SEN 



in the moft commodious part of the theatre ; and on all fo- 

 lemn feftivals, when facrifices were offered to Jupiter by the 

 magiftrates, they had the fole right of feafting publicly in 

 the Capitol, in habits of ceremony, or fuch as were proper 

 to the offices which they had borne in the city. 



The pecuhar ornament of the fenatoriaii tunic was the 

 lalut clavus (fee Laticlavium), as it was called, being a 

 broad Itnpe of purple fewed upon the fore part of it, and 

 running down the middle of the br.'ai^, which was the pro- 

 per diltindlion between them and the knights, who wore a 

 much narrower llripe of the iamc colour, and in the fame 

 manner. The faihion alfo of their Ihoes was pecuhar, and 

 different from that of the reil of the city ; this difference 

 appeared in the colour, Ihape, and ornament of the (hoes. 

 The colour of them was black, while others wore them of 

 any colour perhaps, agreeable to their feveral fancies ; the 

 form of them was fomewhat like to a fhort boot, reaching 

 up to the middle of the leg, as they are lom.etim.es feen in 

 ancient ftatues and bas-reliefs ; and the proper ornament of 

 them was a half moon fewed, or fattened upon the fore- 

 part of theni, near the ankle. 



Confuls, pritors, xdiles, tribunes, &c. during the year 

 of their magiftracy, always wore the prxtexta, or a gown 

 bordered round wi'h a ftripe of purple. In which habit 

 alfo, as has been fignified above, all the reft of the fcnate, 

 who had already borne thofe offices, ufed to afiilt at the pub- 

 lic feftivah and folemnities. 



The fenators carried their children with them to the fc- 

 nate, to inform them betimes of affairs of ftale; though 

 thefe children had not admittance till feventeen years of age. 

 Some make a diftinftion among the fenators, and fay, that 

 befides the fenators who were allowed to fpeak, and were 

 afked their opinions, there were others, who, without fpeak- 

 ing, or being ever allied their judgment ; were only to follow 

 the opinion of thofs they thought the molt reafonablc, ai;d 

 were hence called /fJjWi. A. Gellius gives us another no- 

 tion of the pedarii, and fays, thofe were thus called, who, 

 having never borne the office of curule magillrate, were 

 obliged to go to the fenate on foot. 



They had the name fenators, q. d. old msn, given them in 

 imitation of the Greeks, who called their fenate yffsfn.-:. 

 So when the Athenians aflembled the people to coniult about 

 the affairs of the public, the officers fummoned none but 

 luch as were at lealt fifty years old. 



The Egyptians and Perfians followed the fame example, 

 after the Hebrews ; and the Lacedsmonians and Cartha- 

 ginians received none but luch as were fixty years of age. 

 See Conscript. 



As to other matters relating to Roman fenators, fee the 

 article Senate, fupra. 



SENATUS AucTORiTAS. See Senate. 



SENATUS-CONSULTUM, a vote, or refolution, of 

 the Roman fenate, pronounced on fome queition, or point 

 of law, propofed to it. See Senate. 



The fenatus-coniulta madeapartofthe Roman law: when 

 paffed, they were depofited in the temple of Ceres, under 

 the cuftody of the sediles ; and at laft they were carried, by 

 the cenfor, to the temple of Liberty, and put up in an ar- 

 mory called tabulitria. 



Julius Capitohnus fpeaks of a fort ol fenatus-confuUa ta- 

 cha, which, he fays, were made in reference to affairs of 

 great moment and fecrecy.by the fenators themfelves, with- 

 out the privity of the public officer?, under an oath of fe- 

 crecy, till their defigns (hould be effcfted. 



The narrative of the famous fenatus-confultum, or rather 

 decree, againft the mufician Timotheus, at Sparta, for 



3 



S E N 



augmenting the number of llrings on his lyre, is confirtncd 

 by Paufanias and Suidas. 



This curious piece of antiquity is preferved at fuUlength 

 by Boethius (De Muiica, cap. I.) Mr. StilHngflcet (Prin. 

 and Power of Harm. § 185.) has given an extrad from it, 

 in proof of the fimplicity of the ancient Spartan mufic. The 

 faft is mentioned in Athenasus ; and Cafaubon, in his notes 

 on that author (Animad. in Athen. p. 386.), has inferted 

 the whole original text from Boethius, with corrections, to 

 which we refer the learned reader. We ffiall here, how- 

 over, give a faithful tranflation of this extraordinary Spar- 

 tan yla of Parliament. * 



'■ Whereas Timotheus the Milefian, coming to our city, 

 has dilhonoured our ancient mufic, and, defpifing the lyre 

 of feven llrings, has, by the introduction of a greater va- 

 riety of notes, corrupted the cars of our youth ; and by the 

 number of his ftrings, and the novelty k{ his melody, has 

 given to our mufic an effeminate and artificial drefs, initcaJ 

 of the plain and orderly one in which it has hitherto ap- 

 peared ; rendering melody infamous, by compofing in the 



chromatic, inftead of the enharmonic ; The 



kings and the ephori have, therefore, refolved to pafs cen- 

 fure upon Timotlieus for theie things : and, farther, to 

 oblige him to cut all the fupertluous Itrings of his ekiirn, 

 leaving only the feven tones ; and to banifh him from our 

 city, that men may be warned for the future, not to introduce 

 into Sparta any unbecoming cuftoms." 



The fame ilory, as related in Athenxas, has this addi- 

 tional circumllance, that when the public executioner was on 

 the point of fulfilling the fentence, by cutting off tlie new 

 llrings, Timotheus, perceiving alittleftatuein the fame place, 

 with a lyre in his hand, of as many llrings as that which 

 had given the offence, and (hewing it to the judges, was ac- 

 quitted. 



Indeed the decree only informs us, that the ufe of a lyre, 

 with more than feven llrings, was not allowed at this time 

 by the Lacedxmonians ; but does not prove that the relt of 

 Greece had confined their mufic within the compafs of feven 

 notes : nor, confequently, afcertain how many of the eleven 

 llrings were additions peculiar to Timotheus. That the otit- 

 cry againlt the novelties of this mufician was, however, not 

 confined to .^parta, appears from a paffage in Plutarch's 

 Dialogue, where he gives a lift of the innovators who had 

 corrupted and enervated the good old melody, by additional 

 notes both upon the flute and lyre. 



" Lafus of Hermione," fays he, " by changing mufical 

 rhythms to the dithyrambic irregularity of movement, and, 

 at the fame time, emulating the compafs and variety of the 

 flute, occafioned a great revolution in the ancient mufic. 

 Melanippides, who lucceeded him, in like manner, would 

 not confine himfelf to the old mufic, any more than his Hho- 

 lar Philoxcnus, or Timotheus." 



The fame thing alfo appears from the bitter invectives to 

 which the comic poets at Athens, efpecially Pherecrates and 

 Ariftophancs, gave a loofe ; not, perhaps, from underlland- 

 mg mufic, o\- being at all fenfible of its effefts, but from 

 that envy which the great reputation of the mufician had 

 excited. An exalted charafter is a ffiooting butt, at which 

 fatirifts, and wicked wits, conllantly point their arrows ; 

 and the ftage at all times wages war againft whatever calls 

 off the public attention from itfelf. 



The abufe, therefore, of this mufician, which .ibounds 

 m ancient authors, is, perhaps, as great a proof of his fu- 

 perionty as the praife. A Greek epigram, preferved in 

 Macrobius, informs us, that the Ephefians gave him a thou- 

 l^nd pieces of gold for compofing a poem in honour of 

 Diana, at the dedication of the temple of that goddefs ; 



and 



