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On this page: Senatusconsultum

10&J .SENATUS.

in the above categories, or which he might have decided himself, to the senate, or requested its co­operation. (Suet. Claud. 14, 15, Nero^ 15, Doinit. 8, &c.) Respectins the provinces of the senate see provincia.

When Constantinople was made the second capital of the empire, Constantine instituted also a second senate in this city (So/omen, ii. 2 ; Excerpt, de gest. Const. 30), upon which Julian conferred all the privileges of the senate of Rome. (Zosim. iii. 11 ; Liban. Oral, ad Theodos. ii. p. 383, ed. Morell.) Both these senates were still sometimes consulted by the emperors in an oratio upon mat­ters of legislation (Cod. Theod. 6, tit, 2. s. 14 ; S}rmmach. Epist. x. 2. 28 ; Cod. 1. tit. 14. s. 3) : the senate of Constantinople retained its share in legislation down to the ninth century. (Nov. Leon. 78.) Each senate also continued to be a high court of justice to which the emperor referred im­portant criminal cases. (Amm. Marc, xxviii. 1. 23; Symmach. EpisL iv. 5; Zosim. v. 11, 38.) Capital offences committed by senators,, however, no longer came under their jurisdiction, but either under that of the governors of provinces, or of the prefects of the two cities. (Walter, p. 367, &c.) Civil cases of senators likewise belonged to the forum of the praefectus urbi. (Cod. 3. tit. 24. s. 3 ; Symmach. Epist. x. 69.) The senatorial dignity was now obtained by descent (Cod. Theod. 6. tit. 2. s. 2 ; 12. tit. 1. s. 58 ; Cassiodor. Variar. iii. 6), and by having held certain offices at the court, or it was granted as an especial favour by the emperor on the proposal of the senate. (Cod. Theod. I.e.; Sj'mmach. Epist. x. 25.118.) To be made a senator was indeed one of the greatest honours that could be conferred, and was more valued than in the times of the republic ; but its burdens were very heavy, for not only had the sena­tors to give public games (Symmach. Epist, x. 25. 28), to make magnificent presents to the emperors (Cod. Theod. 6. tit. 2. s, 5). and in times of need extraordinaiy donations to the people (Zosim. v* 41 ; Symmach. Ep. vi. 14.26, vii. 68)? but in ad­dition they had to pay a peculiar tax upon their landed property, which was called follis' or gleba. (Zosim. ii. 32 ; Cod. Theod, 6. tit. 2 ; Syramach. Epist. iv. 61.) A senator who had no landed pro­perty was taxed at two folles. (Cod. Theod. 6. tit. 2. s. 2, 6. tit. 4. s. 21.) It was therefore only the wealthiest persons of the empire, no matter to what part of it they belonged, that could aspire to the dignit}'" of senator. A list of them, together with an account of their property, Avas laid before the emperor every three months by the prefect of the city. (Symmach. x. 66, &c.) Down to the time of Justinian the consuls were the presidents of the senate, but from this time the praefectus urbi always presided. (Cod. Theod. 6. tit. 6. s. 1; Nov. Instit. 62.)

It now remains to mention some of the distinc­tions and privileges enjoyed by Roman senators: 1. The tunica with a broad purple stripe (latus claviis) in front, which was woven in it, and not as is commonly believed sewed upon it. (Acron. ad Horat. Sat. i. 5. 35 ; compare i. 6. 28 ; Quinctil. xi. 3.) 2. A kind of short boot with the letter C on the front of the foot. (Juv. vii. 192 ; Cic. Phil. xiii. 13.) This C is generally supposed to mean centum, and to refer to the original number of 100 (centum) senators. 3. The right of sitting in the orchestra in the theatres and amphitheatres. This

SENATUSCONSULTUM.

distinction was first procured for the senators by Scipio Africanus Major, 194 b.c. (Liv. xxxiv. 54 ; Cic. pro Cluent. 47.) The same honour was granted to the senators in the reign of Claudius at the games in the circus. (Suet. Claud. 21 ; Dion Cass. Tx. 7.) 4. On a certain day in the year a sacrifice was of­ fered to Jupiter in the capitol, and on this occasion the senators alone had a feast in the capitol ; the right was called the jus publice epulandi. (Gellius, xii. 8 ; Suet. Aug. 35.) 5. The jus liberae lega- tionis. [legatus, sub finem.~] [L. S.]

SENATUSCONSULTUM. In his enumera­tion of the formal parts of the Jus Civile, Cicero in­cludes Senatusconsulta. (Top. 5.) Numerous Leges properly so called were enacted in the reign of Augustus, and Leges, properly so called, were made even after his time. [lex.] It was under Augustus however that the Senatuscon­sulta began to take the place of Leges properly so called, a change which is also indicated by the fact that until his time the Senatusconsulta were not designated either by the names of the Con­suls or by any other personal name, so far as we have evidence. But from that time we find the Senatusconsulta designated either by the name of the Consuls* as Apronianum, Silanianum, or from the name of the Caesar, as Claudianum, Neronia-num ; or they are designated as made " auctore " or " ex auctoritat.e Hadriani," &c., or " ad ora­tion em Hadriani," &c. The name of the Senatus-consultum Macedonianum is an exception, as will afterwards appear*

Many Senatusconsulta were enacted in the Republican period, and some of them were laws in the proper sense of the term, though some modern writers have denied this position. But the opi­nion of those who deny the legislative power of the Senate during the Republican period is op­posed by facts. An attempt has sometimes been made to support it by a passage of Tacitus (" turn primum e campo Comitia ad patres translata sunt," Ann. i. 15), a passage which only refers to the elections. It is difficult however to determine how far the legislative power of the Senate extended. A recent writer (Walter, Gescliichte des Rom. Reclits, 437, 1st ed.) observes " that the Senatus­consulta were an important source of law for mat­ters which concerned administration, the main­tenance of Religion, the suspension or repeal of laws in the case of urgent public necessitty, the fights of the Aerarium and the Publicani, the treatment of the Italians and the Provincials." (Liv. xxvi. 34, xxxix. 3> xli. 9.) The following are instances of Senatusconsulta under the Re­public : a Senatusconsultum " ne quis in urbe sepelirettir ;" the Senatusconsultum de Bacchana-libus hereafter more particularly mentioned ; a Senatusconsultum de Libertinorum tribu (Liv. xlv. 15) ; a Senatusconsultum de Macedonia (Liv. xlv. 18); a Senatusconsultum de Sumtibus at the Mega-lenses ludi (Gell. ii. 24) ; a Senatusconsultum " ne homo immolaretur " (Plin. PL N.xxx. 1) ; a Senatusconsultum de provinciis Quaestoriis ; a Senatusconsultum made M. Tullio Cicerone re-ferente to the effect, " ut legationum liberarum tempus annuum ess?t; " various Senatusconsulta de collegiis dissolvendis ; an old Senatusconsultum, " Senatusconsultum vetus ne liceret Africanas (bes-tias) in Italiam advehere," which was so far re­pealed by a Plebiscitum proposed by Cn. Aufidius, Tribunus Plebis, that the importation for the pur-