Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/150

136 with Antiochus the Great, and his property was confiscated.

The opposition had by its false charges gained a great political victory. Not only had Lucius Scipio been humiliated, but Africanus, the most illustrious and powerful Roman of his time, was removed from the helm of state and lost his kingly influence. If, on the other hand, Cato and his associates expected to restore the good old times by degrading the courts into instruments of politics, they were undeceived through the subsequent escape of notorious criminals like Marcus Popillius Laenas and Servius Sulpicius Galba.

II. The Senate and the Consolidation of the Oligarchy.

Leadership of the Senate. — After the retirement and death of Scipio Africanus, the senate remained without a real leader until the end of this period. The influence of Cato was due rather to his personal qualities than to party support, and, besides, it had already reached its zenith. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who became the first senator (princeps senatus) in 179 and held the position until 152, was a true representative, but not a leader, of senatorial mediocrity. His successor, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum, was also a man of moderate ability, but somewhat independent. Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus distinguished himself in war, but not in politics, and was never a party leader. The senate, accordingly, governed the state in its collective capacity, as a corporation.

Membership of the Senate. — The men outside the nobility who had been appointed senators in 216 (p. 125) probably passed away in the early part of the second century B.C. and left the senate more aristocratic than ever. The number of