heir situation, from accidental
circumstances, might be more or less agreeable or advantageous. But they
were all (excepting only the pro-consuls) alike included in the class of
honorable persons; and they were alike intrusted, during the pleasure of
the prince, and under the authority of the praefects or their deputies,
with the administration of justice and the finances in their respective
districts. The ponderous volumes of the Codes and Pandects would furnish
ample materials for a minute inquiry into the system of provincial
government, as in the space of six centuries it was approved by the
wisdom of the Roman statesmen and lawyers. It may be sufficient for the
historian to select two singular and salutary provisions, intended to
restrain the abuse of authority. 1. For the preservation of peace and
order, the governors of the provinces were armed with the sword of
justice. They inflicted corporal punishments, and they exercised,
in capital offences, the power of life and death. But they were not
authorized to indulge the condemned criminal with the choice of his own
execution, or to pronounce a sentence of the mildest and most honorable
kind of exile. These prerogatives were reserved to the praefects,
who alone could impose the heavy fine of fifty pounds of gold: their
vicegerents were confined to the trifling weight of a few ounces.
This distinction, which seems to grant the larger, while it denies the
smaller degree of authority, was founded on a very rational motive. The
smaller degree was infinitely more liable to abuse. The passions of
a provincial magistrate might frequently provoke him into acts of
oppression, which affected only the freedom or the fortunes of the
subject; though, from a principle of prudence, perhaps of humanity, he
might still be terrified by the guilt of innocent blood. It may likewise
be considered, that exile, considerable fines, or the choice of an
easy death, relate more particularly to the rich and the noble; and the
persons the most exposed to the avarice or resentment of a provincial
magistrate, were thus removed from his obscure persecution to the more
august and impartial tribunal of the Praetorian praefect. 2. As it was
reasonably apprehended that the integrity of the judge might be biased,
if his interest was concerned, or his affections were engaged, the
strictest regulations were established, to exclude any person, without
the special dispensation of the emperor, from the gover