passed and those who agreed with him followed, Plin. Epist. ii. 11. Those who differed went to a different part of the house; and into whatever part most of the Senators went, the Consul said of it, "This seems to be the majority," (HÆC PARS MAJOR VIDETUR.) Then a decree of the Senate was made according to their opinion, Plin. Ep. ii. 12. and the names of those who had been most keen for the decree, were usually prefixed to it, which were called AUCTORITATES perscriptæ vel præscripta, Cic. Orat. iii. 2. because they staid to see the decree made out, (scribendo adfuerunt, i. e. Senatûs consulti conficiendi testes erant.) Senatus consultum câ perscriptione est, of that form, to that effect, Cic. Fam. v. 2. Anciently the letter T was subscribed, if the Tribunes did not give their negative; for at first the Tribunes were not admitted into the Senate, but sat before the Senate-house on benches, till the decrees of the Senate were brought to them for their approbation or rejection, Val. Max. ii. 7. This, however, was the case only for a very short time; for A. U. 310. we find Canuleius, one of their number, speaking in the Senate, Liv. iv. 1. and Dionysius says they were admitted soon after their institution, vii. 49. When a decree of the senate was made, without any opinions being asked or given, the fathers were said Pedibus ferre sententiam; and the decree was called SENATUS CON SULTUM PER DISCESSIONEM, A. Gell. xiv. 7. Cic. Phil. iii. 9. Suet. Tib. 31. But when the opinions of the senators were asked, it was simply called SENATUS CON. SULTUM, Cic. in Pis. 8. Although it was then also made per discessionem; and if the senate was unanimous, the discessio was said to be made sine ullâ varietate, Cic. pro Sext. 34. If the contrary, in magna varietate sententiarum, Ib. In decreeing a supplication to any general, the opinions of the senators were always asked; hence Cicero blames Antony for omitting this, in the case of Lepidus, Phil. iii. 9. Before the vote was put, (ante discessionem factam,) and while the debate was going on, the members used to take their seats near that person whose opinion they approved, Plin. Ep. viii. 14. and the opinion of him who was joined by the greatest number, was called SENTENTIA MAXIME FREQUENS, Id. ii. 11. Sometimes the Consul brought from home in writing the decree which he wished to be passed, and the senate readily agreed to it, Cic. Phil. i. 1. When secrecy was nece necessary, the clerks and other attend ants ants were not admitted; but what passed was written out by some of the senators, Cic. pro Sill. 14. A decree made in this mannner was called TACITUM, Capitol Gordian. 12. Some think the Senatores Pedarii were then likewise excluded, from Valer. Max. ii. 2. Julius Cæsar, when consul, appointed that what was done in the senate (DIURNA ACTA) should be published: Suet. Jul. 20. which also seems to have been done formerly, Cic. pro Syll. 14. But this was prohibited by Augustus, Suet. Aug. 36. An account of their proceedings, however, was always made out; and under the succeeding Emperors we find some senator chosen for this purpose. (Actis vel commentariis Senatus conficiendis,) Tacit. Ann. v. 4. Public registers (ACTA, 1. e. tabulæ vel commentarii), were also kept of what was done 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; hence DIURNA URBIS ACTA, Tacit. Annal. xiii. ACTA POPULI, Suet. Jul. 20. ACTA PUBLICA, Tacit. Ann. xii. 24. Suet. Tib. v. Plin. Ep. vii. 33. URBANA, Id. ix. 15. usually called by the simple name ACTA, Cie. Fam. xii. 8. Plin. vii. 54NSULTUM and DECRETUM are used SENATUS promiscuously to denote what the senate deceed; Cie. Liv. et Sall. passim. So Consulta et Decreia patrum, Horat. But they were also distinguished as a genus and species decretum being sometimes put for a part of the SCtum, as when a province, an honour, or a supplication was decreed to any one, Festus. Decretum is likewise applied to others besides the senate; as, Decreta Consulum, Augurum, Pontificum, Decurionum, Cæsaris, Principis, Judicis, &c. So likewise consulta, but more rarely; as, Consulta Sapientum, the maxims or opinions, Cic. deleg. i. 24. Consulta Belli, determinations, Sil. iv. 35. Gracchi, Id. vii. 34. In writing a decree of the senate, the time and place were put first, then the names of those who were present at the ingrossing of it; after that the motion, with the name of the magistrate who proposed it; to all which was subjoined what the senate decreed. Thus, SENATUS CONSULTI AUCTORITAS, PRIDIE KAL. OCTOB. IN ÆDE APOLLINIS, SCRIBENDO ADFUERUNT, L. DOMITIUS, &C. QUOD M. MARCELLUS COSVERBA FECIT DE PROVINCIIS CONSULARIBUS, DE EA RE ITA CENSUIT, V. CENSUERUNT, UTI, &c. Cic. Ep. Fam. viii. 8. Hence, we read, DE EA RESENATUS CONSULTUS ITA CEN SUIT, DECREVIT; also PLACERE SENATUI; SENATUM VELLE ET ÆQUUM CENSERE; SENATUM EXISTIMARE, ARBItrari, ET JUDICARE; VIDERI SENATUI, Cic. Liv. Sall. &c. passim. If the tribunes interposed, it was thus marked at the end; HUIC SENATUS CONSULTO INTERCESSIT C. COELIUS, C. PANSA, TRIB. PLEE. Cic. ibid. Sometimes the tribunes did. not actually interpose, but required some time to consides of it, and thus the matter was delayed, Cic. pro Sext. 34. When the senate ordered any thing to be done, these words were commonly added, PRIMO QUOQUE TEMPORE, as soon as possible. When they praised the actions of any persons they decreed, EOS RECTE ATQUE, ORDINE VIDERI FECISSE, Liv. passim. If the contrary, Eos CONTRA REMPUBLICAM FECISSE VIDERI, Id. Orders were given to the consuls, (Negotium datum est Consulibus,) not in an absolute manner, but with some exception; SI VIDERETUR, SI E REPUBLICA ESSE DUCERENT, Liv. QUOD COMMODO REIPUBLICÆ FIERI POSSET, Cas. UT CON SULES ALTER, AMBOVE, SI EIS VIDEATUR, AD BELLUM PRO FICISCERENTUR, Cic. When the consuls obeyed the orders of the senate, they were said ESSE vel FORE IN PATRUM POTESTATE; and the senators, when they complied with the desires of the people, ESSE IN POPULI POTESTATE, Liv. ii. 56. &c. When the senate asked any thing from the tribunes, the form was, SENATUS CENSUIT, UT CUM TRIBUNIS Ageretur, Liv. xxvi. 33. xxx. 41. The decrees of the senate, when written out, were laid up in the treasury, (in Erarium condebantur,) where also the laws and other writings pertaining to the republic were kept. Liv. iii. 9. Anciently they were kept by the Ediles in the temple of Ceres, Id. iii. 55. The place where the public records were kept was called TABULARIUM. The decrees of the senate concerning the honours conferred on Cæsar were inscribed in golden letters on columns of silver, Dio. xliv. 7. Several decrees of the senate still exist, engraven on tables of brass; particularly that recorded, Liv. xxxix. 19. The decrees of the senate, when not carried to the treasury, were reckoned invalid, Suet. Aug. 94. Hence it was ordained, under Tiberius, that the decrees of the senate, especially concerning the capital punishment of any one, should not be carried to the treasury before the tenth day, Tacit. Ann. iii. 51. that the Emperor, if absent from the city, might have an opportunity of considering them, and, if he thought proper, of mitigating them, Dio. lvii. 20. Suet. Tib. 75 Before Before the year of the city 306, the decrees of the senate were suppressed or altered at the pleasure of the consuls, Liv. i. 55. Cicero accuses Antony of forging decrees, Phil. v. 4. Decrees of the senate were rarely reversed. While a question was under debate, (re integrâ,) every one was at freedom to express his dissent (contradicere vel dissentire); but when it was once determined (re peracta,) it was looked upon as the common concern of each member to support the opinion of the majority (quod pluribus placuisset, cunctis tuendum), Plin. Ep. vi. 13. After every thing was finished, the magistrate presiding dismissed the senate by a set form; NON AMPLIUS VOS MORAMUR, P. C. or NEMO VOS TENET; NIHIL VOS MORAMUR; CONSUL, CITATIS NOMINIBUS, ET PERACTA DISCESSIONE, MITTIT SENATUM, Plin. Ep. ix. 13. X 7. The Power of the Senate at different Periods. THE power of the senate was different at different times. Under the regal government, the senate deliberated upon such public affairs as the king proposed to them; and the kings were said to act according to their counsel, (ex consilio Patrum, Liv. i. 9.) as the consuls did afterwards according to their decree, (ex SCto.) Liv. ii. 2. &c. Tarquin the Proud dropped the custom handed down. from his predecessors, of consulting the senate about every thing; banished or put to death the chief men of that order, and chose no others in their room, Liv. i. 49. But this king was expelled from the throne for his tyranny, and the regal government abolished, A. U. 243. After this the power of the senate was raised to the highest. Every thing was done by its authority. The magistrates were in a manner only its ministers, (quasi ministri gravissimi concilii, Cic. pro Sextio, 65.) No law could be passed, nor assembly of the people held, without their consent; misi Patribus auctoribus, h. e. jubentibus v. permittentibus, Liv. vi. 42. But when the patricians began to abuse their power, and to exercise cruelties on the plebeians, especially after the death of Tarquin, A. U. 257, the multitude took arms in their own defencé, 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 by various means; first, by the introduction of the Comitia Tributa, Tributa, and the exclusion of the patricians from them, Liv. ii. 60. Then, by a law, made by Lætorius the Tribune, that the plebeian magistrates should be created at the Comitia Tributa, Liv. ii. 56. & 57. Dionys. ix. 49. Afterwards, by a law passed at the Comitia Centuriata, by the consuls Horatius and Valerius, that the laws passed at the Comitia Tributa, (Plebiscita,) should also bind the patricians, Liv. iii. 55. And lastly, by the law of Publilius the Dictator, A. U. 414. Liv. viii. 12. and of Monius the Tribune, A.U.467.Cic.Brut.14. that before the people gave their votes, the fathers should authorise whatever the people should determine at the Comitia Centuriata; (ut fierent auctores gus rei, quam populus jussurus esset,v. in incertum eventum comitiorum, Liv.) Whereas formerly, whatever the people ordered was not ratified unless the Senators confirmed it, (nisi patres auctores fierent, Liv.i. 17. 22. iv. 3, 49. Cic. Planc. 3.) But the power of the senate was most of all abridged by the right of the tribunes to render the decrees of the senate of no effect by their negative, (intercedendo.) Still, however, the authority of the senate continued to be very great; for as power majesty properly belonged to the people, so did authority, splendor, and dignity to the senate. (Potestas in populo, auctoritas in senatu, Cic. Legg. iii. 12. Locus, auctoritas, domi splendor; apud exteras nationes nomen et gratia, Id.proCluent.56). and The Senatorian order is called by Cicero, Ordo amplissimus et sanctissimus; summum Populi Romani, populorumque et gentium omnium ac Regum consilium; pro Dom. 28. And the Senatehouse, Templum sanctitatis, amplitudinis, mentis, consilii publici, caput urbis, ara sociorum, portus omnium gentium, &c. pro Milone, 33. Hence Senators in foreign countries were treated with the highest respect, Cic. in Verr. iv. 11. And as senators were not allowed to leave Italy without permission (sine commeatu), Cic. Attic. viii. 15. Suet. Claud. 16, & 23. Ner. 25. unless to Sicily and Gallia Narbonensis, Dio. liii. 42. when they had occasion to travel abroad, they usually obtained the privilege of a free legation, as it was usually called, (sine mandatis, sine ullo reipublicæ munere; ut hæreditates aut syngraphas suas persequerentur,) Cic. de Legg. iii. 8. Ep. Fam. xi. 1. Att. xv. 12. Suet. Tib. 31. which gave them a right to be treated every where with the honours of an ambassador. In the provinces they had lictors to attend them, Cic. Ep. Fam. xii. 21. And if they had any law-suit there, they might require that it should be remitted to Rome, lb. xiii. 26. The advantages of hopour and respect were the only compensation which senators received |