patricians allowed the passage of the Licinian laws of the year before.
39. The Senate and the Tribune. The relations which the senate bore to the tribune and to the magistrates underwent an interesting change in the period under consideration, from 445 to 367. The original function of the tribune was to protect citizens against the magistrate by personal interference in specific cases. The increase of the number of tribunes to ten, in the middle of the fifth century, and the bitterness of the long struggle which the plebeians made for consulship, led to a continual clashing between the tribunes and the magistrates execuuting the decrees of the senate, and in many cases the working of the governmental machinery was completely suspended. It was felt, therefore, that it would be far better to get the opinion of the tribunes with reference to a bill under consideration in the senate, before action was taken on it. With this purpose in mind they were given seats in the senate, and were allowed to interpose their objections formally at any point in the proceedings. At least no better explanation can be suggested for the new rôle which the tribunes play in the deliberations of the senate in this period.
40. The Senate and the Magistracy. On the other hand, the senate gained in power at the expense of the chief magistrate, and perhaps at this time it took the first step toward gaining that controlling influence in the state which it exercised a century or more later. The explanation of the change lies partly in the fact that it rested with the senate each year to decide whether the chief magistrates should be consuls or tribunes with consular power. This fact in a way made the chief magistracy dependent on that body.
