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

Political Character of the Classical Roman Republic 

meeting ‘‘in the Comitium.’’^60 In consequence emissaries from victorious
generals could go directly from the Senate to address the people from the
Rostra(seetexttonn.–);andLivymaynotberelyingentirelyonimagi-
nationindescribingsomeRhodianambassadorsin,whenexcludedfrom
the Senate, as standing in the Comitium imploring the by-standers not to
creditthechargesagainstthem(,,–).
FormostofeachyeartheconsulswereawayfromRome,aswere(nor-
mally)fourofthesixpraetors,theholdersofproroguedcommands,military
tribunes,legati(emissaries),andothersabsentonpublicbusiness.Wehaveno
meansofknowinghowtheseabsencesaffectedsenatorialopinionsandvot-
ing,orevenwhatthetypicallevelofattendancewas(thes.c. de Bacchanalibus,
however,prescribesaquorumof).AllthatisprobableisthattheSenate
willhavebeensummonedandconsultedmoreoftenbytheurbanpraetor—
thatis,theoneofthesixpraetorsonwhom,afterelection,thelotforthis
province had fallen—than byanyother magistrate.^61 Once the Senate had
met,weknowverylittle,forthisperiod,abouthowtheorderofspeaking
or the method of voting was determined; a report by Polybius relating to
, however, makes clear that afteropinions had been expressed the pre-
siding urban praetor was free to choosewhich motions to put to thevote
(,).Hereandelsewhereitiscertainthatthemakingofspeechesplayeda
centralrole.WehavealreadyseenvariousexamplesofspeechesintheSen-
ate,ofwhichCato’sspeechfortheRhodiansinisthebestpreserved(see
textton.).ItisunfortunateforourentireconceptionoftheSenatethatso
fewspeechesareexplicitlyattestedashavingbeenmadein the Senateonthe
subjectofproposedlegislation.Butevenwiththatlimitationwecansurely
accepttheimplicationthattheproceedingsoftheSenatetooktheformof
asuccessionofspeeches.Itsdecisionsmayindeedhavebeeneffectivelypre-
determinedbypersonalorgroupallegiancesamongitsmembers;butsuch
allegiances,ifthoughtofasextendingthroughoutthemembersatany
onetime,areentirelyhypothetical.Ifthereisevidenceforthemitshould
beproduced.Forthemoment,thereisnoreasonnottoassumethatitwas
debateintheSenatewhichgaverise(forinstance)tothecomplexconsider-
ationsuponwhich,asPolybiusrecords,itdecidedonoperationsinIllyricum
in(,,–).Here,butnotinlegislation,theSenatecoulddecide,by
makingIllyricumaprovincefortheyear,andallottingforcestoit.Whenit

. SeeSherk(n.),nos.,,,,andotherexamplesfromafterthemid-secondcen-
tury.
. Fordocumentaryexamples,see,e.g.,FIRA^2 I,nos.–;Sherk(n.),nos.,,;
cf.(c...).