praetoriani

PRAETORIANI[EXERCITUSVol. 1. p. 793.]

The body-guard of the Roman emperor. Even in the armies of the Republic there had been a separate corps, the cohors praetoria, to guard the general, and protect the headquarters. The organization of a body-guard for the emperor, one of whose permanent powers was the chief military command, was among the first administrative measures of Augustus. The supreme command was generally held by two praefecti praetorio in the emperor's name. The guard consisted of nine, and at a later time, of ten cohortes praetoriae, each composed of ten centuries of infantry and ten squadrons of cavalry (turmae), and commanded by a tribunus (see tribuni militum). They had higher rank and pay than the legions, and a shorter time of service (sixteen years instead of twenty). While the other cohorts were stationed at various places in Italy, where the emperors were in the habit of staying, there were quartered in Rome, to keep watch in the emperor's palace, three cohorts, which at first were billeted on separate parts of the city, until under Tiberius they were placed in a fortified camp (castra praetoria) to the northeast of the city, outside the walls. By being thus united, they gained such importance that they were often able to raise an emperor to the throne, and to overthrow him. To break down their influence and to make them simply a picked corps, Septimius Severus, towards the end of the second century, brought legions to Italy, and made a regulation that the Guard, which had hitherto been recruited exclusively from Italy and a few Romanized provinces, should have its ranks filled up from deserving legionary soldiers, and should serve for a longer time. To be thus transferred to the Guard was considered a promotion. The Guard was disbanded by Constantine the Great.