ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

which one or more men on each commission had held. Even though the Urso Charterapplied to a colony a century or more after those of the middle Republic, it is logical thatthe calendar for these earlier colonies, too, was under the purview of the magistrates ofthe colony, not the commissioners. The problem, then, lies with the commissioners'capabilities to appoint magistrates and priests and provide them with laws and religioustenets in the Roman model.Since each commission had at least one consul or praetor, there was at least onecommissioner who was familiar with the duties of possessing imperium. Consulspossessed imperium and maxima auspicia, presided over assemblies of the people, let outcontracts in the absence of a censor, and most importantly, raised and commanded thearmies. 92Praetors, similarly possessed maxima auspicia and imperium, although lesserthan that of the consuls, and could complete all of the functions of a consul other thanappointing a dictator, conducting elections for magistrates with imperium^ and presidingat the Latin Festival. 94By passing through the Roman electoral process, thecommissioners who were former consuls and praetors knew at least one method ofappointing or holding elections for the colonial magistrates. They knew how to call anassembly for a vote. 95While in Rome, the praetors also supervised the civil law courts,so the commissioners who had been praetors might also have been qualified to help thecolonial magistrates set up their court system. Since the commissioners with consular92 Brennan (2004), p. 63. See also Keppie (1998), p. 65.93 There seems to be an exception for the election of the tresviri: see Livy 10.21.7-10 on the plebiscite toorder the praetor P. Sempronius to nominate three commissioners to found Minturnae and Sinuessa (296).94 Brennan (2004), p. 63.95 For example, when the colonies of Copia and Vibo Valentia were approved, the praetor Cn. Domitius ranthe elections: Livy 34.53.2 ea bina comitia Cn. Domitius praetor urbanus in Capitolio habuit.126