honor, but probably a minimum age limit was fixed for membership in the body. The functions of the senate may be considered from three points of view, viz., as an organization vested under certain circumstances with supreme power, as a legislative body coördinate with the people assembled in the curiae, and as the council of the king. We have already noticed the fact (p. 14) that on the death of the king the control of the state reverted to the senate. The fact has also been noted (p. 14) that matters on which the popular assembly acted came before the senate for approval or rejection. Custom made it incumbent on the king to seek the advice of the senate in important matters, but it was left for him to decide on whether to bring a subject before the senate or not, and he was free to adopt or reject it advice, as he saw fit. This theory of the relations existing between the senate and the chief executive was maintained down through the republican period even, although in practice the consul rarely failed to follow the instructions of the senate. The senate could meet only when called together by the king, and its meetings were held in a templum, or place consecrated by an augur.
20. Patricii, Clientes, Plebeii. There were three principal classes in the community, — patricians, clients, and plebeians. The patricians were legitimate sons in families belonging to the gentes recognized by the state. Patricians alone had civitas optimo iure, i.e., the full rights of citizenship. This included, besides personal freedom, ius commercii, the right to hold and exchange property and be protected in its possession; ius conubii, the right to intermarry with other members of the gentes, and ius gentilitatis, the right to share in the worship of the clan. The main political privileges enjoyed by the patricians were ius suffragii, the right to vote, and ius honorum, the right to hold
