| 释义 |
prætorian, pretorian, a. and n.|priːˈtɔərɪən|
[ad. L. prætōriānus: see prætor and -ian.]
A. adj.
1. Of, belonging, or pertaining to a Roman prætor, or to the office or rank of prætor.
1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xii. v. (1622) 161 The Consularie ornaments were giuen to Colo, and the Pretorian to Aquila. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. xviii. II. 124 Treves, the seat of Prætorian government, gave the signal of revolt, by shutting her gates against Decentius. 1861J. G. Sheppard Fall Rome i. 23 Two prætorian fleets..patrolled the Mediterranean. 1875Poste Gaius i. §184 Another guardian..called a praetorian guardian, because he was appointed by the praetor of the city. 1894Greenidge Infamia iv. 114 The only object of the praetorian infamia was to preserve the dignity of the praetor's court, and to prevent the frequent appearance in it of unworthy members of the community.
b. transf. Applied to a judge, court, or power analogous to that of the ancient Roman prætor, esp. to a Court of Equity. Now rare or Obs.
1622Bacon Hen. VII 64 In the distribution of Courts of Ordinarie Justice,..the Chancery [had] the Pretorian power for mitigating the Rigour of Law. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) I. 17 An Historian being no Pretorian Judg, his Reports cannot prejudice any peoples Jurisdiction, or persons Propriety. 1686W. Sherlock Papist not Misrepresented 14 Attributing a Judicial and Praetorian Authority..to the Priest to forgive Sins. a1709Atkyns Parl. & Pol. Tracts (1734) 237 Let not (says he) Prætorian Courts (speaking of Courts of Equity) have Power to decree against express Statutes, under Pretence of Equity.
2. Of or belonging to the body-guard of a Roman military commander or of the emperor.
Originally applied to the prætoria cohors or select troops which attended the person of the prætor or general of the army, subsequently to the imperial body-guard instituted by Augustus.
1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 115 The knyȝhtes pretorian of Rome namede Maxentius the son of Maximian emperour. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. iii. 74 The Pretorian legions..began to become rulers ouer their maisters. 1606Holland Sueton. 105 Hee ordained a standing Campe at Rome, wherein the Prætorian Cohorts..might be received. 1651R. Saunders Plenary Possess. 18 Augustus set up the Prætorian Guard of 10000 men. 1868Lightfoot Philippians (1873) 99 The great camp of the praetorian soldiers. 1881Stevenson Virg. Puerisque, æs Triplex (1893) 159 Caligula..turned loose the Prætorian guards among the Company.
b. Of or pertaining to the prætorian soldiers.
1741–2Gray Agrippina 117 The eye of Rome, And the Praetorian camp. 1812Gen. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 60/1 To raise a military depot in such a city as London, a sort of pretorian camp that could not but be grating to the feelings of the people.
c. fig. Like the prætorian cohort in venality.
1907Spectator 5 Jan. 5/2 The calling into existence of a Pretorian band of pauper labour through doles for the encouragement of the unemployed.
B. n.
1. A man of prætorian rank; as an exprætor, or a legate sent as governor of a province.
1756C. Smart tr. Horace, Sat. ii. ii. (1826) II. 99 The prætorian Sempronius. 1856Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) IV. xxxii. 13 The provinces which remained under the control of the senate continued to be assigned by lot to consulars and praetorians.
fig.1850Dobell Roman v. Poet. Wks. (1875) 71 Those proud prætorians who subverted the commonwealth of God.
2. A soldier of the prætorian guard.
1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. iv. 163 Whom you have appointed in time of peace for Garrison souldiers or Pretorians. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. I. v. 108 These assertions..became unanswerable, when the fierce Prætorians increased their weight, by throwing..their swords into the scale. 1898H. G. Moule Stud. Ep. Coloss. vi. 120 It must have made the Praetorian wonder to see this extraordinary prisoner [St. Paul] at his prayers.
b. fig. One of a company whose function and interest is to defend an established power or system.
1647Ward Simp. Cobler 50 The rule and reason will bee found all one, say Schoolemen and Pretorians what they will. 1829Landor Imag. Conv. II. vii. 338 Neither would christianity have done it..without her purple and pretorians. 1844Disraeli Coningsby ii. i. 162 It is in the plunder of the Church... That unhallowed booty created a factitious aristocracy, ever fearful that they might be called upon to regorge the sacrilegious spoil... These became the unconscious Prætorians of their ill-gotten domains.
Hence præˈtorianism, a system like that of the Roman prætorian organization; military despotism, esp. when venal.
1870Pall Mall G. 5 Nov. 5 M. Ernest Legouvé..had to thank Count Bismarck for several benefits—for the death of Cæsarism and pretorianism, Ultramontanism and dandyism, the fusion of classes on the ramparts, the separation of Church and State. 1901Speaker 9 Feb. 514/2 Nations which believed themselves far beyond the stage of Pretorianism. |