Editing Roman censor (section)

==Abolition==
The censorship continued in existence for 421 years, from 443 BC to 22 BC, but during this period, many ''lustra'' passed by without any censor being chosen at all. According to one statement, the office was abolished by [[Sulla|Lucius Cornelius Sulla]].<ref>Schol. Gronov. ''ad Cic. Div. in Caecil.'' 3, p384, ed. [[Johann Caspar Orelli]].</ref> Although the authority on which this statement rests is not of much weight, the fact itself is probable, since there was no census during the two ''lustra'' which elapsed from Sulla's dictatorship to [[Pompey|Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey)]]'s first consulship (82&ndash;70 BC), and any strict "imposition of morals" would have been found inconvenient to the aristocracy that supported Sulla.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Censor {{!}} Magistrate, Supervision, Morality {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/censor-ancient-Roman-official |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

If the censorship had been done away with by Sulla, it was at any rate restored in the consulship of Pompey and [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]]. Its power was limited by one of the laws of the tribune [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]] (58 BC), which prescribed certain regular forms of proceeding before the censors in expelling a person from the [[Roman Senate]], and required that the censors be in agreement to exact this punishment.<ref>[[Cassius Dio]] xxxviii.13; Cicero ''[[pro Sestio]]'' 25, ''de Prov. Cons.'' 15.</ref> This law, however, was repealed in the third consulship of Pompey in 52 BC, on the urging of his colleague [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica|Q. Caecilius Metellus Scipio]],<ref>Cassius Dio xl.57.</ref> but the office of the censorship never recovered its former power and influence.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |title=Censor |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/censor/ |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Roman Republican civil wars|civil wars]] which followed soon afterwards, no censors were elected; it was only after a long interval that they were again appointed, namely in 23 BC, when [[Augustus]] caused [[Lucius Munatius Plancus]] and [[Aemilius Lepidus Paullus]] to fill the office.<ref>[[Lives of the Twelve Caesars|Suetonius]] ''[[Life of Augustus]]'' 37, ''[[Life of Claudius]]'' 16; Cassius Dio liv.2.</ref> This was the last time that such magistrates were appointed; the emperors in future discharged the duties of their office under the name of [[Praefectura Morum]] ("prefect of the morals").<ref name=":1" />

Some of the emperors sometimes took the name of censor when they held a census of the Roman people; this was the case with [[Claudius]], who appointed the elder [[Lucius Vitellius]] as his colleague,<ref>Suetonius ''[[Life of Claudius]]'' 16; Tacitus Annales xii.4, [[Histories (Tacitus)|Historia]] i.9.</ref> and with [[Vespasian]], who likewise had a colleague in his son [[Titus]].<ref>Suet. Vesp. 8, Tit. 6.</ref> [[Domitian]] assumed the title of "perpetual censor" (''censor perpetuus''),<ref>Cassius Dio liii.18.</ref> but this example was not imitated by succeeding emperors. In the reign of [[Decius]], the elder [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] was nominated to the censorship, but declined the position.<ref>Symmach. ''Ep.'' iv.29, v.9)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Weigel |first=Richard D. |date=3 August 1998 |title=An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors |url=http://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/gallval.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411002145/http://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/gallval.htm |archive-date=11 April 2023 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref>