DECEMVIRI, "the ten men," the name applied by the Ro mans to any official commission of ten, followed by a statement of the purpose for which the commission was appointed, e.g., Xviri stlitibus iudicandis, sacris faciundis, etc.
I. 'Usually, it signified the temporary commission which super seded all the ordinary magistrates from 451 to 449 B.c., for the purpose of drawing up a code of laws. In 462 B.C. a tribune pro posed the appointment of a commission to draw up a code to secure for the plebs a defence against magisterial caprice. In 452 B.C. decemvirs were appointed to draw up a code; during their tenure of office all other magistracies were in abeyance, but they were bound to maintain the rights of the plebs. The first board of decemvirs (wholly patrician) held office during 451 B.C. ; the chief man among them was Appius Claudius (see CLAUDIUS). The decemvirs ruled with singular moderation, and submitted to the Comitia Centuriata a code of laws in ten headings. So popu lar were the decemvirs that another board of ten was appointed for the following year, some of whom, if the extant list of names is correct, were plebeians. These added two more to the ten laws of their predecessors, thus completing the Laws of the Twelve Tables (see ROMAN LAW). But their rule then became violent and tyrannical. They were forced to abdicate (449 B.c.).
III. The priestly board of decemvirs (sacris faciundis) was Iii. The priestly board of decemvirs (sacris faciundis) was half patrician and half plebeian. They were first appointed in 367 B.C., instead of the patrician duumviri who had hitherto per formed religious duties. Their chief function was the care of the Sibylline books, and the celebration of the games of Apollo and the Secular Games.
IV. Decemvirs were also appointed from time to time to con trol the distribution of the public land (agris dandis adsignandis; see AGRARIAN LAWS) .