1 t is chiefly to the consistency, wisdom, and energy with which the senate acted during a long period that Rome was indebted for her greatness and her success.
During the kingly period the kings acted according to the deter minations of the senate, and the kings had only the executive. The subjects on which the senate decided before they came before the people, comprehended the whole internal administration of the state, legislation, finance, and war. On the death of a king the senate pro posed the new candidate to the comitia by means of the interrex. (Liv., i. 17.) At the establishment of the republic no change appears ave been made in th6 power and authority of the senate. The senate and the people had the sovereign power. At first all measures, whether relating to the administration or legislation, originated with and were prepared by the senate ; but this power was afterwards con siderably diminished by the attacks of the tribunes of the people. In many cases the original state of things became reversed, inasmuch as laws might originate with the people, and only require the sanction of the senate ; or might have the power of law even without this sanction. [Tansusrus.] A still more formidable blow was inflicted upon the power of the senate when the tribunes obtained the right of invalidating its acts by their intercessio. [Tarsusrus.] The power which the senate exercised during the republic, when the tribunes did not intercede, may be comprised under the following heads : 1. The senate had the control of the public treasury (terarium) (` Polyb.', vi. 13); the accounts of all the revenues were laid before the senate, and no part of the public money could be expended without their consent. Hence no consul or magistrate could raise an army, or keep it at the expense of the state, unless he was authorised by the senate. [Screw, in Moo. Dtv.] 2. Crimea committed in Italy, such as treason, conspiracies, poisoning, and murder, belonged to the cognizance of the senate ; moreover, if any private individuals or any of the allied towns of Italy had disputes among themselves, if they had done anything deserving punishment, or if they required assistance or a garrison, all this was within the power of the senate. (Polyb., vi. 11; comp. Liv., xxx. 26.) In cases, however, where a judicial sentence was required, the senate appointed a person, but did not pronounce sentence itself. (Cie.,' De Off.', i. 10; Val. 3lax., vii. 3, 4.) 3. All sent from Rome, and all commissioners charged with the regulation of the affairs of a newly conquered province, were nominated by the senate, and the ambassadors themselves were in many cases members of the senate. All foreign ambassadors com municated with the Roman senate. (Polyb., 1. c. ; and Livy, iu numerous passages.) Treaties concluded with foreign nations by a Roman general required the sanction of the seuate.
4. The senate assigned to the consuls and prxtors their respective provinces [PsoviNcra], and the senate might at the end of a year propose the prolongation of their imperium.
5. The senate decreed all public thanksgivings (aupplicationes) for victories obtained by the generals of the republic ; and the senate alone could confer on a victorious general the honour of a triumph or of an ovatio. (Liv., v. 23 ; Cie., Philip.', xiv. 5.) 6. The senate in times of great danger could delegate unlimited power to the consuls ; and this was done by the formula, " videant consules nequid rcspublica detrimeuti caplet." The senate bad also
the supreme superintendence in all matters of religion, and decided whether tho worship of new gods was to bo adopted or not. [Ssearis.] During the empire the senate lost its former character, for the emperors became the sovereign, and the senate was a subordinate power, and little more than a high court of justice. Respecting the provinces of the senate, see PROVINCIA. The senators, however, were always looked upon as persons of the highest rank. Vacancies were filled by the emperor at discretion, chiefly with equites, whence the equites are called seminarium senatus. (Lamprid., Alex. Sev.', le ; Joseph., ' Antiq. Jud.' six. 1.) Constantine established a second senate at Byzantium, and the emperor Julian conferred upon it tho privileges which were enjoyed by the senators of Rome. (Zosimus, 11.) Both senates were still sometimes addressed by the emperors in a imperial oration concerning matters of legislation, and each of the senates still continued to be a high court of justice, to which the emperors referred important criminal cases. The senatorial dignity was now obtained either by descent, by the favour of the emperor, or by .virtue of having held some office at the imperial court. The senators enjoyed many distinctions, but their burdens were exceedingly heavy, for they had to pay a peculiar tax (follis) upon their landed property, to give public gamer', and magnificent presents to the emperors, and, in times of need, large donations to the people. The emperors, therefore, contrived to elect into the senate the wealthiest persons from all parts of the empire. (Walter, Gesch. d. Mint. Rechta.') From the time of Diocletian the senate was only a shadow of its former state, but it was still the highest object of the ambition of the wealthy Romans.
It now remains to mention some of the external insignia and the privileges of the Roman senators.
1. The lotus clams, or Tunica laticlavia, or a tuoica with a broad purple stripe, which was not sewed to it, but woven in it.
2. A kind of short boots with the letter C on the top of the foot. This C is generally interpreted to mean eentum, and to refer to the original number of a hundred (centum) senators.
3. A particular place (orchestra) in the theatres and amphitheatres.
This was first assigned to the senate by Scipio Africanus Major, n.c. 191 (LIT. xxxiv. 51; comp. Cie. ' pro Cluent.', 17.) In the reign of Claudius they obtained the same distinction at the games in the Circus. (Suet., • Mutt', 21 ; Dion Carta., Ls. 7.) 1. On the day when sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, the senators had a publio feast on the Capitol, and this distinction, which no one else had, was called jus publics epulandi. (Suet., Aug.', 35 ; xii. 8.) 5. The jars iliberte legationis, that is, senators, when allowed to travel abroad, had a right to demand from the inhabitants of the towns or countries through which they travelled, all that was necessary for their support or accommodation. Towards the end of the republic this right was much abused, wherefore Cicero obtained the passing a law which limited the time during which a senator might he absent and enjoy the jus liberre legationis to one year : Cirsar, however, extended it to five.