EMPEROR, from the Latin live rater. Among the early Romans the title of Imperator was bestowed by the acclamations of his soldiers in the camp on a commander-in-chief who had signal ized himself by a victory. (Tacit. Annal. iii. 74.) In the case mentioned by Taci tus, Tiberius is said to have allowed the soldiers to salute BlEesus by the title of Imperator (Compare Velleius, ii. 125). But the word Imperator was properly applied to him who had what the Romans called Imperium, which was conferred on the Roman kings by the Comitia Cu riata (Cicero, Dr Repub. ii. 17). This was the case with Tullus Ilostilius, and his predecessor Numa, and his successor Ancus Marcius. Under the Republic the title was sometimes conferred on an indi vidual for the occasion of a triumph ( Livy, xxvi. 21 ; xlv. 35). Cicero (Philipp. ix. 16), defines Imperium to be "that power without which military affairs cannot be carried on, an army commanded, or a war conducted." Con formably to this we have an instance in Livius, in which the Senate refused to acknowledge a general as a commander because he had not received the Impe rium in due form (xxvi. 2). In his ora tion on the Lex Manilia, Cicero says that a single Imperator was required to con duct the war against Mithridates (c. 2). The name used by the Greek historians of Rome to express Imperator is Autocra tor (a&rostprircop), one who has full power, from which is (1-2rived the word autocrat, which is sometimes applied to the Empe ror of Russia. C. Julius Omar assumed the name Imperator as a prtenomen, or title (Imperator C. Julius Cesar), a prac tice which was followed by his successors, as we may observe on their coins. (Sue toning, Ccesar, 76.) There are examples of this title in the coins of Antoninus, Aurelius, and other Roman emperors. On the reverse of the coin of Aurelius we observe Imp. VIII., that is Imperator octavum, or imperator the eighth time, which shows, as indeed can be proved from a variety of examples, that the Ro man emperors often assumed the title on special occasions when they or their ge nerals had obtained some signal victory. This term Imperator, under the early emperors, cannot be considered as de noting any sovereign power. But still this distinction was observed : the em peror, when the title was applied to him in his sovereign capacity, had the name Imperator prefixed, as Imperator Ctrsar Augustus ; but the individual to whom the honorary distinction was given on some particular occasion had it placed after his name, Iunius Bltesus Imperator, as in the Republican period.
After the time of the Antonmes the term Imperator seems gradually to have grown into common use as one of the titles which expressed the sovereign of the Roman world, though the name Princeps was also long used as indicating the same rank and power. (See the Dedi
cation of J. Capitolinus to Constantine.) It may be difficult to state when this term Imperator became exclusively the designation of the Roman sovereign. In the introduction to the Digest (De Con eeptione Digestorum), Justinian assumes the title of Imperator Caesar Flavius Jus tinianus, &c., semper Augustus. In the proemium to the Institutes, Justinian uses the terms Imperatoria Majestas to express his sovereign power, and yet in the same paragraph he calls himself by the name of Princeps, a term which dates from the time of the so-called Re public, and expressed the precedence given to one particular member of the Senate. The term Princeps was adopted by Augustus as the least invidious title of dignity, and was applied to his suc cessors.
From the emperors of the West this title, in the year 800, devolved to Char lemagne, the founder of the second or German empire of the West. Upon the expiration of the German branch of the Carlovingian family, the imperial crown became elective, and continued so until the last century. The title of Emperor of Germany now no longer exists : Fran cis II. laid it aside, and assumed the title of Emperor of Austria. The only othev European potentate who uses the style of emperor is the autocrat of Russia, the monarchs of which country, about the year exchanged their former title of duke or great duke of Russia, for that of Czar or Tzar. In early times it was asserted by the civilians that the posses sion of the imperial crown gave to the emperors of Germany, as titular sove reigns of the world, a supremacy over all the kings of Europe, though such was never attempted to be exercised ; and they denied the existence of any other empire : but in spite of this denial it is certain that several of the kings of France of the second race, after they had lost the empire of Germany, styled themselves Basileus and Imperator. Our own King Edgar, in a charter to Oswald bishop of Winchester, styled himself " Anglorum Basileus omnium que regum insularum ocean que Britanniam circumjacentis cunctarum que nationum gum infra eam includuntur Imperator et Dominus." Al fonso VII. also, in the 12th century, styled himself Emperor of Spain. It might be easily shown how the title and rank of king and emperor have been fendalized, as it were, in passing through the ordeal of the middle ages.