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( Roman dictator)
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Politics and government of
Ancient Rome A legal innovation of the Roman Republic, the dictator (Latin for "one who dictates (orders)")&_160;— officially known as the Magister Populi ("Master of the People"), the Praetor Maximus ("The supreme Praetor"), and the Magister Peditum ("Master of the Infantry")&_160;— was an extraordinary magistrate (magistratus extraordinarius) whose function was to perform extraordinary tasks exceeding the authority of any of the ordinary magistrates. The Roman Senate passed a senatus consultum authorizing the consuls to nominate a dictator, who was the sole exception to the Roman legal principles of collegiality (multiple tenants of the same office) and responsibility (being legally able to be held to answer for actions in office); there could never be more than one dictator at any one time for any reason, and no dictator could ever be held legally responsible for any action during his time in office for any reason. The dictator was the highest magistrate in degree of precedence (Praetor Maximus) and was attended by 24 lictors. The reasons which led to the appointment of a dictator required that there should be only one at a time and great power was visited upon them— the imperium magnus, having the ultimate imperium maius (a higher degree of imperium), which was the ability to overrule or remove from office the other curule magistrates upon whom imperium was conferred, including the ability to order their death. The dictators that were appointed for carrying on the business of the state were said to be nominated rei gerundae causa (for the matter to be done), seditionis sedandae causa (for the putting down of rebellion), or ironically in the case of Sulla, considering his actions set precedents that contributed to the end of the Republican system, as "dictator legibus faciendis et rei publicae constituendae causa" ("Dictator for the making of laws and for the settling of the constitution").
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