[The tribunus voluptatum was a municipal officer of the later Empire charged with the superintendence of the spectacula. He seems to have been appointed for life by the Emperor, and to have taken over functions formerly discharged by the praetors and quaestors. Mommsen, Ostgothische Studien (Neues Archiv, xiv. 495), says that he first appears in the fifth century. Possibly, therefore, Suetonius, Tiberius, 42, ‘novum denique officium instituit a voluptatibus, praeposito equite R. T. Caesonio Prisco’ refers to some other post. A titulus, ‘de officio tribuni voluptatū qd a temelicis et scenariis,’ which should be C. Th. i. 19, is missing from the text. C. Th. xv. 7, 13 (413), is addressed to the tribunus voluptatum of Carthage. The office was maintained in Italy under Theodoric (493-526). The formula of appointment here given is preserved by Cassiodorus, Variae, vii. 10; cf. Var. vi. 19 ‘cum lascivae voluptates recipiant tribunum.’ The Senate is informed by Var. i. 43 (†509) of the promotion of Artemidorus, who had held the office, to be praefectus urbanus. The tribunus voluptatum of Rome is referred to in two inscriptions of 522 and 526 (Rossi, Inscr. Christ. i. Nos. 989, 1005). One Bacauda is appointed tribunus voluptatum in Milan by Var. v. 25 (523-6). Constantine Porphyrogenitus de Caer. i. 83 mentions an ἄρχων τῆς θυμέλης in the tenth-century court of Byzantium, who may be the same officer.]

Formula Tribuni Voluptatum.

Quamvis artes lubricae honestis moribus sint remotae et histrionum vita vaga videatur efferri posse licentia, tamen moderatrix providit antiquitas, ut in totum non effluerent, cum et ipsae iudicem sustinerent. amministranda est enim sub quadam disciplina exhibitio voluptatum. teneat scaenicos si non verus, vel umbratilis ordo iudicii. temperentur et haec legum qualitate negotia, quasi honestas imperet inhonestis, et quibusdam regulis vivant, qui viam rectae conversationis ignorant. student enim illi non tantum iucunditati suae, quantum alienae laetitiae et condicione perversa cum dominatum suis corporibus tradunt, servire potius animos compulerunt. Dignum fuit ergo moderatorem suscipere, qui se nesciunt iuridica conversatione tractare. locus quippe tuus his gregibus hominum veluti quidam tutor est positus. nam sicut illi aetates teneras adhibita cautela custodiunt, sic a te voluptates fervidae impensa maturitate frenandae sunt. age bonis institutis quod nimia prudentia constat invenisse maiores. leve desiderium etsi verecundia non cohibet, districtio praenuntiata modificat. agantur spectacula suis consuetudinibus ordinata, quia nec illi possunt invenire gratiam, nisi imitati fuerint aliquam disciplinam. Quapropter tribunum te voluptatum per illam indictionem nostra fecit electio, ut omnia sic agas, quemadmodum tibi vota civitatis adiungas, ne quod ad laetitiam constat inventum, tuis temporibus ad culpas videatur fuisse transmissum. cum fama diminutis salva tua opinione versare. castitatem dilige, cui subiacent prostitutae: ut magna laude dicatur: ‘virtutibus studuit, qui voluptatibus miscebatur.’ optamus enim ut per ludicram amministrationem ad seriam pervenias dignitatem.