The Last Century of the Republic togobacktoSulla,namelythatpraetorsnowunderwentadoublesortition,
oneforanurbanfunctionduringtheiryearinoffice,andasecondonefora
provincialcommand.ThesequenceisclearlyattestedforVerres:seeVerr.II
,:‘‘heobtainedtheurbanprovincebylot’’(i.e.,becameurbanpraetor);
andII,:‘‘theprovinceofSicilyfelltohimbylot.’’Therearealsowider
issues of social structure which ought to be examined, precisely as a way
ofnottakingthenotionof ‘‘theSenate’’forgranted.Wasthewealthwhich
wasaprerequisiteforbeinganelectedmagistrate,andhence(bycensorial
enrolmentuntilSulla)asenator,alwayspredominantlyderivedfromagri-
culturalproperties?Ifso,howshouldweenvisagethetypicalpatternofthe
geographicaldistributionofasenator’slandedproperties?Whatabouturban
properties(inRomeorelsewhere)?Orsemi-industrialproduction(pottery,
bricks)fromlandedproperties?Orincomefromcommercialactivities?
WhereinRomedidsenatorslive,andwhatweretheirhouseslike?How
large a household did each maintain? These questions are not antiquarian,
or part only of ‘‘social history.’’ For one of the fundamentals of ‘‘govern-
ment’’ in republican Rome was precisely that there were, apart from the
Senate house (Curia) itself, almost no ‘‘government buildings.’’ A senator’s
housefunctionedashispoliticalbase,bothinthesensethatlargenumbers
ofpeoplewerereceivedthere,andinthatheproceededceremoniallyfrom
there,escortedbyfollowers,togodowntotheForumandCuria.Many,but
clearlynotall,wouldliterally‘‘godown’’theViaSacra,becausetheylived,
likeCicero,onthenorthernslopesofthePalatine,intheareaofsubstantial
houses,alignedalongamajordrainagesystemofthearchaicperiod,partly
excavated recently by Andrea Carandini.The symbolic importance of the
aristocratichouse(domus),itspositioningandarchitecturalcharacter,simply
cannot be left out of anyaccount of what ‘‘being a senator’’ amounted to.
SeenowE.M.Steinby,ed.,LexiconTopographicum Urbis RomaeII(),with
hundredsofentriesunder‘‘domus.’’
Thespatialdistributionofthedomusofsenatorsisasignificantquestion,
as is the configuration and forms of occupation of thedomusthemselves.
ExactlyparallelissuesarisewiththemeetingplacesoftheSenate,notonly
theCuriaHostiliainitsexposedlocationontheedgeoftheForum,buta
varietyofothertempla(placesformallyrenderedsacredbyinauguration),for
example,thoseofConcordia,IuppiterStator,andBellona.Therelationsof
thesebuildingstotheirurbancontexts,andtheirsizeandinternalconfigura-
tion(howmanypersonscouldactuallygetintothetempleofConcordiaon
itsnarrowledgebelowtheCapitol?),arealsoimportantquestionsifweare
toenvisagerealisticallyhow‘‘publiclife’’reallyworked(seeM.Bonnefond-
Coudry,Le sénat de la république romaine[]).