Senate

Senate, in ancient Rome, the governing and advisory council that proved to be the most permanent element in the Roman constitution.

Under the early monarchy the Senate developed as an advisory council; in 509 bc it contained 300 members, and a distinction existed within it between the heads of the greater and of the lesser families. Throughout the monarchical period the Senate consisted entirely of patricians, and its powers at this time were indefinite.

With the abolition of the monarchy in Rome in 509 bc, the Senate became the advisory council of the consuls (the two highest magistrates), meeting only at their pleasure and owing its appointment to them; it thus remained a power secondary to the magistrates. However, the consuls held office only for one year, whereas the Senate was a permanent body; in experience and prestige, its individual members were often superior to the consuls of the year. A consul would seldom venture to disregard the advice of the Senate, especially because he himself, in accordance with steadily growing custom, would become a senator at the end of his year of office. (It was probably in their capacity of former magistrates that plebeians first entered the Senate.) But in the early Republic the Senate remained an advising body and assumed no definite executive powers.

More From Britannica

ancient Rome: The Senate of ancient Rome

In the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, a great change took place. The Senate became a self-perpetuating, automatically constituted body, independent of the annual magistrates, and a recognized factor in the Roman constitution, with extensive powers. About 312 bc the selection of senators was transferred from the consuls to the censors, who normally chose former magistrates. In 81 bc Sulla secured an automatic composition for the Senate by increasing the number of quaestors to 20 and enacting that all former quaestors should pass at once into the Senate.

The Senate’s powers had by this time extended far beyond its ancient prerogatives. The Senate had acquired more effective control through the observance of certain unwritten rules regulating the relation between Senate and magistrates, to whom it formally gave advice. It became the chief governing body in Rome and tendered advice on home and foreign policy, on legislation, and on financial and religious questions. It acquired the right to assign duties to the magistrates, to determine the two provinces to be entrusted to the consuls, to prolong a magistrate’s period of office, and to appoint senatorial commissions to help magistrates to organize conquered territory. Its earlier influence upon foreign policy developed into a definite claim to conduct all negotiations with a foreign power, although the formal declaration of war and ratification of treaties were referred to the people. It often acted as arbitrator in disputes among Italian communities, provincials, or client-states.

Although individual senators after 218 bc were debarred from trading, the control of finance was in the Senate’s hands. Three circumstances had combined to bring this about. The censors, who were only occasional officials, were entrusted with the leasing of the public revenues; the Senate could order them to redraft contracts. Second, the details of public expenditure were entrusted to the quaestors, young and inexperienced magistrates whom the Senate could guide. Third, the general control exercised by the Senate over provincial affairs implied its direction of the income derived from the provinces. It also claimed the right of granting occupation and decreeing alienation of public lands. Every branch of state finance was therefore in its hands; it controlled revenue and expenditure and supervised the treasury.

This ever-widening influence and power of the Senate was challenged by tribunes from the time of Tiberius Gracchus onward (133 bc) and, more particularly, by the military leaders, from Marius onward, who pitted their administrative power against the authority of the Senate. Despite the short-lived attempt of Sulla to reinstate the Senate’s ascendancy, the Republic collapsed under these repeated blows against the authority of the Senate. As a result of the civil war of 49–45 bc, the number of senators (which Sulla had earlier raised to 500 or 600) was seriously depleted. Julius Caesar revised the list and increased the Senate to 900, naturally filling it with his own supporters. The composition of the Senate thus underwent a considerable change: few of the senators who had opposed Caesar survived; the new senators included many knights and municipal Italians and even a few provincials from Gaul.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

Because Augustus officially “restored the Republic” (27 bc), it was essential to preserve—at least outwardly—the prestige of the Senate. Although the emperor did not share his basic power with the Senate, he did allow it to cooperate with him in most of the spheres of government. It was left at the head of the ordinary administration of Rome and Italy, together with those provinces that did not require any military force or present special administrative difficulties. It continued to administer the treasury but was soon overshadowed by the emperor, who allowed it to supervise the copper coinage alone. The Senate received judicial functions and for the first time became a court of law, competent to try cases of extortion in the senatorial provinces. The legislative powers of the popular elective assemblies became very gradually extinct, and decrees of the Senate came to take the place of legislative bills adopted by the assemblies in ordinary matters although they did not at first acquire full recognition as laws. On the other hand, the Senate lost all its control of foreign policy; and, though it was occasionally consulted by the emperor, it was entirely subordinate to him in this department. The emperor could convene and preside over the Senate, his report and other communications taking precedence; his name also headed the list of senators. He could also select new senators virtually at will. They numbered ordinarily 300.

The number of Italian and provincial senators increased (especially under Vespasian), but the Italians were not outnumbered by the provincials until after the reign of Septimius Severus (ad 193–211). At first the provincials came predominantly from Spain and Narbonese Gaul, but later there were more Asians and Africans. Under Gallienus, senators lost the right to command legions and much of their part in provincial administration. Under Constantine they were virtually amalgamated with the knights, who had benefited from these changes. The number of the new senators rose in the 4th century to about 2,000. That the Senate was still regarded as a representative and necessary part of the constitution is shown by Constantine’s creation of a duplicate Senate in Constantinople.

The most important senators were the great landowners throughout the empire, whose position became almost feudal. A great number of them failed to leave their estates to attend meetings, and the Senate often acted—as it had in the early days of the Republic—merely as a town council for Rome, under the chairmanship of the prefect of the city. Many of the great senatorial landowners were men of culture who represented Roman civilization amid increasing barbarism and tried to uphold paganism in Italy. In the 5th century, however, some of them helped the barbarian leaders against the imperial authority. In the 6th century the Roman Senate disappears from the historical record; it is last mentioned in ad 580.