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guftus enacted afterwards, that the [mate mould not meet regularly, or of courfe, except on two days only of each month, the kalends and ides. Suet. Aug. 35. Middleton. ibid. p. 142.
On their days of meeting, they could not enter upon any bufmefs before the fun was rifen, nor finifh any after it was let; every thing tranfa£ted by them, before or after that time, was null and void, and the author of it liable to cen- fure n . Whence it became a ftanding rule, that nothin new ihould be moved after four o'clock in the afternoon c . — [" A. Gell. 14. 7. ° Middleton, ibid. p. 143.] The folate, as has been fhewn above, was compofed of all the principal magiftrates of the city, and of all who had borne the fame offices before them ; and confided therefore of fe veral degrees and orders of men, who had each a different rank in it, according to the dignity of the character which lie fuftained in the republic.
At the head of it fat the two confuls in chairs of flate P. Manutius thinks that the other magiftrates fat next to the confular chair, each according to his rank; the praetors. cenfors, sdiles, tribunes, qujeftors 1. But Dr. Middleton rather thinks that the confular fenators, who, in all ages of the republic, were the leaders and firft (peakers in the [mate, ufed to fit next in order to the confuls ; and after them the praetors, and all who were of praetorian dignity, or had ■been prastors ; then the iediles, the tribunes, and the quxftors, on diftincl benches ; and on the fame bench witr each, all who had borne the fame offices : but the curule ma- giftrates, as the pr.-etors and ;ediles, were perhaps diftin- guifhed, at the head of their feveral benches, by feats fome- what raifed, or feparated at leaft from the reft, in the form of our fettees, or of that longa cathedra, which Juvenal ' mentions, to denote the curule dignity.— [f Cic. in Cat. 4. 1. q Vid. Paul Manut. de Senatu Rom. cap. g. r Sat. g. 52. Middleton, ibid. p. 144, feq.]
All the private fenators fat on different benches, and in a different order of precedency, according to the dignity of the magiftracies which they had feverally borne. Firft the con- fulars, then the praetorians, scdilitians, tribunitians, and quaeftorians; in which order, and by which titles, they are all enumerated by Cicero'. And as this was their order in fitting, fo it was the fame alfo in delivering their opinions, when it came to their turn. — [ s Cic. Phil. 13. 13, 14,] The fenale being affembled, the confuls, or the magiftrate, by whofe authority they were fummoned, having firft taken the aufpices, and performed the ufual office of religion, by facrifice and prayer, ufed to open to them the reafons of their being called together, and propofe the fubjeft of that day's deliberation; in which all things divine, or relating to the worfhip of the Gods, were difpatched preferably to any other bufmefs '. When the conful had moved any point, with intent to have it debated and carried into a decree, and had fpoken upon it himfclf as long as he thought proper, he proceeded to afk the opinions of the other fenators, fe- verally by name, and in their proper order, beginning always with the confulars, and going on to the praetorians, CSV. It was the practice originally to afk the prince of the fixate the firft ; but that was foon laid afide, and the compliment trans- ferred to any other antient confular, diftinguifhed by his in- tegrity and fuperior abilities ; till in the later ages of the re- public, it became an eftablifhed cuftom to pay that refpect to relations, or particular friends, or to thofe who were likely to give an opinion the molt favourable to their own views and fentiments on the queftion propofed u . But whatever order the confuls obferved, in afking opinions on the firft of January, when they entered into their office, they gene- rally purfucd the fame through the reft of the year. Julius Casfar indeed broke through this rule ; for though he had afked Craffus the firft, from the beginning of his confulihip, yet, upon the marriage of his daughter with Pompey, he gave that priority to his fon-in-law, for which, however, he made an apology to the fenate '.—[' A. Gell. 14. 7 ' Suet. Jul. Cadar. 21. A. Gell. 4. io.j
This honour of being afked in an extraordinary manner, and preferably to all others of the fame rank, though of fuperior age or nobility, feems to have been feldom carried farther than to four or five diftinguifhed perfons of confular dig- nity x ; and the reft were afterwards afked according to their feniority. And this method, as has been faid,°was obferved generally throughout the year, till the election of the future confuls, which was commonly held about the month of Auguft ; from which time, it was the conftant cuftom to afk the opinions of the confuls cleft, preferably to all others, till they entered into their office, on the firft day of January following '.— [* Cic. ad Attic, r. 13 J Gell. 4. 10. y Cic. Epift. Fam. 8. 4. Vid. It. in Phil e' 13. Middleton, ibid. p. 149, feq.]
As the confuls elefl had this preference given in fpeaking before all the confulars, fo the praetors, and tribunes elea° feem to have had the fame, before the reft of their particu- lar orders. Vid. Salluft. Bell. Cat. 51, C2. Cic. Ep. ad Att. I.12. 21. It. Pigh. Annal.
None were allowed to fpeak till it came to their turn, ex- cepting the magiftrates, who feem to have had a ri<*t of
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fpeaklng on all occafions, whenever they thought fit ; and for that reafon, perhaps, were not particularly afked- or called upon by the confuls. Middleton, ibid, p, t c> Several different motions might be made, and different queftions be referred to the fenate by different magiftrates in the fame meeting b . And if any bufmefs of importance was expected or defired, which the confuls had omitted to propofe, or were unwilling to bring into debate, it was u- fual for the fenate, by a fort of general clamour, to call upon them to move it ; and upon their refufal, the other ma- giftrates had a right to propound it, even againft their will c . If any opinion, propofed to them, was thought too general, and to include feveial diftindt articles, fome of which might be approved, and others rejected, it was ufual to require that it might be divided, and fometimes by a general voice of the affembly calling out divide, divide d . — [ h Cie. Phil. 7. 1. c Lh. 30. 21. Ck. Ep. Fam. 10. 16, Cic. pro Leg* Man. 19. d Senec. Epift. 21. Cic. Ep. Fam. 1. 2. Vid* Jfcon. in Orat. pro Mil. 6J
If in the debate feveral different opinions had been offered, and each fupported by a number of fenators, the conful, in the clofe of it, ufed to recite them all, that the fenate might pafs a vote feparately upon each : but in this he gave what preference he thought fit to that opinion which he moft favoured, and fometimes even fupprefled fuch of them, as he wholly difapproved. Caf. Coram. Bell. Civ. 429. In cafes, however, where there appeared to be no difficulty or oppofttion, decrees were fometimes made, without any opinion being afked or delivered upon them. Cic. Phil- 1. 1.
When any queftion was put to the vote, it was determined always by a divifion, or reparation of the oppofite parties, to different parts of the fenate houfe ; the conful, or prefld- ing magiftrate, having firft given order for it in this form : Let thofe, who arc of fuch an opinion, pafs over to that fide ; thofe, who think differently, to this. Fejl. in voc. Cic, Ep, Fam. 1. 2.
What the majority of them approved was drawn up into a decree, which was generally conceived in words prepared and dictated by the firft mover of the queftion, or the prin- cipal fpeaker in favour of it j who, after he had fpoken what he thought fuffkient to recommend it to the fenate, ufed to conclude his fpeech, by fumming up his opinion in the form of fuch a decree as he defired to obtain c . Which de- cree, when confirmed by the fenate, was always figned and attefted by a number of fenators, who chofe to attend thro* the whole procefs of it, for the fake of adding their names to it, as a teftimony of their particular approbation of the thing, as well as of refpect to the perfon, by whofe autho- rity, or in whofe favour it was drawn f . — [ e Vid. Cic. Philip. 3. 5. 89. x. 13. 14.. f Cic. Ep. Fam. 15. 6. It. 8. 8. Middleton, ibid. I56, feq.]
When the fenate appeared to be difpofed, and ready to pafs a decree, it was in the power of any one of the ten tribunes of the people to intercede, that is, to over-rule it. See the article Intercession.
In all cafes, where the determinations of the fenate were over-ruled by the negative of a tribune, of which there are numberlefs inftances, if the fenate was unanimous, or ge- nerally inclined to the decree fo inhibited, they ufually paired a vote to the fame purpofe, and in the fame words, which was called an authority of the fenate, and was entered into their journals. Cic. Ep. Fam. 1. 2. Liv. 4. 57. Vid. Dio. 55. 550. See Senatus aucloritas. In order to deter any magiftrate from acting fadtioufly and arbitrarily, in affairs of importance, they often made it part of the decree, which they were going to enact, that if any one attempted to oblrruct it, he mould be deemed to act againft the intereft of the republic s. Yet this claufe had feldom any effect on the hardy tribunes, who ufed to apply their negative in defiance of it as freely, as on any other more indifferent occafion h . — [* Cic. Ep. Fam. 88. ad Att. 4. 2. h Middleton, ibid. p. 160, feq.] The factious, and leaders of parties, had feveral arts of ob- ftructing, or poftponing a decree, by many pretexts and im- ' pediments which they could throw in its way. Sometimes they alledged fcruples of religion, that the aufpices were not favourable, or not rightly taken ; which, if confirmed by the augurs, put a flop to the bufmefs for that day ! . At other times, they urged fome pretended admonition from the Sibylline books, which were then to be confulted and interpreted to a fenfe, that ferved their purpofe k . But the moft common method was to waft the day, by fpeakin* for two or three hours fucceffively, fo as to leave no time to finifh the affair in that meeting : yet when fome of the more turbulent magiftrates were grofsly abufmg this right, againft the general inclination of the aflembly, the fenators were fometimes fo impatient as to filence them, as it were, by force, and to difturb them in fuch a manner, by their cla- mour and hiffing, as to oblige them to defift : .— [* Cic. Ep. Fam. 10. 12. * Bio. 39. p. 98. Cic. ad Fra. 2. 2. Cic. Ep. Fam. 1. 1. ' A. Gell, 4. 10. Cic. ad Att. 4. 2. Mid- dleton, ibid. 162, feq.]
