DICTATOR, an extraordinary magistrate of ancient Rome, first appointed 501 B.C. At first no one was eligible to the office who had not been previously a consul. The power of naming a dictator, when an emergency arose requiring a concentration of the powers of the state in a single superior officer, was vested by a resolution of the Senate in one of the consuls. A plebeian dictator was first appointed 356 B.c. The dictatorship was limited to six months, and the person who held it could not go out of Italy and could not touch the treasury. The dictator had the power of life and death, and could punish without appeal. All the other magis trates were under his orders. He had 24 lictors, double the number allowed to a consul. Such were the dictators appointed to carry on the government of the state in special emer gencies; but dictators were often appointed for temporary purposes, especially during the ab sence of the consuls. The object of these tem porary appointments was generally to secure the discharge of some function which could only be lawfully performed by the first magistrate, as the holding of the comitia (or meetings) for the elections. The last dictator entrusted with the
government of the state under the republic was appointed 216 ac., the last temporary dictator 202 ac. The office was revived by Sulla 82 ac., and afterward held by Czsar 48 ac., but in these cases the legal restrictions were not re garded, and the office bore no resemblance but in name to the ancient dictatorship. It was abolished during the consulship of Antonius, 44 ac. In modern times the term is loosely applied to usurpers who have arrogated to themselves extraconstitutional powers. The rulers of Paraguay bore the title of dictator for a number of years, and those of other Spanish-American countries have done so from time to time. Con suit Greenidge, 'Roman Public Life) (London 1907) ; Mommsen, 'Romische Staatsrecht) (3d ed., Leipzig 1887).