I am uncertain as to the precise sense of this phrase in Roma Aeterna XLII lines 263, 4. I may be overcomplicating things, but I see two possibilities. The senators divided themselves into groups of ten and each of these groups took a turn at ruliing for five days. That is, that the ten men ruled together. Or each member of each group of ten ruled for five days. Thus, there was only one man in charge at a time.
Decem imperitabant: unus cum insignibus imperii et lictoribus erat; quinque dierum spatio finiebatur imperium ac per omnes in orbem ibat;
Is what Livy writes. “Ten men exercised authority but only one had the insignia of command and the lictors; the command was limited to a period of five days and passed to all in rotation.”
I think that this means that there was only one senator at a time who acted as king and for five days only.
As I see it you have 10 groups of 10 senators and each group took it in turns to rule. So the first five days were given to group 1 and one of the 10 of the group rules with the “insignia of command”. After 5 days the rule moved to group 2 from which a leader was chosen. So instead of having 100 people quarrelling over who should be ruler the dispute was limited to a group of 10, with the understanding that in time everyone would take a turn at being leader, provided the interregnum lasted long enough …
I doubt Livy was much concerned with the practicalities of this. He was concerned mainly I think in accounting for the interrex and its function in the later republic.
Thank you. This is one place where the original (at least after you’ve explained it me) is actually easier to understand than Ørberg’s version.