SENATE. 



before, that the notice might be more pubhc. Thefe 

 edifts were commonly underftood to reach no farther than 

 to thofe who were refident in Rome, or near it ; yet when 

 any extraordinary aiTair was in agitation, they feem to have 

 been pubhlhed alfo in the other cities of Italy. If any fena- 

 tor refufed, or neglefted to obey this fummons, the conful 

 could oblige him to give furety for the payment of a 

 certain fine, if the reafons of his abfence (hould not be 

 allowed. But from iixty years of age they were not 

 liable to that penalty, nor obliged to any attendance but 

 what was voluntary. 



The fenate could not regularly be affembled in a private 

 or profane place, but always in one fet apart, and folemnly 

 confecrated to that ufe by the rites of augury. 



The fenate frequently met in certain curias. See 



But their meetings were more commonly held in certain 

 temples, dedicated to particular deities ; as in that of 

 Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Vulcan, Caftor, Bellona; of Con- 

 cord, Faith, Virtue, the Earth, &c. 



Thefe temples, on account of the ufe which the fenate 

 made of them, were called hkewife curie; as well as the 

 proper curis, or fenate-houfes, on account of their folemn 

 dedication, are frequently called temples. 



On two Ipecial occafions the fenate was always held 

 without the gates of Rome, either in the temple of Bellona, 

 or of Apollo, ifl. For the reception of foreign ambaf- 

 fadors, and efpecially of thofe who came from enemies, 

 who were not permitted to enter the city. 2dly. To give 

 audience, and tranfaft bulinefs with their own generals, 

 who were never allowed to come within the walls as long 

 as their commiffion fubfilted, and they had the aftual com- 

 mand of an army. 



The fenate met always, of courfe, on the ifl of January, 

 for the inauguration of the new confuls, who entered into 

 their ofiSce on that day. 



The month of February, generally fpeaking, was re- 

 ferved entire by old cuftom to the fenate, for the particular 

 purpofes of giving audience to foreign ambadadors. 



In all months, univerfally, there were three days, which 

 feem to have been more efpecially dellined to the fenate, 

 the kalends, nones, and ides, from the frequent examples 

 found in hiftory, of its being convened on thofe days. But 

 Auguftus enafted afterwards, that the fenate (hould not 

 meet regularly, or of courfe, except on two days only of 

 each month, the kalends, and ides. 



On their days of meeting, they could not enter upon any 

 bufinefs before the fun was rifen, nor finiih any after it was 

 fet ; every thing tranfafted by them, before or aftv^r that 

 time, was null and void, and the author of it liable to cen- 

 fure. Whence it became a (landing rule, that nothing new 

 Ihould be moved after four o'clock in the afternoon. The 

 fenate, as has been (hewn above, was corapofed of all the 

 principal magiftrates of the city, and of all who had borne 

 the fame offices before them : and confided therefore of 

 (everal degrees and orders of men, who had each a different 

 rank in it, according to the dignity of the charafter which 

 he fuifained in the republic. At the head of the fenate fat 

 the dictator and confuls, in chairs of (late. Manutius 

 thinks that the other magiftrates fat next to the confular 

 chair, each according to his rank ; the pritors, cenfors, 

 aediles, tribunes, quaellors. But Dr. Middleton rather 

 thinks that the confular fenators, who, in all ages of the 

 repubhc, were the leaders and iirft fpeakers in the fenate, 

 ufed to fit next in order to the confuls ; and after them the 

 praeL(.rs, and all who were of prstorian dignity, or had 

 been prsetors ; then the lediles, the tribunes, and the 

 6 



quxllors, on diftinft benches ; and on the fame bench with 

 each, all who had bone the fame offices ; but the curule 

 magiftrates, as the prjetors and aediles, were pernaps diiliii- 

 gui(hed, at the head of their feveral benches, by feats fome- 

 whjt raifed, or feparated at leaft from the reif, in the form 

 of our fettees, or of that lonj^a cathedra, which Juveoal men- 

 tions, to denote the curule dignity. 



All the private fenators fat on different benches, and in a 

 different order of precedency, according to the dignity of 

 the magiftracies which they had feverally borne. Firft 

 the consular, then the pntorians, acdilitians, tribunitians, 

 and qUEeftorians ; in which order, and by which titles, they 

 are all enumerated by Cicero. And as this was their order 

 in fitting, fo it was the fame alfo in dehvering their opinion* 

 when it came to their turn. Cic. Phil. 13, 14. 



The fenate being affembled, the confuls, or.the magiftrate, 

 by whofe authority they were fummoncd, having firlt taken 

 the aufpices, and performed the ufual office of religion, by 

 facrilice and prayer, ufed to open to them the reafons of 

 their being called together, and propofe the fabjetl of that 

 day's deliberation ; in which all things dmne, or relating to 

 the worfhip of the gods, were difpatched preferably to any 

 other bufinefs. When the conful had moved any point, 

 with intent to have it debated and carried into a decree, 

 and had fpoken upon it himfelf as long as he thought proper, 

 he proceeded to a(k the opinions of the other fenators, 

 feverally in their name, and in their proper order, beginning 

 always with the confubrs, andgoingon to the prstorians, &c. 

 It was the praftice originally to a/k the prince of the fenate 

 the firft ; but that was foon laid afide, and the compliment 

 transferred to any other ancient confular, diftinguiihed by 

 his integrity and fuperior abilities ; till, in the later age* 

 of the republic, it became an eftablifhcd cuitom to pay that 

 refpedl to relations, or particular friends, or to thofe who 

 were likely to give an opinion the moft favourable to their 

 own views and fentiments on the queftion propofed. But 

 whatever order the confuls obferved in afking opinions 00 

 the I ft of January, when they entered into their office, they 

 generally purfued the fame through the rell of the year. 

 Julius Caefar, indeed, broke through this rule ; for though 

 he had afked Craffus the firft, from the beginning of hi» 

 confiillhip ; yet, upon the marriage of his daughter witk 

 Pompcy, he gave that priority to his fon-in-law, for which, 

 however, he made an apology to the fenate. 



This honour of being afked in an extraordinary manner, 

 and preferably to all others of the fame rank, though of 

 fuperior age or nobiHty, feems to have been feldom carried 

 farther than to four or five diftinguiftied perfons of confular 

 dignity ; and the reft were afterwards afked according to 

 their feniority. And this method, as has been faid, wa» 

 obferved generally throughout the year, till the eleAion of 

 the future confuls, which was commonly held about the 

 month of Auguft ; from which time, it was the conftant 

 cuftom to adc the opinions of the confuls eleA, preferably 

 to all others, till they entered into their office, on the I ft 

 day of January following. 



As the confuls eleft had this preference given in fpeaking 

 before all the confulars, fo the prztors, and tribunes eleft, 

 feem to have had the fame, before the reft of their particular 

 orders. 



None were allowed to fpeak till it came to their turn, 

 excepting the magiftrates, who feem to have had a right of 

 fpeaking on all occafions, whenever they thought fit ; and 

 for that reafon, perhaps, were not particularly afked, or 

 called upon by the confuls. 



If in the debate feveral different opinions had been 

 offered, and each fupported by a number of fenators, the 



conful, 



