M:X \ 



\TfS. 



i during the empire, we pnases* no <Mn?t information. During 

 the Utter period of tho empire the Dumber of senators appears to hare 

 bwnae greatly dimi 



ished. 



The senators were from the earliest time* elected for life. Their 

 name indicate* that originally they were men of advanced age, but the 

 exact age at which a man might become a lenator during the kingly 

 period U not mentioned. During the latter centime* of the republic, 

 however, the age Menu to hare been fixed by some Lex Annalis, an the 

 etas lenatoria u frequently mentioned. But aa a quaestor after the 

 year of hia office might be made a aenator, and M the legitimate. 

 age for the qoMtonhip wax twenty-five year*, we have reason to 

 believe that a person who had attained the age of twenty-six might be 

 elected a senator. It might, however, be inferred from Polybius (vi. 

 17) that this was not the case till a |>eraon had completed lux twenty- 

 seventh year. As regards the election of persons into the senate during 

 the kingly period, Livy (i. s > nl *>tus ( ' Pr. 

 state that it was a privilege of the kings. Dionysius (u., p. 85), though 

 he involves himself in difficulties by supposing that the three tribes 

 i already united when the senate consisted of only 100 members, U 



undoubtedly right in staling that the senators were not appointed by 

 the king*. (Niebuhr, i. p. 338.) The senators were elected by the 

 decuries, and thus were real representatives of the curies, or a select 

 body of tin- populua. The plebeians, who were afterwards admitted into 

 the senate by Tarquinius Priscus, and after the banishment of the 

 kings, must either nave been incorporated with the patrician gentea, or 

 th. :r number must have been very small, fur the first instance of a 

 plebeian senator at Rome is Sp. Mat-ling, in 439 B.C. ; and a second is 

 iiiun Calvus, in 400 B.C., although the latter may have held 

 the office of qtuwtor, and so have got admission into the senate. 

 Ni.-l.ulir (i. ]>. .'-'", Ac.) thinks that long before the institution of the 

 censorship there must have been a time when the senators were 

 fhotm by the curies, and not by the subdivisions of the curies, and 

 that each curia elected ton senators. He founds this supposition upon the 

 Lex ovinia tribunicia mentioned by Pestus (*. r. ' Pncteriti Senatorea '). 

 But as regards the time, Niebuhr is manifestly wrong, which he him- 

 self seem* to have felt afterwards (u., p. 403, note 885) ; for the Lex 

 Ovinia refers to the censors, whom it directed to elect into the senate 

 " optimum quemqiie ciiriatim." (Compare Gottling, p. 345, Ac. ; 

 Walter, Oesch. d. Rom. R ,' p. 100, Ac.) During the early pen.xl of 

 the republic, the right of electing persons into the senate belonged to 

 the consul*, dictator, and military tribunes. But all the curule magis- 

 tracies, as well as the quuwtorship, conferred upon those persons who 

 had held them the right of being elected into the senate. (Liv., xxii. 

 49, " unde in Senatum legi deberent,") The quacstorship conferred this 

 right probably from the earliest times, as it did in the time of Sulla 

 [QUJCSTOR], and this circumstance explains why the patricians opposed 

 the eligibility of the plebeians to the qutcstorship. After the esta- 

 blishment of the censorship, the election of persons into the senate 

 was wholly in the hands of the censors. All curule magistrates, that 

 is, consuls, praetors, curule scdiles, and censors, had by virtue of their 

 office a seat in the senate, and might speak on any subject. After 

 their office was over they retained this right, but without being 

 real senators. Now vacancies in the senate were filled up at every 

 lustrum, and it was only on this occasion that the censors might 

 elect those ex-magistrates into the senate whose conduct was un- 

 blemished. Hence we have to distinguish between two kinds of 

 senators, real senators (senatores), and such as were allowed " dicere 

 aententiam in senatu." (Fest. . r. ' Scnatores.') The old decem 

 primi senatus are no longer mentioned. The honour of princeps 

 senatus, which during the kingly period had been combined with the 

 office of custos urbis, and had been granted by the kings for life, was 

 afterwards united with the office of pm-tor urbanus, or with that of a 

 military tribune (Liv., vi. 6), and only lasted for one year. After the 

 establishment of the censorship, this honour was conferred by the 

 censor*, and at first upon the eldest among the living ex-censors ; but 

 afterwards upon any one whom the censors thought most worthy. 

 (Liv., xxvii. 11.) If the censors thought a person who li.nl )n-U a 

 curule office unworthy of being a senator, they passed over him (" prto- 

 teribant : " Fest., . r. ' Prtcteriti ') ; but this seems to have seldom 

 occurred with persons who had held a curule office. (Liv., xxxiv. 44 ; 

 xxxviii. 28.) The plebeians as an order never obtained the right of 

 being eligible an senators ; but as soon as the great offices of the re- 

 public became accessible to the plebeians, their claims to the dignity 

 of senator could not be disputed. As, therefore, the qutestorship, con- 

 sulship, censorship, and pnctorship, were one after the other thrown 

 open to the plebeians, their numbers in the senate likewise continued to 

 increase. At hut (perhaps in the year 131 B.C.; Walter, p. !<;:.. note 

 158), even the tribunes of the people, after having before acquired the 

 right to convoke the senate and to take part in its deliberations, gained 

 by the Plebiscituin Atinium tho rights of real senators. (Gellius, xiv. 

 8.) On certain occasions a dictator was created for the purpose of 

 electing new members into the senate. (Liv., xxiii 22, Ac.) M. Knliiu.t 

 Buteo, in 218 B.C., not only elected such men as had held eiirule 

 offices, but also such as had been plebeian tcdilex, tribunes, quaestors, 

 .mil persons who had distinguished thfinsuIveB as soldiers. The senate, 

 which at first had been the representative of the populus, thus 

 gradually became the real representative of the people ; for although 

 the censors or a dictator were the electors, yet, either by custom or by 



law,, they always elected such men as had held offices given l.y th' 1 

 people, so that it iwas in fact the people who elected the members of 

 the senate, and the Roman senators themselves viewed their dignity aa 

 from the people. (Cic. 'pro Sext.,' 65; ' c. Verr.,' iv. 11 ; ' pro Cluent.,' 

 56.) This also accounts for the fact that the members of the great 

 colleges of priests, with the exception of the flamen dialis (l.iv., xxvii. 

 8), had no seats in the senate ; and for the same reason it was a dis- 

 puted point whether the pncfectus urbi should have a vote in the 

 senate (Oellius, xiv. 8), for in the colleges of priests vacancies were 

 filled up by co-optatio of the members themselves, and the pnefectus 

 urbi visa appointed by the consuls, and none of them derived their 

 power from the people. In the time of Cicero, however, this appears 

 to have been altered, for we find that pontiffs might at the same time be 

 senators. (Cic. ' ad. Att,' iv. 2.) Notwithstanding all this, however, 

 the senate, down to the end of the republic, preserved in a great 

 measure its original character ; it remained an aristocratic body. 



During tho republic we do not hear that any property qualification 

 was required for a senator (Plin., 'Hist. Nat.,' xiv. 1), though the 

 senators must generally have belonged to the wealthiest classes. There 

 is indeed a passage in Livy (xxiv. 11) from whk-h it has been inferred 

 that previous to the second Punic war a senatorial census was instituted 

 (Xii'biihr, iii., p. 406) ; but the words of Livy are too vague to admit 

 of such an inference, and probably refer only to the fact that BI i 

 were among the wealthiest Romans, and were consequently .v 

 make greater sacrifices to the republic than other persons. G< 

 (p. 846) concludes from Cicero (' ad Fam.,' xiii. 5) that Cccsar was the 

 first who instituted a senatorial census, but the passage of Cicero U even 

 less conclusive than that of Livy. The first to whom the introduction of 

 a senatorial census is expressly ascribed is Augustus. He first fixed it at 

 400,000 sesterces, but afterwards increased it to 800,000, and at last to 

 1,200,000 sesterces. (Suet, ' Aug., 1 41 ; Dion Cass., liv. 17, 26, 30 ; Iv. 

 13.) If a senator lost or spent so much of his property as to fall short 

 of the senatorial census, he was obliged to withdraw from the senate, 

 unless the emperor connived, or supplied the deficiency. (Tacit., 

 Annal.,' ii. 48; iii. 52; xv. 28; 'Hist.,' iv. 42; Suet., 'Aug., 1 41; 

 'Tiber.,' 47; Dion Cass., Ix. 11.) The senatorial age was fixed by 

 Augustus at twenty-five years (Dion Cass., Iii. 20), and the names of 

 the senators were entered on a list called ' Album Senatorium.' (Tacit., 

 ' Annal.', iv. 42 ; Dion Cass., liv. 13 ; Iv. 8.) Augustus reduced, as we 

 have seen, the number of senators to 600, and cleared their body from 

 the unworthy persons who had been admitted before his time. He 

 also improved the senate by electing into it the most distinguished 

 citizens of municipia and colonies, and even provincials. ^ Tacit., 

 'Annal.' iii. 55; xi. 25 ; Suet., ' Vespas.,' 9.) Such senators of course 

 resided at Rome, and, with the exception of those who belonged to 

 Sicily or Gallia Narbonnensis, they were not allowed to visit their 

 former homes without a special permission of the emperor. (Tacit., 

 ' Annal.,' xii. 23 ; Dion Cass., Iii. 42 ; Ix. 25.) At a later period these 

 foreign senators were required to purchase a certain amount of landed 

 property in Italy. (Pliu., ' Epist.,' vi. 19.) The emperors also 

 assumed the right of convoking the regular as well as extraordinary 

 meetings of the senate (Dion Cass. liii. 1 ; liv. .">). although the consuls, 

 prators, and tribunes continued to enjoy the same privilege. (Tacit. 

 Hist.,' iv. 39 ; Dion Cass., Ivi. 47 ; lix. 24.) 



Senators were never allowed to carry on any mercantile business. 

 About the commencement of the second Punic war, however, some 

 senators seem to have entered into mercantile speculations ; and a law 

 was passed, notwithstanding the opposition of the senate, that no 

 senator should be allowed to possess a ship of more than 300 amphorai 

 in tonnage (Liv., xxi. 63), this being thought sufficiently large to con- 

 vey to Rome the produce of their possessions abroad (comp. Cic. ' c. 

 Verr.,' v. 18); from which passage it is clear that this law was not 

 always observed. No one moreover could be elected senator whose 

 parents were not free men by birth (ingenui). The first violation of 

 this custom was attempted by the censor Appius Claudius Cjecus. who 

 elected into the senate the sons of freedmen. (Liv., ix. 29 and 46; 

 Aurel. Viet., ' De Vir. Illustr.,' 84.) But this election was con- 

 illegal. Towards the close of the republic such proceedings appear to 

 have been rather common. (Dion Cass., xl. 03 ; iii. 47 ; Horat.. 

 ' Sat.,' i. 6, 21.) If a senator was struck from the lists of senators by 

 the censors, he was not disqualified for any of the great state offices, 

 but lie might still obtain them, anil thus find his way back to. the 

 senate. (Cic. 'pro Cluent.,' 46; Dion Cass., xxxviii., 30; xln 

 comp. " Xota" in ' Diet, of Greek and Rom. Antiq.') 



The regular meetings of the senate (senatia Itgitimux) during the 

 republic were held on the calends, nones, and idea of every mouth. 

 (Cic. 'ad Quint. Frat.,' ii. 13.) Extraordinary meetings (senatia 

 intllrtiu or edictut) might be convoked on any day, provided it was not 

 a dies comitialis, or a dies atcr. Augustus decreed that a senatus 

 legitimus should only be held twice every month, on the calends and 

 on the ides; that during the months of September and October, only 

 a small number of senators, drawn by lot, should attend ; and that 

 their attendance should be sufficient to enalilc flic body to transact 

 business. (Suet., 'Aug.,' 35; Dion Cass., Iv. 3.) What number of 

 senators was necessary in order to constitute a legal meeting is uncer- 

 tain : on some occasions, however, as we see from the senatus 

 consultum de Bacchanalibus (Liv., xxxix. 18), a decree could not be 

 made unless there were one hundred senators present. Sometimes 



