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Imperium is a Latin word which, in a broad sense, translates roughly as 'power to command'. In ancient Rome, different kinds of power or authority were distinguished by different terms. ''Imperium'' referred to the sovereignty of the state over the individual. It is not to be confused with ''auctoritas'' or ''potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic and Empire. Primarily used to refer to the power that is wielded, in greater or lesser degree, by an individual to whom it is delegated, the term could also be used with a geographical connotation, designating the territorial limits of that ''imperium''. Individuals given such power were referred to as curule magistrates or promagistrates. These included the curule aedile, the praetor, the censor, the consul, the magister equitum, and the dictator. == Personal characteristic == In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' could be used as a term indicating a characteristic of people, the wealth held in items, or the measure of formal power they had. This qualification could be used in a rather loose context (for example, poets used it, not necessarily writing about state officials). However, in Roman society it was also a more formal concept of legal authority. A man with ''imperium'' ("imperator") had, in principle, absolute authority to apply the law within the scope of his magistracy or promagistracy. He could be vetoed or overruled either by a magistrate or promagistrate who was a colleague with equal power (e.g. a fellow consul) or by one whose ''imperium'' outranked his - that is, one of ''imperium maius'' (greater ''imperium).'' Some modern scholars such as A.H.M. Jones have defined ''imperium'' as "the power vested by the state in a person to do what he considers to be in the best interests of the state". ''Imperium'' can be distinguished from ''regnum'', or royal power, which was inherited. ''Imperium'' was originally a military concept, the power of the ''imperator'' (general in the army) to command. The word derives from the Latin verb, ''imperare'' (to command). The title ''imperator'' was applied to the emperor, who was the commander of the armed forces. In fact, the Latin word, ''imperator'', gives us the English word "emperor". ''Imperium'' was indicated in two prominent ways. A ''curule'' magistrate or promagistrate carried an ivory baton surmounted by an eagle as his personal symbol of office (compare the field marshal's baton). Any such magistrate was also escorted by ''lictors'' bearing the ''fasces'' (traditional symbols of imperium and authority); when outside the ''pomerium'', axes were added to the ''fasces'' to indicate an imperial magistrate's power to enact capital punishment outside Rome (the axes were removed within the ''pomerium''). The number of lictors in attendance upon a magistrate was an overt indication of the degree of ''imperium''. When in the field, a ''curule'' magistrate possessing an ''imperium'' greater or equal to that of a praetor wore a sash ritually knotted on the front of his cuirass. Further, any man executing ''imperium'' within his sphere of influence was entitled to the curule chair. * Curule Aedile (''aedilis curulis'') – 2 lictors * * Since a plebeian aedile (aedilis plebis) did not own imperium, he was not escorted by lictors. * Magister equitum (the dictator's deputy) – 6 lictors * Praetor – 6 lictors (2 lictors within the pomerium) * Consul – 12 lictors each * Dictator – 24 lictors outside the Pomerium and 12 inside; starting from the dictatorship of Lucius Sulla the latter rule was ignored. * * Because the dictator could enact capital punishment within Rome as well as without, his lictors did not remove the axes from their fasces within the pomerium. As can be seen, dictatorial ''imperium'' was superior to consular, consular to praetorian, and praetorian to aedilician; there is some historical dispute as to whether or not praetorian ''imperium'' was superior to "equine-magisterial" ''imperium''. A promagistrate, or a man executing a ''curule'' office without actually holding that office, also possessed ''imperium'' in the same degree as the actual incumbents (i.e., proconsular ''imperium'' being more or less equal to consular ''imperium'', propraetorian ''imperium'' to praetorian) and was attended by an equal number of ''lictors''. Certain extraordinary commissions, such as Pompey's famous command against the pirates, were invested with ''imperium maius'' meaning they outranked all other owners of imperium of the same type or rank (in Pompey's case, even the consuls) within their sphere of command (his being "ultimate on the seas, and within 50 miles inland"). ''Imperium maius'' later became a hallmark of the Roman emperor. Another technical use of the term in Roman law was for the power to extend the law beyond its mere interpretation, extending ''imperium'' from formal legislators under the ever-republican constitution: popular assemblies, senate, magistrates, emperor and their delegates to the jurisprudence of jurisconsults. 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「imperium」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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