Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/89

Rh In 337 Philo became praetor, and thus the last ordinary magistracy was opened to the plebeians.

Extension of Supreme Authority. — With the name of Philo is associated also the first extension of supreme authority (prorogatio imperii). The plebeian tribunes secured the passage of a plebiscite authorizing Philo to continue with consular authority (pro consule) the war against the Greeks until it should be finished. The right to extend the authority of a magistrate was essentially equal to the right to elect or appoint, and belonged to the people, but was afterward exercised by the senate also. The new arrangement remedied to some extent the evils involved in annual changes of commanders-in-chief, and was a great advantage from the military point of view. Politically, it was the first inroad on the fundamental principle of annual tenure, and a makeshift which impeded an organic development of the executive power. This is, moreover, apparently the first trustworthy instance in which the plebeian tribunes acted as the agents of the senate or government.

The Ovinian Law. — The plebeians were now firmly established in the magistracies. There remained the task of obtaining proper recognition and due influence in the senate. Few plebeians had reached the consular tribunate, and only a small number of plebeians had risen to the consulship since 367. They had been more fortunate in regard to the curule aedileship. But they were inferior to the patricians both in respect to the influence, and even the number, of their senators.

To remedy this state of affairs, the Ovinian plebiscite was passed about the year 312. It took away from the consuls the power to revise and complete the list of senators, and conferred it on the censors. As the revision would now occur only once in four or five years or even more, the law