Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

law enforcement, a compulsor was an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," ...

under the Roman emperors, dispatched from court into the provinces, to force the payment of taxes, etc., which had not been paid within the time prescribed. The procedure is briefly summarized in ''

Codex Theodosianus The ''Codex Theodosianus'' (Eng. Theodosian Code) was a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 ...

'' i.14.1, "omnia tributa exigere suscipere postremo conpellere iubemus." Egyptian documents also afford a good deal of illustration, as explained in

Matthias Gelzer Matthias Gelzer (19 December 1886, Liestal – 23 July 1974, Frankfurt am Main) was a Swiss-German classical historian, known for his studies of the Roman Republic in regard to its politics and society. He was the author of highly regarded biog ...

's ''Studien zur byzantinischen Verwaltung Ägyptens'', 42 sqq. These were charged with so many exactions, under color of their office, that Honorius dismissed them by law in 412. The laws of the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

mention military ''compulsors''; which were officers among the Goths, whose business was to oblige the tardy soldiers to go into the fight, to run an attack, etc. Cassian mentions a kind of

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...

''compulsors'', whose business was to declare the hours of canonical office, and to make sure the monks went to church at those hours. The word is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

, formed of the verb ''compellere'', "to oblige; constrain".

References

*{{1728 *Bury, J.B. ''History of the Later Roman Empire''. Vol 1, Ch 2. Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1923. Ancient Roman titles Roman law Military ranks of ancient Rome Visigoths