Hi WM,

Quote Originally Posted by wm View Post
I submit that we should make clear the distinction between imperium and regnum. Imperium is externally granted power while regnum is inherited power. Imperium also originally denoted military power. When Rome rid itself of kings, it also rid itself of regnum as the source of magisterial power and imperium as the source of a magistrate's power replaced regnum. I suspect this is connected to what Bob's World likes to post about legitimacy of government. It should not be confused with auctoritas, which we tend to translate as authority, but for the Romans meant something more like prestige. Imperium is a class of potestas, which is coercive power, while auctoritas is better understood as persuasive or charismatic power. The de jure/de facto distinction also helps make sense of the difference between potestas/imperium and auctoritas.
Excellent points and, while we are nit-picking on translations, it is important to note that the "external" power varies slightly between the Latin and Greek, as well as the context of usage. Regnum is, as a concept, pretty far away from many modern, western ones, but has the connotation as well as denotation of "ruling" by "right" held within the individual. There are some interesting potential applications of it, as a concept, to the self-conceptualizations of people like Bernie Madoff....

You are quite correct that Imperium is a (sub)class of potestas, although I would have translated potestas as "potential power", rather than coercive power.

Quote Originally Posted by wm View Post
If one want to extend this, then one could discourse on the symbols of imperium. A consul, dictator, praetor, magister equitum, or curule aedile was invested with the imperium--that is during a ceremony, they received their baton and their curule plus their fasces-carrying escort, the lictors. Different levels of magistrate received different levels of imperium, by the way (and that was signified by the number of lictors who accompanied them). Think of the passing of the guidon/flag that occurs during a US Army change of command ceremony or the assumption of command letter one executes--the latter requires the incoming commander to cite the authority (potestas, not auctoritas) for assuming command. In a modern US military context, having imperium might be likened to having UCMJ authority: depending on your rank/position you have different punishment and convening powers--CG/FG Article 15; Summary, Special, BCD Special, and General Courts.
Yup, and that's a pretty good analogy. Where it starts to get truly interesting, IMHO, is when we look at it outside of its particular cultural context to how others perceived it and reacted to it.