Home1823 Edition

DECURIO

Volume 7 · 122 words · 1823 Edition

a subaltern officer in the Roman armies. He commanded a decuria, which consisted of ten men, and was the third part of a turma, or the 30th part of a legio of horse, which was composed of 580 men. There were certain magistrates in the provinces, called decuriones municipales, who formed a body to represent the Roman senate in free and corporate towns. They consisted of ten, whence the name; and their duty extended to watch over the interests of their fellow citizens, and to increase the revenues of the commonwealth. Their court was called curia decurionum and minor senatus; and their decrees, called decreta decurionum, were marked with two D. D. at the top. They generally styled themselves civitatum patres curiae.