Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

Political Character of the Classical Roman Republic 

goustoatrueparliament.Butonceagainitmustbestressedhowlittlewe
knowoftheSenateasawhole,asapoliticalbody.Underthetermsofthe
tribunician Lex Ovinia of the later fourth century its  members were
enrolledbythecensors,inofficeforeighteenmonthsoutofeachfive-year
period.Ifabouttwelvenewmemberswereneededperannumtokeepup
the full complement,^54 each pairof censors will have enrolled about sixty,
orafifthofthetotal.However,hardlyanyevidencefromthisperiodeven
illustratestherelevantcriteria.Forthatwehavetogobacktotheemergency
enrolmentof,whenwerechosen,inthefollowingorderofprefer-
ence: men elected to a curule magistracy since the last censorship; former
aediles,tribunesoftheplebs,andquaestors;holdersofminormagistracies;
thosewhohadsetupcapturedspoilsathomeorwonacivilcrown(Livy,
, –, ). Similarly, it was evidently significant when a tribune of the
plebswasnotenrolledbythecensorsof/(Livy,,).
Eachpairofcensorswillinfacthaveenrolledrathermorethansixtymem-
bers,becausetheyalsonormallyejectedsome,oftenasmallnumber;these
areseveraltimesidentifiedbyLivyasmenwhohadnotheldacuruleoffice.^55
ButinafamousincidentValeriusFlaccusandCatoin/ejectedanex-
consul,L.QuinctiusFlamininus,and(seetextton.)justifiedthisstepin
speechesbeforethepeople.Inthenineejectionsincludedapraetorand
anex-praetor(n.).
Itisclear,therefore,thatmembershipoftheSenatenormallydepended,
intheloosewaydescribed,onelectiontopublicoffice;theclassofelected
office-holdersandtheclassofsenatorswerethusroughlyco-extensive.Be-
yondthat,itwouldbeabsurdtopretendthatwehaveanythinglikeenough
evidencetocharacterizetheattitudes,votingbehaviourorpersonalorgroup
attachments of its  members at any one time. All that we can observe
is that, in those areas where the Senate had an effective right of decision,
recognizableelementsofpoliticalbehaviourcameintoplay.Greekambas-
sadorsmightmaketheroundsofsenators’housestogathersupport(seetext
tonn.–).AconsulmightattemptbyaspeechintheSenatetogetittore-
versetheallotmentofprovincesfortheyear(Livy,,–).Inthehighly
contentiousareaofthegrantingoftriumphsthefriendsandrelativesofthe
imperatorwouldtrytousetheirinfluence.Thusapraetorofreturnedto
Romefromcampaign,andspeechesbyhimselfandhisfriendspersuadedthe

. Hopkins(n.),.
. Thussevenofnon-curulerankin,Livy,,;threein,,,;four
in , , , ; three in  (no rank given), , , ; nine in , , ,  (see below,
otherwisenorankgiven);sevenin,norankgiven,,,.