SENATE, in ancient history, the de liberative assembly of the Roman people; but the term has been applied to very different powers and constitutions in dif ferent countries. In the Greek republics, as well as among the Romans, the num ber of senators was regulated by the number of tribes into which the state was divided. Accordingly, while Attica was divided into four tribes, the number of senators was 400; and when the num ber of tribes was increased to 10, the number of senators was also enlarged to 500. The Roman Senate, during the primitive days of the city, participated in the judicial and executive powers of the king, and even in the management of military affairs. Romulus was said to have originated the Senate; but in doing this, he only imitated all the civilized nations dwelling on the shores of the Mediterranean, who all deemed it neces sary to have an assembly of the elder citizens of the state, besides a popular assembly. Under Tarquinius Priscus, the number of senators was increased to 300, each of the 300 houses (gentes), which composed the three tribes, having its de curio, or representative head, in the Sen ate. Subsequently, the election of the senators was made by the censor reading aloud once in every luster (five years) the names of the senators, the worthiest first; the one first named being styled princeps senatus. Those who were deemed un worthy of the dignity were degraded by the omission of their names. The sena
tors were chiefly drawn from the ranks of the equestrian order. In the days of the republic, a senator was required to possess property to the value of about $22,500, and in the days of Augustus of about $32,500. The Senate was assembled by the supreme officers of government, deciding the propositions laid before it, article by article, by a majority of voices. A decree of the Senate was called senatus consultum. If the decree was opposed by the tribune, or if the Senate was not full, the act was termed senatus auctoritas, and was submitted to the people, whose tribunes could reject every proposition by their vote. The Senate had within its jurisdiction all matters of public admin istration, questions of peace or war, the choice of public officers, and the financial concerns of the republic. Under the em pire, the Senate gradually lost its political consideration, but till the time of Con stantine the Great many of its decrees took the place of the laws enacted by the people.
In France the upper legislative cham ber under Napoleon I. and Napoleon III. was called the Senate, and the name is still in use in the French republic. The Senate is composed of 314 members; they are elected indirectly for a term of nine years.