Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/457

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fcdije, praetor, and conful ■ which every candidate, in the ordinary forms of the conftitution, was obliged to take in their order, with this exception only, that he might forego either the tribunate, or the sdilefhip, at his own choice, without a neceffity of puffing through them both. Middk- ton's Treat, of Rom. Senate, p. 6. See the articles Qujes- tor, Tribune, &c.

But though thefe offices gave both an immediate right, and actual entrance into the fenate, yet the fenatorian character was not efteemed complete, till the new fenators had been enrolled by the cenfors at the next luftrum, or general re- view of all the orders of the city, which was generally held every five years. Yet this enrolment was but a matter of form, which could not be denied to any of them, except For fome legal incapacity, or the notoriety of fome crime, or infamy upon their characters ; for which the fame cenfors could expel, or deprive any other fenator, of what rank or ftanding foever. Mlddleton of Rom. Sen. p. 8. See the article Censor.

M. Vertot feems to perplex the quefUon ; firft, by confi- dering the authority of the people, and that of the cenfors, as oppofite and inconfiftent with each other in the creation of fenators, whereas they were both of them jointly necef- fary to make the act complete. Secondly, by afferting the cenforian power to be the original and principal in that af- fair, whereas it was but fecondary, or minifterial to the fo- vereign prerogative of the people. Middleton of Rom. Sen. P- T 3-

It has been the opinion of fome, that under the kings of Rome the choice and nomination of all the fenators depended wholly on the will of the prince, without any right in the people, either direct or indirect ; and the confuls, who fuc- ceeded to the kingly power, enjoyed the fame prerogative, till the creation of the cenfors, who ever after poflefled the fole and abfolute right of making and unmaking fenators. But Dr. Middleton is of opinion, that the kings, the con- fuls, and the cenfors, acted in this affair but minifterially^ and fubordinately to the fupreme will of the people, in whom the proper and abfolute power of creating fenators always refided. And the Doctor aflures us, upon the ftricteft fearch into the flate of the prefent qucftion, as it flood un- der the kingly government, he cannot but conclude, from the exprefs teitimony of the beft biitorians, the concurrence of fimilar facts, and the probability of the thing itfelf, that the right of chufing fenators was originally and conftitutio- nally vefted in the people. Middleton of Rom. Sen. p. 36. The fupreme power at home was in the collective body of the people, yet where hafte perhaps, or fecrecy was requir- ed, and where the determinations of" tint fenate were fo juft and equitable, that the confent of the people might be pre- fumed, and taken for granted, the fenate would naturally omit the trouble of calling them from their private affairs, to an unneccflary attendance on the public ; till by repeated omiffions of this kind, begun at firft in trivial matters, and proceeding infenfibly to more ferious, they acquired a fpe- cial jurifdiction and cognizance in many points of great importance, to the exclufion even of the people; who yet, by the laws and conftitution of the government, had the abfolute dominion over all. For example :

1. They aiTumed to themfelves the guardianfhip and fuper- intendence of the public religion ; fo that no new God could be introduced, nor altar erected, nor the Sibylline books confulted, without their exprefs order. Liv. 9. 46. Tertull. Apol. 5. Cic. de Div. 54. ib. 1. 48.

2. They held it as their prerogative, to fettle the number and condition of the foreign provinces, that were annu- ally affigned to the magiftrates, and to declare which of them fliould be confular, and which praetorian provinces. Cic. pro Dom. 9. Vid. in Vatin. 15.

3. They had the diftribution of the public treafure, and all the expences of the government; the appointment of fti- pends to their generals, with the number of their lieutenants and their troops, and the provifions and cloathing of their armies. Polyb. 1.6. 461. Cic. pro Balb. 27.

4. They nominated all ambaffadors fent from Rome, out of their own body, and received and difmiffed all who came from foreign ftates, with fuch anfwers as they thought proper. Cic. in Vatin. Vid. Polyb. 461.

5. They had the right of decreeing all Replications, or public thankfgivings, for victories obtained, and of confer- ring the honour of an ovation, or triumph, with the title of emperor on their victorious generals. Liv. 5. 23. Cic. Phil. 14. 4, 5.

6. It was their province to inquire into public crimes or treafons, either in Rome, or the other parts of Italy; and to hear and determine all difputes among the allied and de- pendent cities. Polyb. 461. Liv. 30. 26. Cic. Off. 1. 10.

7. They exercifed a power, not only of interpreting the laws, but of abfolving men from the obligation of them, and even of abrogating them. Cic. pro Dom. 27. pro Cornel. 1, pro Leg. Manil. 2 1 . Val. Maxim. 8. 1 5. It. Cic. Phil. 5.

8. In the cafe of civil diflenfmns, or dangerous tumults within the city, they could arm the confuls by a vote with abfolute power, to deftroy and put to death, without the

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formality of a trial, all fuch citizens as were concerned itt exciting diem. Salluft. de Bell. Catilln. 20. Cic. in Cat; I. 11.

9. They had a power to prorogue; Or pdftpone the aflem- bhes of tie people, to decree the title of king to any prince whom they pleafed ; thanks and praife to thofe who had deferved them ; pardon and reward to enemies, or the dis- coverers of any treafon ; to declare any one an enemy by a vote ; and to prefcribe a general change of habit to the city, ' j T kS ° f a ' ly irnmment danger or calamity. Cic. Epifh ad Att. 4. 16. pro Mur. 25. pro Deiat. 3. Vid. Liv. 30. 1 7. Sallujl. Bell. Cat. 30. Cic. in Catil. 4. 3. 3. 4. Phil. 1 1. 12. Ep. Fam. 12. 10. proSext.12. Middleton, ibid. p. 118. feq.

The tribunes foon matched from them that original right, which they had enjoyed from the very foundation of the city, of being the authors, or firft movers of every thing; which was to be enacted by the people, and excluded them from any fliare or influence in the affemblies of their tribes * : and though in the other affemblies of the curia; and the cen- turies, they feemed to have rel'erved to them their antient right, yet it was reduced to a mere form, without any real force ; for inftead of being what they had always been, the authors of each particular adl, that was to be propofed to the people's deliberation, they were obliged, by a fpecial law, to authorife every ail'embly of the people, and whatever fliould be determined in it, even before they had proceeded to any vote ". And C. Gracchus afterwards, in his famous tribunate, ufed to boaft that he had demolished the filiate at once, by transferring to the equeftrian order the right of ju- dicature in all criminal caufes, which the/mate had poflefled from the time of the kings '.— [ d Vid. Dionyf. Hal. 1. 41.- 49. Cic. pro Plane. 3. ' Liv. 8. 12. ' Appian. de Bell. Civ. 1. 1. Middleton, ibid. p. 125, feq.] In the early ages of the republic, when the precincts of the city were final], the fenators were perfonally fummoned by an apparitor t ; and fometimes by a public crier, when their affairs required immediate difpatch h : but the ufual way of calling them, in later days, was by an edict, appointing the time and place, and publiftied feveral days before, that the notice might be more public '. Thefe edifls were com- monly underftood to reach no farther than to thofe who were refident in Rome, or near it; yet when any extraor- dinary affair was in agitation, they feem to have been pub- liihed alfo in the other cities of Italy fc. If any fenator re- fufed, or neglefled to obey this fummons, the conful could oblige him to give furety for the payment of a certain fine, if the reafons of his abfence fliould not be allowed '. But from fixty yean of age they were not liable to that penalty, nor obliged to any attendance, but what was voluntary °\ — [« CU. de Sen. 16. " Liv. 3. 38. App. Bell. Civ. 1. 1 Cic. Phil. 3. 8. k Cic. de J. Carfare ad Att. 9. 17. ' Lm 3. 38. Cic. Phil. 1. 5. m Middleton of Rom. Senate, p. 130, feq.]

The fenate could not regularly be affembled in any private or profane place, but always in one fet apart, and folemnly confecrated to that ufe by the rites of augury. A. Gell. 1\. 7. Middleton, ibid. p. 133.

The fenate frequently met in certain curia;. See Curia. But their meetings were more commonly held in certain temples, dedicated to particular deities; as in that of Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Vulcan, Caftor, Bellona ; of Concord, Faith, Virtue, the Earth, fdc. Middleton, ibid. 1 34. Thefe temples, on account of the ufe which the fenate made - of them, were called likewife curia ; as well as the proper curias, or fenate houfes, on account of their folemn dedica- tion, are frequently called temples. A. Gell. 14. 7. Cic. pro Mil. 33. Alex. Sev. c. 6.

The fenate ufed to meet on fome occafions in the open air, and efpecially whenever a report was made to them in form, that an ox had fpoken ; which prodigy, as Pliny tells us, was common in the earlier ages. Liv. 26. 10. Flin. Hift. Nat. 8. 45. Middleton, ibid. p. 135, feq. On two fpecial occafions the fenate was always held with- out the gates of Rome, either in the temple of Bellona, or of Apollo, lft. For the reception of foreign ambaffadors ; and efpecially of thofe who came from enemies, who were' not permitted to enter the city. 2dly. To give audience, and tranfact bufinefs with their own generals, who were ne- ver allowed to come within the walls, as long as their com- miflion fubfifted, and they had the actual command of an army. Liv. 34. 43. Id. 42. 36. Id. 36. 39. Senec. de Benef. 5. 15. Middleton^JbiCi. p. 137, feq. The fenate met always of courfe on the firft of January, for the inauguration of the new confuls, who entered into their office on that day. Middleton, ibid. p. 140, feq. The month of February, generally fpeaking, was referved intire by old cuftom to the fenate, for the particular purpofes of giving audience to foreign ambaffadors. Cic. ad Frat. 2. 3. A/con. in Verr. I. 35. Ep. ad Fra, 2. 12. In all months, univerfally, there were three days, which feem to have been more efpecially deftined to the fenate, the kalends, nones, and ides, from the frequent examples found in hiftory, of its being convened en thofe days. But Au-

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