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decemvirs

decemvirs (dēsem'vurz) [key][Lat.,=ten men], in ancient Rome, group of 10 men appointed to a special judicial or executive capacity. The most famous were those who developed in the 5th cent. B.C. the Laws of the Twelve Tables, the primary Roman code. There was a permanent decemvirate of priests that guarded the Sibylline Books (see sibyl).

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