Roman Senate: Powers, Composition, and Functions
Roman Senate: Powers, Composition & Procedures
The Senatus Consultum: Senate Decisions
The Senate’s decision, which served as advice or a report on a specific question, was known as a senatus consultum. These were formally written down, detailing the circumstances, merits, and a summary of relevant interventions. Subsequently, quaestors kept them for study and interpretation.
Key Powers of the Republican Senate
The powers of the Senate can be summarized as follows:
Auctoritas Patrum: Ratifying Laws
This refers to the authorization, ratification, or enhancement of the value or legitimacy of decisions regarding laws or candidates voted upon in popular assemblies. While the absence of Senate ratification did not invalidate a law passed by an assembly, a favorable opinion lent it formal legitimacy. Furthermore, the Lex Publilia Philonis stated that the Senate should be consulted by magistrates before presenting a bill to the assembly for election or nomination.
Interregnum: Managing Consular Vacancies
In the event of the abdication, death, or disputed election of consuls, the auspicia ad patres redeunt – meaning the interpretation of omens returned to the senators. Individually, and for a period of five days each, senators assumed consular power until new consuls were elected.
Foreign Policy Direction
While the formal act of declaring war was the responsibility of the assemblies (comitia), once declared, subsequent formalities corresponded to the Senate, acting with the consent of the College of Fetials. This included determining the timing of campaigns, allocating economic resources, and receiving and sending ambassadors to foreign powers.
Provincial Governance Oversight
The Senate was responsible for the creation of provinces, determining their territory, and allocating their governance to former magistrates cum imperio (with imperium), whose power was extended. These governors were referred to as proconsuls or propraetors.
Control of Public Finances
In fiscal policy, the Senate was involved in leasing tax collection contracts (to publicani), granting administrative concessions, and authorizing the minting of currency.
Religious Affairs Supervision
It controlled the exercise of public worship and permitted the introduction of foreign gods.
Oversight of Public Contracts
The Senate controlled the operation of publicani partnerships involved in state contracts.
Emergency Powers and Dictatorship
It could intervene in exceptional circumstances vital to the Republic’s survival by issuing a senatus consultum ultimum. This declared an imminent danger or necessity, advising the appointment of a dictator for a limited time or granting extraordinary powers to ordinary magistrates, who would then not be subject to the veto of the tribunes.
Senate Membership and Evolution
From Patricians to the Nobilitas
During the first centuries of the Republic, the Senate primarily represented the patrician nobility. However, as plebeians gained access to public office and the magistracies, this meant indirect entry into the Senate, especially when it was established by law that former magistrates were entitled to be part of it. This change first affected the highest offices (censorship, consulate, praetorship) but eventually affected all former magistrates (including tribunes, aediles, and quaestors). Thus, the aristocracy, or nobility as we know it, became political and was known as the nobilitas.
Senatorial Status: Privileges & Limits
Being a senator conferred various social privileges (e.g., special seating at public events, priority in voting) but also imposed significant constraints on their capacity to act, especially in the economic field.
Senator Residence Requirements
Towards the end of the Republic, a formal residence requirement in Rome was established for senators, partly due to the increase in senators originating from the provinces. During the Empire, this requirement was relaxed, particularly for senators from the Western and Eastern parts. Finally, Emperor Justinian restored the principle of compulsory residence in Constantinople for senators.
Senate Authority and Operations
Auctoritas: The Senate’s Moral Authority
The Senate, composed of former magistrates and individuals with significant political experience and prestige, established itself as the leading body in political life. It was considered the institution with the greatest auctoritas (moral authority) during the Republican era.
Senate Meetings: Convening and Debate
Operationally, the Senate was summoned by a magistrate who held the right to do so (ius agendi cum patribus), such as consuls, dictators, praetors, and tribunes of the plebs, depending on the circumstances. It met in a public building, typically in the Forum, initially the Curia Hostilia (believed to have been built during the reign of the third king, Tullus Hostilius). The convening magistrate presided over the meeting and led the debate. After discussion, usually only the most senior and prestigious senators (principes senatus) spoke before the vote. Voting was conducted orally for centuries and later sometimes by division (per discessionem) or, less commonly, written ballot.