Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

PROVOCATIO.

PSEPHUS.

imperial power under Augustus, a consider-
able change was made in the administration
of the provinces. Augustus took the charge
of those provinces where a large military
force was required ; the rest were left to the
care of the senate and the Roman people.
Accordingly we find in the older jurists the
division of provinciae into those which were
propriae populi Romani, and those which
were propriae Caesaris; and this division,
with some modifications, continued to the
third century. The senatorian provinces
were distributed among consulares and those
who had filled the office of praetor, two pro-
vinces being given to the consulares and the
rest to the praetorii : these governors were
called proconsules, or praesides, which latter
is the usual term employed by the old jurists
for a provincial governor. The praesides had
the jurisdictio of the praetor urbanus and
the praetor percgrinus : and their quaestors
had the same jurisdiction that the curule
aediles had at Rome. The imperial provinces
were governed by legati Caesaris, with prae-
torian power, the proconsular power being
in the Caesar himself, and the legati being
his deputies and representatives. The legati
were selected from those who had been con-
suls or praetors, or from the senators. They
held their office and their power at the plea-
sure of the emperor ; and he delegated to
them both military command and jurisdictio,
just as a proconsul in the republican period
delegated these powers to his legati. These
legati had also legati under them. No quaes-
tors were sent to the provinces of the Caesar.
In place of the quaestors, there were pro-
curatores Caesaris, who were either equites
or freedmen of the Caesar. Egypt was go-
verned by an eques with the title of prae-
fectus. The procuratores looked after the
taxes, paid the troops, and generally were
intrusted with the interests of the fiscus.
Judaea, which was a part of the province
of Syria, was governed by a procurator, who
had the powers of a legatus. It appears that
there were also procuratores Caesaris in the
renatorian provinces, who collected certain
dues of the fiscus, which were independent
of what was due to the aerarium. The re-
gular taxes, as in the republican period, were
the poll-tax and land-tax. The taxation was
founded on a census of persons and property,
which was established by Augustus. The
portoria and other dues were farmed by the
publicani, as in the republican period.
PROVOCATIO. [Appellatio.]
PROVOCATORES. [Gladiatores.]
PROXEXUS (irpofevw). [HosprrroM.]
PRYTANEIUM \iepinavelav), the public
hall or town-hall in a Greek state. The |

prytaneia of the ancient Greek states and
cities were to the communities living around
them, what private houses were to the fami-
lies which occupied them. Just as the house
of each family was its home, so was the pry-
taneium of every state or city the common
home of its members or inhabitants. This
correspondence between the prytaneium or
home of the city, and the private home of
a man's family, was at Athens very remark-
able. A perpetual fire was kept burning on
the public altar of the city in the pryta-
neium, just as in private houses a fire was
kept up on the domestic altar in the inner
court of the house. Moreover, the city of
Athens exercised in its prytaneium the duties
of hospitality, both to its own citizens and to
strangers. Thus foreign ambassadors were
entertained here, as well as Athenian envoys,
on their return home from a successful or
well-conducted mission. Here, too, were en-
tertained from day to day the successive pry-
tanes or presidents of the senate, together
with those citizens who, whether from per-
sonal or ancestral services to the state, were
honoured with what was called the cri'njcrts iv
TrpvTaveiu, or the privilege of taking their
meals there at the public cost. This was
granted sometimes for a limited period, some-
times for life, in which latter case the parties
enjoying it were called aeunrot. Moreover,
from the ever-burning fire of the prytaneium,
or home of a mother state, was carried the
sacred fire which was to be kept burning in
the prytaneia of her colonies ; and if it hap-
pened that this was ever extinguished, the
flame was rekindled from the prytaneium of
the parent city. Lastly, a prytaneium was
also a distinguishing mark of an independent
state. The prytaneium of Athens lay under
the Acropolis on its northern side (near the
ayopa), and was, as its name denotes, origi-
nally the place of assembly of the prytanes ;
in the earliest times it probably stood on the
Acropolis. Officers called prytanes (irpvTa-
veZs) were entrusted with the chief magis-
tracy in several states of Greece, as Corcyra,
Corinth, Miletus. At Athens they were in
early times probably a magistracy of the
second rank in the state (next to the archon),
acting as judges in various cases (perhaps in
conjunction with him), and sitting in the
prytaneium. That this was the case is ren-
dered probable by the fact, that even in after-
times the fees paid into court by plaintiff and
defendant, before they could proceed to trial,
and received by the dicasts, were called pry-
taneia.

PRYTANES. [Prytaneium; Boule.]
PSEPHISMA. [Boule ; Nojiothetes.]
PSEPHUS (i^os), a ball of stone, used bj