There are other
magistrates, besides--two censors, four aediles to supervise the
public ways and the markets, ten tribunes of the plebs, and quaestors
to care for the state treasure.
=The Censors.=--The highest of all the magistrates are the censors.
They are charged with taking the census every five years, that is to
say, the enumeration of the Roman people. All the citizens appear
before them to declare under oath their name, the number of their
children and their slaves, the amount of their fortune; all this is
inscribed on the registers. It is their duty, too, to draw up the list
of the senators, of the knights, and of the citizens, assigning to
each his proper rank in the city. They are charged as a result with
making the lustrum, a great ceremony of purification which occurs
every five years.[122]
On that day all the citizens are assembled on the Campus Martius
arranged in order of battle; thrice there are led around the assembly
three expiatory victims, a bull, a ram, and a swine; these are killed
and their blood sprinkled on the people; the city is purified and
reconciled with the gods.
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