Now it is not easy to determine to whom we ought properly to give the
name of magistrate, for a government requires many persons in office;
but every one of those who is either chosen by vote or lot is not to
be reckoned a magistrate. The priests, for instance, in the first
place; for these are to be considered as very different from civil
magistrates: to these we may add the choregi and heralds; nay, even
ambassadors are elected: there are some civil employments which belong
to the citizens; and these are either when they are all engaged in one
thing, as when as soldiers they obey their general, or when part of
them only are, as in governing the women or educating the youth; and
also some economic, for they often elect corn-meters: others are
servile, and in which, if they are rich, they employ slaves. But
indeed they are most properly called magistrates, who are members of
the deliberative council, or decide causes, or are in some command,
the last more especially, for to command is peculiar to magistrates.
But to speak truth, this question is of no great consequence, nor is
it the province of the judges to decide between those who dispute
about words; it may indeed be an object of speculative inquiry; but to
inquire what officers are necessary in a state, and how many, and
what, though not most necessary, may yet be advantageous in a
well-established government, is a much more useful employment, and
this with respect to all states in general, as well as to small
cities.
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