dictator

/dik"tay teuhr, dik tay"teuhr/, n.

1. a person exercising absolute power, esp. a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession.

2. (in ancient Rome) a person invested with supreme authority during a crisis, the regular magistracy being subordinated to him until the crisis was met.

3. a person who authoritatively prescribes conduct, usage, etc.: a dictator of fashion.

4. a person who dictates, as to a secretary.

[1350-1400; ME < L dictator, equiv. to dicta(re) (see DICTATE) + -tor -TOR]

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In the Roman republic, a temporary magistrate with extraordinary powers.

Nominated in times of crisis by a consul, recommended by the Senate, and confirmed by the Comitia Curiata, the dictator's term was six months or the duration of the crisis, and he had authority over all other magistrates. By 300 BC his powers were limited; no dictators were chosen after 202. The dictatorships of Sulla and Julius Caesar were a new form with almost unlimited powers. Caesar became dictator for life just before his assassination; afterward the office was abolished.

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▪ Roman official

      in the Roman Republic, a temporary magistrate with extraordinary powers, nominated by a consul on the recommendation of the Senate and confirmed by the Comitia Curiata (a popular assembly). The dictatorship was a permanent office among some of the Latin states of Italy, but at Rome it was resorted to only in times of military, and later internal, crises. The dictator's term was set at six months, although he customarily laid down his powers as soon as the crisis passed. He had 24 fasces, the equivalent of both consuls. His first act was to appoint as his immediate subordinate a master of the cavalry (magister equitum). The consuls and other magistrates continued in office during a dictatorship but were subject to the dictator's authority. By the 3rd century BC the limited term of a dictatorship rendered it impracticable in operations outside of Italy. Moreover, by 300 BC the people had secured the limitation of dictatorial powers by subjecting their use to the right of appeal and to a tribune's veto. Dictators were then named for lesser functions such as the holding of elections in certain cases.

      The Carthaginian invasion in the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) spurred a temporary revival of the office, but after 202 no dictators were chosen for any purpose. The dictatorships conferred upon Sulla and Julius Caesar in the last decades of the republic, in the 1st century BC, did not indicate a revival of the former office but the development of an extraconstitutional office with virtually unlimited powers. Sulla's and Caesar's dictatorships were not for a limited emergency but rather were meant “to restore the republic,” a reason mentioned as legitimate in Cicero's De republica (54–52; On the Republic). The term of office was lengthened until Caesar acquired dictatorial powers for 10 years in 46 and for life immediately before his assassination in 44 BC, when the office was abolished. See also tyrant.

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