CENSOR (Lat., judge, from censere, assess, judge). The name of two Roman officers of State. The office was established by Servins Tullius, the fifth King of Rome. .1fter the ex pulsion of the kings, it %Vas held by the consuls, special magistrates not being appointed till n.e. 443. It continued to be filled by patricians till B.C. 35 1, when Censor :March's Rutilns, a plebeian, was elected. Twelve years later it was enacted that one of the censors (there were always two) must he a plebeian. In tt.c. 131 both censors, for the tirst time, were plebeians. The censors were eleeted in the •mnitin renturinla, presided over by a consul. The term of office at first lasted five years, hut was shortly afterwards limited to eighteen months. The eensorship was regavded as the highest, dignity in the State. except the dictatorship. It was a sacred and irresponsible Iimgistracy, whose powers were vast and unde fined, and whose decisions were with solemn reverence. The duties of the censors were threefold: ( 1 ) The taking of the census, or register of the citizens and of their property; (2) the regimen mornm (regulation of morals); t3) the administration of the finances of the State. The taking of the census was originally their sole function (hence their name). and Nva•4
held in the Campus Martins. in a building called riltu publica. The 'regimen snoruln was the most dreaded and absolute of their powers. It grew naturally out of the exercise of the previous duty, which compelled them to exclude unworthy persons from the lists of citizens. Gradually the superintendence of the censors extended from the public to the private life of citizens. They could indict disgrace (ignominin) on any one whose conduct did not. square with their notions of rectitude or duty. For instance, if a man neglected the cultivation of his fields, or carried on a disremitalde trade. or refused to marry. or treated his family either too kindly or too harsh ly, or was extravagant, or guilty of bribery, cowardice, or the like, he 'night be degraded. The administration of the finances of the State included the regulation of the tributnm, or prop erty-tax; of the rretignlia, such as the tithes paid for the public lands, salt-works, mines, customs, etc., which were usually leased out to speeulators for live years: the preparation of the State budget, etc.