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The Constitution of the Late Roman Empire was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent.〔Byrd, 161〕 The constitution of the Roman Principate (the early Roman Empire), which was established by the emperor Augustus in the 1st century BC, had governed the "Roman Empire" for three centuries. Diocletian became emperor in 284, and his reign marked the end of the Principate and the beginning of the "Dominate" (from Latin ''dominus'': "Lord" or "Master"). The constitution of the Dominate ultimately recognized monarchy as the true source of power, and thus ended the fiction of shared power between the "Roman Emperor" and the "Roman Senate". After Diocletian had reorganized the superstructure of the constitution, he then reorganized the administrative apparatus of the government. When Diocletian abdicated the throne in 305, the Empire quickly descended back into chaos. After the chaos had subsided, however, much of Diocletian's constitution remained in effect. His division of the Empire into west and east, with each half under the command of a separate emperor, remained with brief interruptions of political unity. The capital of the Western Empire was never returned to Rome, the Senate and executive magistrates continued to function as Diocletian's constitution had originally specified, and Diocletian's civil and military divisions of the empire remained in effect. Later emperors, especially Constantine the Great, and Justinian modified Diocletian's constitution. ==''Augusti'' and ''Caesares''== Under Diocletian's new constitution, power was shared between two emperors called ''Augusti''. The establishment of two co-equal ''Augusti'' marked a rebirth of the old republican principle of collegiality, as all laws, decrees, and appointments that came from one of the ''Augusti'', were to be recognized as coming from both conjointly. One ''Augustus'' was to rule the western half of the Empire, and the other ''Augustus'' was to rule the eastern half of the Empire. Diocletian made Maximian his co-''Augustus'', and gave him the Western Empire, while Diocletian took the Eastern Empire. Diocletian made Nicomedia his capital, and Maximian made Milan his capital. To make the two halves symbolically appear to be one, Diocletian called his territory ''patres Orientis'', while Maximian called his territory ''patres Occidentis''. The ''Augusti'' were legally distinct from the old ''Princeps'' (Roman Emperors under the Principate), because under the Principate, the ''Princeps'' took the place of the old republican magistrates. When a ''Princeps'' issued a decree, that decree was only valid so long as that ''Princeps'' was Emperor, whereas in contrast, under the Republic, any decree issued by a magistrate was only good so long as that magistrate was in office. Under the Republic and the Principate, only the Senate and legislative assemblies were continuous institutions, and thus only they could pass laws that remained in effect indefinitely. Under Diocletian's new Dominate, the ''Augusti'' took the place of the Senate and the assemblies, and thus any decree of an ''Augustus'' remained in force even after that particular emperor left office. Such an act could only be invalidated by a future Emperor. The logical extension of this concept meant that neither a magistrate, the assemblies, nor the senate, could legally restrain the Emperor. The old republican magistrates, as well as the ''Princeps'', both had legal status. Under the Republic, the state gave the magistrates the authorization to hold their office, while under the Principate, the state gave the ''Princeps'' the legal authorization to be emperor. Any ''Augusti'', in contrast, did not need authorization from the state to be emperor, because the ''Augusti'' became the state. The higher authority of the ''Augusti'' was illustrated by their robes (which were trimmed with precious stones) and the imperial diadem, as well as the elaborate ceremony required of anyone who approached them. Unlike the old ''Princeps'', the ''Augusti'' were viewed as being more than mortal, which was illustrated by the honors that they received. These honors had, in the past, been reserved only for the Gods. While emperors had received such honors in the past, they only received these honors after their death, and yet, the ''Augusti'' could receive such honors while they were still alive. In 293, Diocletian and Maximian appointed two ''Caesares'', which resulted in an arrangement known as the "Tetrarchy" ("rule by four"). The ''Caesares'' were subordinate to their ''Augusti'', and the only authority that they had was that which had been given to them by their ''Augusti''. Their status was so inferior to the ''Augusti'' that they received a fixed salary. The powers that were delegated to them usually included the right to hear appeals, and a set of provinces were often assigned to them so that they could supervise the governors of those provinces. The reason why Diocletian created the office of ''Caesar'' was to create a method by which orderly successions could occur, so that when one ''Augustus'' died, one of the two ''Caesares'' replaced that ''Augustus''. When a new ''Caesar'' was appointed, his ''Augustus'' adopted him. Diocletian had hoped that the ''Augusti'' would jointly resign at a given point in time, and allow their ''Caesares'' to replace them. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Constitution of the Late Roman Empire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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