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 p376  Curatores

Unsigned article on pp376‑377 of

William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.

CURATOR′ES, were public officers of various kinds under the Roman empire, several of whom were first established by Augustus (Suet. Aug. 37). The most important of them were as follow:—

1. Curatores Alvei et Riparum, who had the charge of the navigation of the Tiber. The duties of their office may be gathered from Ulpian (Dig. 43 tit. 15). It was reckoned very honourable, and the persons who filled it received afterwards the title of comites.

2. Curatores Annonae, who purchased cornº and oil for the state, and sold it again at a small price among the poorer citizens. They were also called curatores emendi frumenti et olei, and σιτῶναι and ἐλαιῶναι (Dig. 50 tit. 5 s. 18 § 5). Their office belonged to the personalia munera; that is, it did not require any expenditure of a person's private property: but the curatores received from the state a sufficient sum of money to purchase the required amount (Dig. 50 tit. 8 s. 9 § 5).

3. Curatores Aquarum. [Aquae Ductus].

4. Curatores Kalendarii, who had the care in municipal towns of the kalendaria; that is, the books which contained the names of the persons to whom public money, which was not wanted for the ordinary expenses of the town, was lent on interest. The office belonged to the personalia munera (Dig. 50, tit. 4 s. 18 § 2; tit. 8 s. 9 § 7; Heinecc. Antiq. Rom. III.15 § 4). These officers are mentioned in inscriptions found in municipal towns. (Orelli, Inscrip. No. 3940, 4491.)

5. Curatores Ludorum, who had the care of the public games. Persons of rank appear to have been usually appointed to this office (Tac. Ann. XI.35; XIII.22; Suet. Calig. 27). In inscriptions, they are usually called curatores muneris gladiatorii, &c.

6. Curatores Operum Publicorum, who had the care of all public buildings, such as the theatres, baths, aquaeducts, &c., and agreed with the contractors for all necessary repairs to them. Their duties under the republic were discharged by aediles and censors. [Censores]. They are frequently mentioned in inscriptions (Orelli, Inscrip. No. 24, 1506, 2273).

7. Curatores Regionum, who had the care of the fourteen districts into which Rome was divided, and whose duty it was to prevent all disorder and extortion in their respective districts. This office was first instituted by Augustus (Suet. Aug. 30). There were usually two officers of this kind for each district; Alexander Severus, however, appears to have appointed only one for each; but these were persons of consular rank, who were to have jurisdiction in conjunction with the praefectus urbi (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 33). We are told that M. Antoninus, among other regulations, gave special directions that the curatores regionum should either punish, or bring before the praefectus urbi for punishment, all persons who exacted from the inhabitants more than the legal taxes (Jul. Capitol. M. Anton. 12).

8. Curatores Reipublicae, also called Logistae, who administered the landed property of municipia (Dig. 50 tit. 8 s. 9 § 2; 2 tit. 14 s. 37).  p377 Ulpian wrote a separate work, De Officio Curatoris Reipublicae.

9. Curatores Viarum. [Viae].

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