Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/27

Rh The senators were chosen for life by the king, who was free to select any patrician, or citizen. The normal number of members in an Italian senate was one hundred. At Rome the number was perhaps increased with the growth of the state, and each of the three tribes (tribus) sent one hundred representatives to the senate of normally three hundred.

Procedure of the Senate. — The senate was convened by the king or regent, and could not meet of its own accord while a king was on the throne. It assembled in a consecrated place (templum), and a senate-house is said to have been built by Tullus Hostilius (hence called the curia Hostilia). The official who convened the senate laid before it the business on hand, and then, according to a fixed order of precedence, requested each senator to express his opinion. No senator might speak unasked, and there was no debate.

Powers of the Senate. — The senate was the only permanent organ of the state. It was the ultimate possessor of the supreme authority (imperivm) and the auspices (auspicia); it was the guardian of constitutional law and custom; and it formed the council of state (consilium regium).

The Interregnum. — Whenever the throne became vacant, the government of the state and its right of communication with the gods reverted to the senate. The senators met as soon as possible, and seem to have been divided into ten approximately equal sections (decuriae). Then, in accordance with an order determined by lot, each senator in turn became a regent (interrex) and exercised all the royal powers, so far as his limited term of five days permitted. The number of regents varied on different occasions. When the last regent, probably according to an understanding with the senate, had found a desirable candidate, he submitted his choice to the assembly for sanction or rejection.

This institution of the interregnum was peculiar to the