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magistrates and to retain much of its influence, dignity and importance. The outer provinces and those prone to turbulence were governed not by ex- consuls and ex-praetors acting in the name of the Senate, but each by a deputy of the Emperor, styled propraetor, praeses, or procurator. These were called imperial provinces. The magistrates of the senatorial provinces were, under the Empire, no longer elected by the people, but appointed by the Senate, with or without an indication of the Emperor's wishes. The Romans never devised any method of choosing a chief magistrate other than acclamation by an army and confirmation by the Senate, creating an Emperor. If two commanders at about the same time were separately saluted "Imperator," as were Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger, there was no method of adjudicating their conflicting claims except by Civil War and the survival of one Imperator only. B. THE FISCUS From this word comes our "confiscate," "to turn totally into the Fiscus." A fiscus was a large basket, such is were used by all Roman financial concerns to contain live vouchers. The fiscus was the organization managing the pubic property, income and expenditures of the Roman Emperor. It controlled the proceeds of the taxes of all the imperial provinces and of the domains, mines, quarries, fisheries, factories, town property and whatever else the fiscus held for the Emperors, impersonally. It gathered in all moneys and possessions forfeited for suicide, crime or treason. C. THE ROMAN CALENDAR All primitive calendars went by the moon. Moon and month are the same word in English. No more than Hengist and Horsa could the early Romans have conceived of a month not beginning with the day of the new moon, as all months begin yet in the Jewish and Mohammedan calendars. The first day of each month the Romans called its Kalends (announcement day). After that day they called each day so many before the Nones (half moon), then so many before the Ides (full moon), then so many to the Kalends of the next month. Julius Caesar, impatient with the difficulties of fitting together the solar and lunar calendars, bade his experts ignore the moon and divide the solar year into twelve months. They did, and his calendar, with trifling improvements, has lasted till our days. The Romans continued to reckon days before the Nones, Ides and Kalends. The Nones fell on the seventh of March, May, July and October, on the fift
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