Читать книгу Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology - Charles K. Dillaway - Страница 6

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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 curiæ.

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, prætors, 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 prætors, 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 Cæsar 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 prætors, 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 epistolæ or libelli, because they were folded in the form of a letter or little book. Cæsar was said to have first introduced these libelli, which afterwards were used on almost every occasion.