 case of other magistrates, decided by the popular 

 voice, but one of the consuls appointed him, at the 

 command of the senate. The dictator then selected 

 a master of the horse (magister equiturri). In the 

 sequel, dictators were also appointed to officiate in 

 certain public solemnities ; for example, to summon 

 the comitia for the choice of new consuls, to arrange 

 the festivals, and the like. 



The remainder of this article contains Niebuhr's 

 views. The name of dictator, says Niebuhr, was of 

 Latin origin. The Latins elected dictators in their 

 several cities, and also over the whole nation. If 

 Rome and Latium were confederate states, on a 

 footing of equality, in the room of that supremacy 

 which lasted but for a brief space after the revolu- 

 tion, they must have possessed the chief command 

 alternately ; and this would explain why the Roman 

 dictators were appointed for only six months, and 

 why they came to have twenty-four lictors. These 

 were a symbol that the governments of the two states 



were united under the same head ; the consuls had 

 only twelve lictors between them, which served them 

 m turn. The dictator, at first, therefore, could have had 

 to take cognizance only of foreign aft airs ; and the 

 continuance of the consuls along with the dictator is 

 accounted for. The object aimed at in the institu- 

 tion of the dictatorship, was incontestably to evade 

 the Valerian laws, and to re-establish unlimited au- 

 thority over the plebeians; for the appeal to the 

 commonalty granted by the law, was from the sen- 

 tence of the consuls, and not from that of this new 

 magistrate. Even the members of the legislative 

 bodies, at first, had not the right of appealing against 

 the dictator to their comitia. This is expressly as- 

 serted by Festus ; but he adds that they afterwards 

 obtained it. This is confirmed by the example of M. 

 Fabin, who, when his son was persecuted by the dicta- 

 tors, appealed in his behalf to the populus ; to his peers, 

 the patricians hi the curia. The later Romans had 

 only an indistinct knowledge of the dictatorship, de- 

 rived from their earlier history. As applied to the 

 tyranny of Sylla, and the monarchy of Caesar, the 

 term dictatorship was merely a name without any 

 ground for such a use in the ancient constitution. 

 This last application of the term enables us to ac- 

 count for the error of Dion Cassius, when, over- 

 looking the freedom of the patricians, he express- 

 ly asserts, that in no instance was there a right 

 of appealing from the dictator, and that he might 

 condemn knights and senators to death with- 

 out a trial ; also for the error of Dionysius, in 

 fancying that he decided on every measure at will, 

 even the determination of peace and war. Such no- 

 tions, out of which the moderns have drawn their 

 phrase, dictatorial power, are suitable, indeed, to 

 Sylla and Caesar, but do not apply to the genuine dic- 

 tatorship. The statement generally contained in the 

 books on Roman antiquities, that the appointment of 

 the dictator, in all cases, rested with one of the con- 

 suls, designated by the senate, is incorrect. Such 

 might possibly be the case, if the dictator was re- 

 stricted to the charge of presiding over the elections; 

 but the disposal of' kingly power could never have 

 been intrusted to the discretion of a single elector. 

 The pontifical law-books have preserved the true ac- 

 count, that a citizen whom the senate should nomin- 

 ate, and the people approve of, should govern for six 

 months. The dictator, after his appointment, had to 

 obtain the imperium from the curia. As late as in 

 444, the bestowal of "the imperium was something 

 more than an empty form ; but it became such by the 

 Maenian law : thenceforward it was only necessary 

 that the consul should consent to proclaim the person 

 named by the senate. Thus, after that time, in the ad- 

 vanced state of popular freedom, the dictatorship could 

 occur but seldom, except for trivial purposes : if, on 

 such occasions, the appointment was left to the con- 

 suls, they would likewise advance pretensions to ex- 

 ercise it in the solitary instances where the office still 

 had any real importance. However, when P.Claudius 

 misused his privilege in mockery, the remembrance 

 of the ancient procedure was still fresh enough for 

 the senate to annul the scandalous appointment. 



DICTIONARY (from the Latin dictio, a saying, 

 expression, word) ; a book containing the words, or 

 subjects, which it treats, arranged in alphabetical 

 order. At least, this should be the general princi- 

 ple of the arrangement ; thus an etymological dic- 

 tionary contains the roots of the words in a language 

 in tliis order. By dictionary is generally understood 

 a vocabulary, a collection of the words in a language, 

 with their definitions ; and Johnson's and Webster's 

 definitions of the word apply only to this use of it. 

 But in modern times, when the various branches of 

 science have become so much extended, and the de- 



