His "command" (-imperium-) was all-powerful in peace and in war, on which account "messengers" (-lictores-, from -licere-, to summon) preceded him with axes and rods on all occasions when he appeared officially.

He alone had the right of publicly addressing the burgesses, and it was he who kept the keys of the public treasury.

He had the same right as a father had to exercise discipline and jurisdiction.

He inflicted penalties for breaches of order, and, in particular, flogging for military offences.

He sat in judgment in all private and in all criminal processes, and decided absolutely regarding life and death as well as regarding freedom; he might hand over one burgess to fill the place of a slave to another; he might even order a burgess to be sold into actual slavery or, in other words, into banishment.