Vigintisexviri
The
Vigintisexviri (sing.
vigintisexvir) were a college (
collegium) of minor magistrates (
magistratus minores) in the
Roman Republic; the name literally means "Twenty-Six Men". Its membership consisted of the
triumviri capitales, the
triumviri monetales, the
quatuorviri viarum curandarum (for roads within the city), the two
curatores viarum (for roads without the city), the
decemviri stlitibus iudicandis, and the four
praefecti sent to Campania to administer justice there. During the
Principate,
Caesar Augustus abolished the two curators of roads and the four Campanian prefects, thereby changing the
vigintisexviri into the
vigintiviri ("Twenty Men").
In the Republic, the Vigintisexvirate had served as a stepping stone for the sons of senators to begin their own public careers; Julius Caesar had served as curator viarum and restored parts of the Via Appia. In AD 13, however, the Senate passed a senatus consultum restricting the reduced Vigintivirate to the Ordo Equester.