2/7/12 The Senate: Advisory Power • 
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From Kings to Republic: Advise Previous magistrates: about 300 unDl 1st cent. Convened by magistrates only Pedarii: feet-­‐voters Why such power? -­‐ ConDnuity -­‐ Space for debaDng -­‐ PresDge: patres, auctoritas, senatusconsulta Fasces The Magistrates = execuDve power Two annually elected Consuls (509): imperium •  State Religion •  Command of army (at least two legions) •  Convene senate and assemblies •  Issue edicts with force of law •  Enforce punishment Symbols of power: colored toga; curule chair; lictors with fasces Lincoln Memorial and the fasces US Senate Seal 1 2/7/12 More magistrates •  Quaestor (5th century), finances •  Censor (5th century), census –  enroll ciDzens in census classes acc. to $ –  morality & religious purificaDon –  elected every five years; serve 18 months •  Aedile (4th century), city and public games •  Praetor (4th century), jusDce and army –  Second in rank aaer consuls –  Had imperium and carried fasces Cursus Honorum (Course of Honors: Career Path) • 
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10 years of military service Quaestor age 30 Aedile age 36 Praetor age 39 Consul age 42 Checks & Balances Tremendous power, but… System of checks: •  All magistracies collegial at Rome •  Veto •  Time limit in office •  Cursus honorum (course of honors) Sets sequence of magistracies in a career-­‐path and prescribes appropriate intervals between offices. More about checks & balances Strengths: •  Disperse power, no concentraDon •  Consensus Weaknesses: •  Amateurism •  Danger of paralysis •  Age-­‐ist system 2 2/7/12 Wild Cards in Roman ConsDtuDon 1. Dictator > dictum (word) •  Emergency •  elecDon needs senate, consul, and assembly •  Specific task and limited Dme, 6 months max •  Dangers 2. Tribunes of the Plebs •  Propose legislaDon in Plebeian Assembly •  Intercessio; veto Nobility: nobiles < nosco (I know) Rome as militarisDc state? •  EquaDon of ciDzenship and property ownership with military service •  Popular assembly organized as army •  10 yrs military service before public office •  Highest magistracies defined by imperium •  Discipline and reward system of army! = excepDonal unity at home and on baklefield A Roman funeral •  Nobiles = men who are known or noteworthy •  Inherited, expected to be born with nobility and talent: ingenium •  BUT– sDll requires a lot of you as you live up to your family reputaDon. •  Esp. in military service! 3 2/7/12 Publius Decius Mus Peter Paul Rubens, Death of Consul Decius Mus, c. 1618 Moral: in?mate involvement of aristocracy and warfare -­‐ Three generaDons spanning 4th & 3rd centuries BC -­‐ Bakle of SenDnum 295 BC vs. Samnites -­‐ Devo=o Peter Paul Rubens Decius Mus Addressing the Legions c. 1616 PoliDcal monopoly of nobiles HBO series: Rome. Caesar’s Triumph •  Novus homo (new man) = first of family to be consul (eg. Marius and Cicero) •  If you were elected consul as a “new man”, your family became “noble” •  Hard to do: (res novae) Between 232-­‐133 BC, 50% of consuls were from ONLY 10 GENTES •  Military glory/fame = laus and gloria 4 2/7/12 Relief from Arch of Titus: spoils from sack of Jerusalem Rome’s annual engagement with war? •  Increase territory (key in agrarian economy) •  Slaves (key in agrarian economy when free men are away fighDng) •  Plunder •  CollecDng taxes on new territories •  CompeDDon among aristocracy •  Defensive Imperialism? 5