Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/252

228 conduct of business in the Senate this nobility had everything their own way. Among the ex-tribunes and ex-quæstors there might be many men of new families outside of the hereditary nobility, but these men would not easily make themselves heard. When a consul or prætor summoned the Senate to seek its advice, he began by placing before it the question to be decided, and then proceeded to ask the opinions, in a regular order, of the leading senators. He began with the consuls-elect, and went on to the consulares (ex-consuls). Long before he reached any lower rank it is probable that in the age of which we are speaking the debate had usually terminated. The tribunes, as magistrates armed with a veto, would occasionally interfere; but at this time even they were rarely disloyal to the prestige of the nobility.

This great council, then, was not only composed to a large extent of members of the hereditary nobility, but these, as men who had seen the longest service, and best understood the conduct of business, were by far the most influential men who sat in it, and could easily influence the votes of any who were outside the pale. It is a true oligarchical council; not, like the Athenian Boulê, merely a large committee of the popular assembly. Almost every member of it has submitted himself once, or oftener, to the vote of the people in their elective