# What is the Latin phrase for Imperial Roman authority? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684 "2023-01-04T22:30:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/1 "2023-01-04T22:30:07Z")
When Rome set about annexing territory how would they have expressed it legally ? As the imperial Roman authority would have been vested in the emperor would it be something like "legem imperium’.I’ve seen “cum ipse imperator per legem imperium accipiat”. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/2 "2023-01-04T22:41:38Z")
It appears to be ‘Lex Imperii’ or ‘Lex de Imperio’. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/3 "2023-01-05T08:59:10Z")
Cicero wrote, e.g. “…partim qui cum ipso M. Fonteio ferrum ac manus contulerunt multoque eius sudore ac labore sub populi Romani imperium dicionemque ceciderunt.” Note that he speaks of the imperium _populi Romani._ ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/4 "2023-01-05T09:10:34Z")
Thanks DPRK. So you’re suggesting imperium _populi Romani._ would be a better fit. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/5 "2023-01-05T13:31:03Z")
I’m not a Latin speaker or scholar, but I’ve always read “imperium” as the word meaning the sort of right to rule/authority invested in an Emperor or the people. [Imperium | Oxford Classical Dictionary (oxfordre.com)](https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-3270;jsessionid=23E360930463CC19B56CA0EF1036B09E) ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/6 "2023-01-05T13:39:15Z")
> [@Octagon](#): > > Thanks DPRK. So you’re suggesting imperium _populi Romani._ would be a better fit. Cicero lived back when it was still the Roman Republic, so that phrasing makes more sense for his time. He died before Octavian became the first formal Roman Emperor. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/7 "2023-01-05T15:51:50Z")
Thnaks FlikBlue. That makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/8 "2023-01-05T18:10:07Z")
Would ‘senatus populusque romanus’ [SPQR] - ‘by authority of the senate and people of Rome’ express the same sentiment? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/9 "2023-01-05T19:20:19Z")
The fiction that it was republic not the emperor that was annexing the territory was maintained (with the exception of a couple of important provinces, that were run by the by the emperor directly, out the kindness of his heart to make sure they were run correctly for the roman people, not because he was actually in charge of the whole show or anything). So in the [Deeds of Divine Augustus](http://classics.mit.edu/Augustus/deeds.html), he describes “Adding Egypt to the rule of the Roman people.” (even though Egypt was one of those provinces that was run by the emperor personally) ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/10 "2023-01-05T19:35:04Z")
I’m simply wondering how the annexation would have been done declared. Would the conquering general have declared “By the powers invested in me I hereby declare this terrritory annexed in the name of the emperor” or something to that effect ? Are there any documents in which this is attested ? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-latin-phrase-for-imperial-roman-authority/977684/11 "2023-01-05T22:38:12Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Cicero lived back when it was still the Roman Republic, so that phrasing makes more sense for his time. He died before Octavian became the first formal Roman Emperor. OTOH Augustus did introduce the account of his acts as “Res gestae divi Augusti quibus orbem terrarum imperio populi Romani subiecit”, in other words, he placed the whole world under the sovereignty of the Roman people. (see @griffin1977 's post) > [@Octagon](#): > > I’m simply wondering how the annexation would have been done declared. Would the conquering general have declared “By the powers invested in me I hereby declare this terrritory annexed in the name of the emperor” or something to that effect ? Are there any documents in which this is attested ? [This paper](http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0017383500033490) goes into it: there were provinces and allied kingdoms and “formulas” and leges provinciae and various other laws, but the Romans simply did not think of the empire in terms of strictly defined borders. > It follows that we cannot postulate a single _lex provinciae_ for each province nor use this as a criterion and date for the incorporation into the Roman empire of any given territory. Instead, there were a number of decisions by magistrates and senatorial commissions, some dependent on _senatus consulta,_ some on legislation, and some on the unfettered authority of the magistrate himself.