The Roman Republic
andPollux,Concordia,Bellona,andsoforth;seeM.Bonnefond,‘‘Espace,
tempsetidéologie:leSénatdanslacitéromainerépublicaine,’’Dial.diArch.,
rdser.,I[]:).FortheRostrawasalsoaninauguratedtemplum.But,
giventhattheCuriawasexclusivelyameetingplacefortheSenate,thelack
ofanyclearimageorsymbolicassociationsremainsbaffling.Almostallthat
we hear of it concerns its external features: the two statues of Alcibiades
and Pythagoras outside it, removed when Sulla enlarged the building; the
statue of Attus Navius which stood somewhere before it, and was burned
in (Pliny,NH, ; Coarelli,Il Foro romanoII, –); and thetabula
Valeria,apicturerepresentinghisvictoryovertheCarthaginiansandHiero
in,whichwasplacedonthesidewallbyM’.ValeriusMaximusMessala
(Pliny,NH, ); it was put on the left side as you faced the Curia, just
above thesubsellia(benches) of the tribunes of the plebs (Coarelli, –).
Onceagain,aswithFulviusFlaccus’dedicationsofthepreviousyear,inthe
ForumBoarium,victoriesnowneededtobeexhibitedinpermanentform
beforetheeyesofthepeople.
TheindistinctivenessoftheCuriaasabuildingmaynotbeentirelyacci-
dental,foritoddlymirrorstheindistinctivenessoftheSenateitself inthe
earlyperiod.OursourcesforthemythicalhistoryofearlyRome,ofcourse,
narratethesummoningofaSenateofpatresbyRomulus,relatethistermto
patricians,andspeakofmaioresandminores gentes.Butastothecomposition,
role,andfunctionoftheSenateintheearlyRepublic,theyprovidenovery
clear picture. Insofaras we are told byour sources the storyof a ‘‘conflict
oftheorders’’relatingtopersonalstatus,itconcernseitherelectiveannual
officesorthemembershipofthepriestlycolleges.Itisinnowayaboutthe
righttobeasenator.Allthatwecan(atbest)claimtoknowisthatbeforethe
tribunicianLexOvinia,ofindeterminatedatebefore,theSenateseems
tohavebeenenrolledbytheconsuls;butthatenrolmentnowbecameaduty
laidonthecensorsandconductedbyapublicreadingofthelist.Assuch,this
stepformsaclearpartialparalleltotheprogressiveremovalofthepowerof
appointmentofsomemilitarytribunesbytheconsuls,infavourofpopular
election.
As is self-evident, no historycan bewritten except with the benefit of
hindsight.ThisisdoublysointhecaseofthemiddleRepublic,wherealmost
allourevidenceisitselfretrospective.Whatthisdiscussion—moreareflec-
tion on the period than anyattempt at a reviewof these two interesting,
suggestive,andimportantbooks—isintendedtosuggestisthatourretro-
spectionhasbeengovernedbyafalsepresupposition:thatwhatthepolitical
history of the middle Republic led to was the formation of a ‘‘patrician-
plebeiangoverningclass’’whichexercisedarealcontrolbothsocialandpo-