aedilis: Difference between revisions

{{Lewis

|lshtext=<b>aedīlis</b>: is, m. (abl. aedili, Tac. A. 12, 64; Serv. ad Verg. A. 7, 4; Dig. 18, 6, 13;<br /><b>I</b> [[but]] [[aedile]] is [[more]] [[usual]], [[Charis]]. p. 96 P.; Varr. 1, 22; Cic. Sest. 44, 95; Liv. 3, 31; Plin. 7, 48, 49, § 158; Inscr. Orell. 3787, 8; cf. Schneid. Gr. II. p. 221; Koffm. s. v.) [[aedes]], an œdile, a [[magistrate]] in [[Rome]] [[who]] had the [[superintendence]] of [[public]] buildings and works, [[such]] as [[temples]], theatres, baths, aqueducts, sewers, highways, etc.; also of [[private]] buildings, of markets, provisions, taverns, of weights and measures (to see [[that]] [[they]] were [[legal]]), of the [[expense]] of funerals, and [[other]] [[similar]] functions of [[police]]. The [[class]]. passages applying here are: Plaut. Rud. 2, 3, 42; Varr. L. L. 5, § 81 Müll.; Cic. Leg. 3, 3; id. Verr. 2, 5, 14; id. Phil. 9, 7; Liv. 10, 23; Tac. A. 2, 85; Juv. 3, 162; 10, 101; Fest. s. h. v. p. 12; cf. Manut. ad Cic. Fam. 8, 3 and 6.—Further, the aediles, esp. the [[curule]] ædiles ([[two]] in [[number]]), were [[expected]] to [[exhibit]] [[public]] spectacles; and [[they]] [[often]] lavished the [[most]] [[exorbitant]] expenses [[upon]] [[them]], in [[order]] to [[prepare]] [[their]] [[way]] toward [[higher]] offices, Cic. Off. 2, 16; Liv. 24, 33; 27, 6. They inspected the plays [[before]] [[exhibition]] in the theatres, and rewarded or punished the actors according to [[their]] deserts, Plaut. Trin. 4, 2, 148; id. Cist. ep. 3; for this [[purpose]] [[they]] were required by [[oath]] to [[decide]] [[impartially]], Plaut. Am. prol. 72.—It [[was]] the [[special]] [[duty]] of the aediles plebeii (of whom also [[there]] were [[two]]) to [[preserve]] the decrees of the Senate and [[people]] in the [[temple]] of [[Ceres]], and in a [[later]] [[age]] in the [[public]] [[treasury]], Liv. 3, 55. The [[office]] of the aediles curules (so called from the [[sella]] [[curulis]], the [[seat]] on [[which]] [[they]] sat for [[judgment]] (v. [[curulis]]), [[while]] the aediles plebeii sat [[only]] on benches, subsellia) [[was]] created A.U.C. 387, for the [[purpose]] of holding [[public]] exhibitions, Liv. 6, 42, [[first]] from the patricians, [[but]] as [[early]] as the [[following]] [[year]] from the plebeians also, Liv. 7, 1.— [[Julius]] Cæsar created also the [[office]] of the [[two]] aediles Cereales, [[who]] had the [[superintendence]] of the [[public]] granaries and [[other]] provisions, Suet. Caes. 41.—The [[free]] towns also had ædiles, [[who]] were [[often]] [[their]] [[only]] magistrates, Cic. Fam. 13, 11; Juv. 3, 179; 10, 102; Pers. 1, 130; v. [[further]] in Smith's Dict. Antiq. and Niebuhr's Rom. Hist. 1, 689 and 690.!*? Plaut. uses the [[word]] [[once]] adject.: aediles ludi, œdilic sports, Poen. 5, 2, 52.

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