It conquered a great Empire and when its Senate
could no longer control the magistrates who managed that Empire, its
solders who, by conquering and holding provinces to pay taxes maintained
the Empire and the Republic, wearied of the incompetence of the Senate's
appointees, of the squabbles and strife of their leaders, chose by
acclamation one commander whom they loved and trusted. The Senate, at his
mercy, legalized his sovereignty by conferring on him for life the powers
of a Tribune, an official who could initiate nothing, but had the legal
power to forbid anything and everything.
The Senate continued to administer those provinces reckoned safe from
invasion or insurrection; always two governed by ex-consuls and about ten
governed each by an ex-praetor. It continued to dispose of the funds
derived from their taxes and to recruit itself from ex-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.
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