Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/199

CENSORINUS CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS 191 Rutilus, who had also been the first dictator of that order, was the first elevated to this dignity (351); and in 131 even both censors were plebeians. They had all the ensigns of consular dignity except the lictors, and wore a robe of scarlet. Their office was to take the regular census and keep the rolls of all Roman citizens, to distribute them according to orders, tribes, &c., to value, register, and tax their property, to control public morals and manners, to fill remarkable vacancies in the senate, to choose the princeps senatus, to manage the farming of the revenues, customs, and salt monopoly, to contract for repairs of public buildings and roads in Rome and Italy, &c. They had the right of punishing moral and political transgressions committed by citizens of distinction with marks of ignominy, by ex- pulsion from the senate, and even by degrada- tion from a higher to a lower order ; for which punishments the ill-treating of members of their families, extravagance, and the pursuit of mean professions, were regarded as sufficient reasons ; but their decisions were subject to an appeal to the assembly of the people, and them- selves to its jurisdiction. The dignity of censor was regarded as most honorable, and originally only those were eligible who had passed through all other offices. The emperors assumed it un- der the title of morum prcefecti ; Decius desired to restore it independently under a particular officer. The brother of Constantino the Great was the last censor. CENSORIiVTS, a Latin grammarian and chro- nologist of the 3d century. He wrote a treatise upon accents, cited by Cassiodorus, but lost. Only a fragment of his work De Metric is ex- tant. He is known principally by a curious work entitled De Die Natali, treating of the generation of man, his natal hour, the influence which the genii and stars exercise over his des- tiny, and of the climacteric periods of his life. He also discusses music, religious rites, and matters relating to astronomy, chronology, and cosmography. By this work the commence- ment of the era of Nabonassar and other dates have been fixed, and Censorinus has therefore been named by Scaliger eximius et doctissimus temporum mndex. The first edition of Censo- rinus is in quarto, without date, place, or print- er's name; the second was that of Bologna, in 1497; the last is a German edition, by Gruber, in 1805. CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS, a regulation by which books, pamphlets, and newspapers are subjected to the examination of certain civil or ecclesiastical officers, who are empowered to authorize or forbid their publication. Such a regulation was suggested by Plato, and an in- formal censorship existed in the times of Greece and Rome. Thus all the copies of the works of Protagoras were burned at Athens by sen- tence of the areopagus, because he had express- ed doubts concerning the existence of the gods. Satirical works and writings on magic were often condemned to the flames by the Roman 167" VOL. iv. 13 emperors, and Diocletian ordered the sacred books of the Christians to be burned. After the church acquired a share in the civil power, it induced the state to condemn heretical books, and the writings of Arius were burned by edict of Constantino. Subsequently there were nu- merous enactments by popes and councils against the works of heretics, sanctioning the principle that books objected to by the church should be suppressed. This principle was maintained throughout the middle ages, authors often as a voluntary act of respect submitting their works before publication to the judgment of the higher clergy. The first eminent instance .of this kind was that of Autpert, a Benedictine monk, who in 768 sent his "Exposition of the Apocalypse" to Pope Stephen III., begging him to publish the work and make it known. The invention of printing and the increasing number of books called forth new and stricter prescriptions of censorship, and there still re- main copies of books printed in 1479 and 1480 which are accompanied with solemn approba- tions and attestations in their favor. In 1486 Berthold, archbishop of Mentz, issued a man- date forbidding the publication of any work in the German language unless it should be first read and approved by one of four censors whom he appointed. Shortly after Pope Alexander VI. addressed a bull to the archbishops of Cologne, Mentz, ' Treves, and Magdeburg, according to which no book should be printed without spe- cial express license from the clergy. Finally, in 1515, the council of the Lateran, assembled at Rome, decreed that in future no books should be printed in any town or diocese unless they were previously inspected and carefully ex- amined by the bishop of the diocese or his deputy, or by the inquisitor of the diocese or his deputy, or if at Rome by the pope's vicar and the master of the sacred palace. Every work which was approved was to be counter- signed by the hand of the censor, and any publication not thus countersigned was to be burned and its author o*- editor excommuni- cated. Thus was a general censorship of the press consummated by the Roman Catholic church, which has since been enforced by that church in countries where it has had the power. Its "Index of Prohibited Books" was begun by the council of Trent, and has been from time to time republished and enlarged. It has also an "Index of Expurgated Books." In countries where the reformation prevailed, the censorship was not abolished. Licensers of books Avere appointed in England, who were for the most part bishops ; and in the reign of Charles I. complaints were laid before the house of commons against Archbishop Laud and his associates, because, as was alleged, it was im- possible to obtain from them permission to publish a book written against popery. A general system of censorship was established by a decree of the star chamber, dated June 11, 1637, which remained in force during the civil war, and was confirmed by an act of par-