DUO VIRI
DUO VIRI
the two men, a name applied to various magistrates and
commissioners at Rome, and in the
coloniae and
municipii. The form
duumvir,
“one of the two men,” is used
[p. 1.697]in the
singular (
Liv. 2.42,
5,
&c.): it is doubtful whether
duumviri
should ever be used in the plural. Some editors print it so, but in the MSS.
and inscriptions we generally find only
iiviri; in
C. I. L. 1.1196 we have
duo
viri, and also
duo vir (cp.
C.
I. L. 6.3732); but there seems to be no epigraphic authority for
duumviri. That Cicero knew only
tres viri, not
triumviri, is
shown by
Ep. Fam. 8.13, 2. (Cf. Zumpt's
Grammar, § 124.) The most important of these
“commissions of two” were the following :--
1.
DUO VIRI IURI DICUNDO, the highest magistrates in
the municipal towns. [
COLONIA
p. 482 b.]
2.
DUO VIRI SACRORUM, to whom was at first entrusted
the charge of the Sibylline Books (cf.
Liv. 3.10,
7;
5.13,
6: Mommsen,
Hist.
1.240). The commission was afterwards made to consist of ten (
Liv. 6.37,
12;
42,
2), and afterwards,
probably by Sulla, of fifteen. [
DECEMVIRI]
3.
DUO VIRI NAVALES, an extraordinary commission
appointed for the purpose of equipping or repairing a fleet. Originally a
praefectus had been nominated for this
purpose by the consuls, but in B.C. 311 the appointment was transferred to
the people; and as the name was no longer suitable, the title of
duo viri took its place (Mommsen,
Röm. Staatsr. 2.565). The election was made as
occasion arose, and the tenure of office was not limited to one year. There
is no instance of its occurrence on record later than that of B.C. 180-178
(
Liv. 41.1).
4.
DUO VIRI AEDI DEDICANDAE, elected by the people
for the purpose of dedicating a temple. The duty was always performed by one
of the two only, and the election of a second seems to have been due only to
the desire of the Romans to have two colleagues in each magistracy (
Liv. 7.28;
22.33;
35.41). The
duo viri aedi
locandae, who gave out the contract for the erection of a
temple at the public cost and on public ground, were not necessarily the
same as those who dedicated it (cf.
Liv. 22.33
with 23.21, 7), although they frequently were.
5.
DUO VIRI VIIS EXTRA URBEM PURGANDIS were officers
under the aediles, first mentioned in the Lex Julia Municipalis (50.50; cf.
C. I. L. i. p. 119), and possibly therefore instituted by
Caesar. They were abolished by Augustus, when the
curatores viarum were instituted (Dio, 54.26).
6.
DUO VIRI PERDUELLIONIS. [
PERDUELLIO]
7.
DUO VIRI QUINQUENNALES, the censors in the
municipia. [
COLONIA p. 483
a.]
[
A.S.W]
