Aedile

Edil ( lat.aedilis ; from aedes - temple) - in ancient times, one of the posts of the magistrates of Rome .

The name "aediles" is derived from "aedes" and proves the attitude of this magistracy to buildings in general or to temples (or maybe to one particular temple) in particular. The emergence of edilite in the Roman state system (outside Rome, in Italy, edilite could exist before and have a general administrative significance; see below) by tradition, probably correctly, refers to the time when the plebs in their fight against the patrician achieved legal recognition of their representatives and defenders - people's stands . It is quite possible that the stands, as representatives of the city plebs in its divisions into four serviev tribes , existed before; it is very likely that the aediles also had the same unofficial existence. At the time of their official recognition, aediles have the role of assistant tribunes in protecting the interests of the plebs, executors of their orders in judicial coercion activities, and at the same time as custodians of the plebeian archives in the plebeian church of Ceres , Libera and Liberta on Aventina - the situation is completely similar to the position of the questura at the consulate . These functions, however, do not explain the name, which, like the name of the stands, is most natural to assume existed in the organization of the plebeians before the creation of the tribune.

Perhaps because the aediles were originally representatives of the plebs, who took care of the maintenance and material support of the plebeian cults and, especially, the only plebeian temple ( aedes ) of Ceres, Libera and Liberta - this anti- capitol triad. Concern about the buildings and the cult later came into the competence of aediles as a nationwide magistracy precisely because of the already developed skill in this regard. As assistants to the tribunes, who had independent power and were guarded by a common curse with the tribunes ( lat. Sacrosanctitas ), the aediles needed to be acquainted with everything that the plebs sought; by virtue of this, they became custodians of the plebeian archive. On the other hand, they had to be constantly among the plebs in his affairs and clashes on the streets, in markets, etc., to always be ready to stand up for the offended. Like trusted plebs, aediles could not help but become arbiters in a number of disputes; it was natural for the state to take advantage of their experience and authority in matters closest to the majority of the population — in the accomplishment of the city (squares, streets, markets). In 463 BC e. aediles on behalf of patrician magistrates carry out police duties, later on guard against foreign cults, in 438 BC. e. take care of the bread.

They discover a tendency to turn into state magistrates especially when a series of plebs' victories makes the constant personal intervention of the stands and aediles less important to protect the interests of each plebe separately. For the tribune and the plebs, edilite, as a purely plebeian representation, becomes indifferent. Turning it into a nationwide magistracy in the midst of the struggle between the plebs and patricians (in 367 BC) does not do, however, without the patrician’s desire to isolate at least part of the newly minted as applied to the plebeian institution of magistracy: next to two plebeian aediles ( aediles plebis or plebei ) two curul aediles appear ( aediles curules ). The number of colleges formed in this way was increased only by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. e. by joining two new aediles - aediles ceriales . From now on, the number 6 becomes constant. The differences between the Kuril aediles and the plebeian ones concerned not so much competence as composition, choice and insignia : the plebeian aediles were always chosen exclusively from the plebeian estate, the Kurule ones (according to Titus Libya and the preserved data on the actual composition of the colleges) - from patricians and plebeians alternately until the 1st century BC n e. when the custom is established to give edilite only to the plebs. Caesar also follows this custom, demanding plebeians from his aediles ceriales . According to their plebeian character, aediles are first selected in the assemblies of the plebs ( concilia plebis , already in 471 BC ), at the suggestion of the tribune , and tribune comitia are chosen by the kurul aediles.

The aediles, both plebeian and kurul, do not possess military power. The initial plebeian representation is also evidenced by the fact that the general magistrate insignia and rights are not plebeian aediles: neither the magistrate chair, nor the fascia , nor the lictors , nor the clothes, nor the jus imaginum . On the contrary, kurul aediles have all the differences of a magistracy, with the exception of liqueurs. Having become a nationwide magistracy, the edilith gradually enters certus ordo magistratuum , occupying a place higher than questure, but lower than praetorship . It is more than likely, however, that it was never necessary to send edilite and only communication with the masses and the ability to influence it by organizing games and city allowances forced members of privileged classes to seek this magistracy. The external distinction between the two Aedilian colleges was reflected in the fact that each had its own cash register, its own office, probably its own archive. All this, however, does not indicate a strict delineation of competence: it is impossible to draw borders between the aediles of the plebeian and the kurul in this respect; does not conduct it and Cicero .

Supervision of the city ( cura urbis ) consisted mainly in monitoring the good condition of the streets and squares and the fountains that were on them, the improvement of temples, the unrestricted traffic, private enterprises designated for public needs (baths, taverns, restaurants, inns , brothels, etc.). Aediles also monitor the purity of the old cult and eliminate new, unlawful ones. In a word, order and improvement in the city is their main task. They have the same means to achieve the goal as the other magistrates, that is, coercion (coercion, execution of sentences) consisting in bodily influence (mainly on non-free ones), destruction of a part of property ( pignoris capio ) and fines. The latter - the tool most often used - often led to an appeal to the popular assembly, and the aediles were featured as magistrates, who presided over the people's assemblies (in tribes) for judicial purposes (judiciary).

Caring for the city’s food ( cura annonae ) was threefold:

1. market surveillance, that is, the freshness and good quality of provisions, their value, the correctness of measures and weights, etc .; all this, since it led to controversy, led to coercion from the aediles. Some disputes of private individuals were subject to the aedil judgments;
2. market surveillance caused concern for the proper transport of food supplies, mainly bread - a highly responsible and difficult task with unsatisfactory means of transport and the insecurity of trade relations;
3. finally, concern for the delivery of bread entailed the execution of Senate orders for the purchase and frustration of distributing bread to the population of the city. Under Caesar, cura annonae passed to aediles ceriales .

The arrangement of annual games ( cura ludorum ) belongs to the field of development of care for cult improvement. Initially, aediles act here as assistants to the consuls ( ludi Romani ), organizing purely plebeian games ( ludi plebei and ceriales ). Their competencies include games in honor of the mother of the gods ( Megalesia ) and Flora ( Floralia ).

It is very possible that aediles in Latin and Italian cities appeared in connection with a public cult, independent of Rome ; there is no doubt, however, that the general spread of edilitecy in Lacy and subsequently throughout Italy was caused by the dominant position of Rome, perhaps especially for Lacy even by special order of the primitive community. Such an order, however, presupposes the transformation of edilite into a magistracy, that is, it happened later than 367 BC. e. Our information about the aediles in the municipalities does not go further than the 1st century BC. e.: this, in addition to some references from the authors (mainly from satirists - Petronius and Apuleius ), municipal statutes and a number of municipal inscriptions. From this material it is clear that municipal aediles are a splinter with state ones, with few exceptions, when aediles play the role of sole magistrates or have special qualifications. The coincidence of the functions of the aediles in the Roman countries and the Hellenic agoranoids proves that the very development of edilite as a magistracy took place on the model of Greek agoranomy . The aediles in the municipalities are either a special college, or part of the quatuorvira college; they are lower in rank than municipal duovir consuls; they are chosen in the same way as the duovirs, and, as they are, are included in the composition of the municipal curia after completing a magistracy. The qualifications for selection are the same as for the rank of decurion . Insignia of municipal aediles coincide with insignia of aedil kurul. The competence of aediles is the same as in Rome: caring for the city, annon (trade) and games. As a means in their hands - coercion and judication, the latter - in disputes, the price of which does not exceed 1000 sisters . In the area of cura urbis, they own the supervision of urban subscription and the management of buildings under construction, in the area of cura annonae - supervision of free labor, the payment of wages and the fulfillment by workers of their obligations. Like the municipal one, edity appears in quasi-municipal organizations ( vici district, pagi village, canabae village), and in colleges , and in other corporate units.