_The Senate._
The Senate was instituted by Romulus, to be the perpetual council of the
republic, and at first consisted only of one hundred, chosen from the
Patricians. They were called Patres, either on account of their age or
the paternal care they had of the state. After the Sabines were taken
into the city, another one hundred was chosen from them by the suffrages
of the curiae.
Such as were chosen into the Senate by Brutus, after the expulsion of
Tarquin the proud, to supply the place of those whom that king had
slain, were called Conscripti; that is, persons written or enrolled
together with the Senators, who alone were properly called patres.
Persons were chosen into the Senate first by the kings, and after their
expulsion, by the consuls, and by the military tribunes; but from the
year of the city 310, by the censors. At first, only from the
Patricians, but afterwards, also from the Plebeians--chiefly, however,
from the Equites.
Besides an estate of 400, or after Augustus, of 1200 sestertia, no
person was admitted to this dignity but one who had already borne some
magistracy in the Commonwealth. The age is not sufficiently ascertained,
probably not under 30.
The dictator, consuls, praetors, tribunes of the commons and interrex,
had the power of assembling the Senate.
The places where they assembled were only such as had formerly been
consecrated by the augurs--and most commonly within the city. They made
use of the temple of Bellona, without the walls, for the giving audience
to foreign ambassadors, and to such provincial magistrates as were to be
heard in open Senates, before they entered the city, as when they
petitioned for a triumph, and in similar cases. When the augurs reported
that an ox had spoken, which we often meet with among the ancient
prodigies, the Senate was presently to sit, sub dio, or in the open air.
The regular meetings (_senatus legitimus_) were on the Kalends, Nones,
and Ides in every month, until the time of Augustus, who confined them
to the Kalends and Ides. The _senatus indictus_ was called for the
dispatch of business upon any other day except the dies Comitialis, when
the Senate were obliged to be present at the Comitia.
The Senate was summoned anciently by a public officer, named viator,
because he called the Senators from the country--or by a public crier,
when anything had happened about which the Senators were to be consulted
hastily and without delay: but in latter times by an edict, appointing
the time and place, and published several days before. The cause of
assembling was also added.
If any one refused or neglected to attend, he was punished by a fine,
and by distraining his goods, unless he had a just excuse. The fine was
imposed by him who held the Senate, and pledges were taken till it was
paid--but after 60 years of age, Senators might attend or not, as they
pleased.
No decree could be made unless there was a quorum. What that was is
uncertain. If any one wanted to hinder the passing of a decree, and
suspected there was not a quorum, he said to the magistrate presiding,
"_Numera Senatum_," count the Senate.
The magistrate who was to preside offered a sacrifice, and took the
auspices before he entered the Senate house. If they were not favorable,
or not rightly taken, the business was deferred to another day. Augustus
ordered that each Senator, before he took his seat, should pay his
devotions with an offering of frankincense and wine, at the altar of
that god in whose temple the Senate were assembled, that they might
discharge their duty the more religiously. When the consuls entered, the
Senators commonly rose up to do them honor.
The consuls elect were first asked their opinion, and the praetors,
tribunes, &c. elect, seem to have had the same preference before the
rest of their order. He who held the Senate, might consult first any one
of the same order he thought proper.
Nothing could be laid before the Senate against the will of the consuls,
unless by the tribunes of the people, who might also give their negative
against any decree by the solemn word "_Veto_," which was called
interceding. This might also be done by all who had an equal or greater
authority than the magistrate presiding. If any person interceded, the
sentence was called "_Senatus auctoritas_," their judgment or opinion.
The Senators delivered their opinions standing; but when they only
assented to the opinion of another, they continued sitting.
It was not lawful for the consuls to interrupt those who spoke, although
they introduced in their speeches many things foreign to the subject,
which they sometimes did, that they might waste the day in speaking. For
no new reference could be made after the tenth hour, that is, four
o'clock in the afternoon, according to our mode of reckoning.
This privilege was often abused, but they were forced to stop by the
noise and clamour of the other Senators. Sometimes magistrates, when
they made a disagreeable motion, were silenced in this manner.
The Senators usually addressed the house by the title of "_patres
conscripti_:" sometimes to the consul, or person who presided, sometimes
to both.
A decree of the Senate was made, by a separation of the Senators, to
different parts of the house. He who presided, said, "Let those who are
of such an opinion pass over to that side, those who think differently,
to this." Those Senators who only voted, but did not speak, or as some
say, had the right of voting, but not of speaking, were called
_pedarii_, because they signified their opinion by their feet, and not
by their tongues. When a decree was made without any opinion being asked
or given, it was called "_senatus consultum per discessionem_." But if
the contrary, it was simply called "_Senatus consultum_."
In decreeing a supplication to any general, the opinion of the Senators
was always asked. Hence Cicero blames Antony for omitting this in the
case of Lepidus. Before the vote was put, and while the debate was going
on, the members used to take their seats near that person whose opinion
they approved, and the opinion of him who was joined by the greatest
number was called "_Sententia maxime frequens_."
When affairs requiring secrecy were discussed, the clerks and other
attendants were not admitted: but what passed, was written out by some
of the Senators, and the decree was called tacitum.
Public registers were kept of what was done in the Senate, in the
assemblies of the people, and courts of justice; also of births and
funerals, of marriages and divorces, &c. which served as a fund of
information for historians.
In writing a decree, the time and place were put first; then, the names
of those who were present at the engrossing of it; after that, the
motion with the name of the magistrate who proposed it; to all which was
subjoined what the Senate decreed.
The decrees were kept in the public treasury with the laws and other
writings, pertaining to the republic. Anciently they were kept in the
temple of Ceres. The place where the public records were kept was called
"_Tabularium_." The decrees of the Senate concerning the honors
conferred on Caesar were inscribed in golden letters, on columns of
silver. When not carried to the treasury, they were reckoned invalid.
Hence it was ordained under Tiberius, that the decrees of the Senate,
especially concerning the capital punishment of any one, should not be
carried there before the tenth day, that the emperor, if absent from the
city, might have an opportunity of considering them, and if he thought
proper of mitigating them.
Decrees of the Senate were rarely reversed. While a question was under
debate, every one was at freedom to express his dissent; but when once
determined, it was looked upon as the common concern of each member to
support the opinion of the majority.
The power of the Senate was different at different times. Under the
regal government, the Senate deliberated upon such affairs as the king
proposed to them, and the kings were said to act according to their
counsel as the consuls did afterwards according to their decrees.
Tarquin the proud, dropped the custom handed down from his predecessors,
of consulting the Senate about everything; banished or put to death the
chief men of that order, and chose no others in their room; but he was
expelled from the throne for his tyranny, and the regal government
abolished, A. U. 243. Afterwards the power of the Senate was raised to
the highest. Everything was done by its authority. The magistrates were
in a manner only its ministers. But when the Patricians began to abuse
their power, and to exercise cruelty on the Plebeians, especially after
the death of Tarquin, the multitude took arms in their own defence, made
a secession from the city, seized on Mons Sacer, and created tribunes
for themselves, who attacked the authority of the Senate, and in process
of time greatly diminished it.
Although the supreme power at Rome belonged to the people, yet they
seldom enacted anything without the authority of the Senate. In all
weighty matters, the method usually observed was that the Senate should
first deliberate and decree, and then the people order.
The Senate assumed to themselves exclusively, the guardianship of the
public religion; so that no new god could be introduced, nor altar
erected, nor the Sybiline books consulted without their order. They had
the direction of the treasury, and distributed the public money at
pleasure. They appointed stipends to their generals and officers, and
provisions and clothing to the armies. They settled the provinces which
were annually assigned to the consuls and praetors, and when it seemed
fit, they prolonged their command. They nominated, out of their own
body, all ambassadors sent from Rome, and gave to foreign ambassadors
what answers they thought proper. They decreed all public thanksgivings
for victories obtained, and conferred the honor of an ovation or triumph
with the title of imperator on their victorious generals. They could
decree the title of king to any prince whom they pleased, and declare
any one an enemy by a vote. They inquired into all public crimes or
treasons, either in Rome or other parts of Italy; and adjusted all
disputes among the allied and dependent cities. They exercised a power
not only of interpreting the laws, but of absolving men from the
obligation of them. They could postpone the assemblies of the people,
and prescribe a change of habit to the city, in cases of any imminent
danger or calamity.
But their power was chiefly conspicuous in civil dissension or dangerous
tumults within the city, in which that solemn decree used to be passed;
"That the consuls should take care that the republic should receive no
harm." By which decree an absolute power was granted to them to punish
and put to death whom they pleased without a trial; to raise forces and
carry on war, without the order of the people.
Although the decrees of the Senate had not properly the force of laws,
and took place chiefly in those matters which were not provided for by
the laws, yet they were understood always to have a binding force, and
were therefore obeyed by all orders. The consuls themselves were obliged
to submit to them. They could be annulled or cancelled only by the
Senate itself. In the last ages of the republic, the authority of the
Senate was little regarded by the leading men and their creatures, who
by means of bribery obtained from a corrupted populace what they
desired, in spite of the Senate.
Augustus, when he became master of the empire, retained the forms of the
ancient republic, and the same names of the magistrates; but left
nothing of the ancient virtue and liberty. While he pretended always to
act by the authority of the Senate, he artfully drew everything to
himself.
The Senators were distinguished by an oblong stripe of purple sewed on
the forepart of their Senatorial gown, and black buskins reaching to the
middle of the leg, with the letter C in silver on the top of the foot.
The chief privilege of the Senators was their having a particular place
at the public spectacles, called orchestra. It was next the stage in the
theatre, or next the arena or open space in the amphitheatre.
The messages sent by the emperor to the Senate were called epistolae or
libelli, because they were folded in the form of a letter or little
book. Caesar was said to have first introduced these libelli, which
afterwards were used on almost every occasion.