Unit 04: Government and Politics
Contents and layout ©1999 Joseph J. Hughes, Ph.D.
Revised 09 November 2000
cursus honorum Senate
censor Centuriate Assembly
consul Council of Plebeians
praetor Tribal Assembly
tribune novus homo
aedile amicitia
quaestor ambitio
dictator contio
I. Roman Citizenship
A. who is a Roman citizen?
1. nominal equality
a. supposedly equal after Conflict of Orders
b. double standard in existence
1). haves vs. have-nots
2). recognized by laws
2. the orders
a. early Republic
1). patricians : actual movers and shakers
2). plebeians : the vulgar masses
b. late Republic
1). nobiles: the mos maiorum gives way to constructive change
2). senators
3). equites
4). the rest
B. rights of Roman citizenship
1. Roman justice
2. right to marry a Roman
3. right to do business in Rome
4. right to vote
C. obligations of Roman citizenship
1. serve in the army
2. pay tax
II. Roman magistracies (cursus honorum)
A. theory
1. built-in failsafes
a. collegiality forestalls abuse of power by one man (intercessio )
b. one-year terms (lex annalis)forestall accumulation of too much power
c. worked well enough up to time of 1st Triumvirate (59 BC)
2. virtual aristocracy
a. officeholders almost exclusively patrician/senators
b. officeholders beholden to the upper class
3. nature of service
a. no payment for holding office
1). service to Roman state an obligation
2). you're already rich, or you'd never have been elected
b. no bureaucracy or staff
1). you pick your own helpers out of relatives, friends, clients
2). you pay them yourself
B. offices: CVRSVS HONORVM "the ladder of honors"
1. censor
a. 2 elected every five years
b. held census of all citizens
c. examined Senators for morality
d. handled public contracts
2. consul (min. age 43)
a. 2 elected every year
b. had imperium and auspicium
c. could convoke assemblies
d. could command armies in the field
e. thought of as CEOs or kings
3. praetor (min. age 40)
a. 2 to 8 (after 2d cent BC) elected yearly
b. had imperium
c. conducted trials in the Forum
d. could command armies in the field
4. tribune
a. product of Conflict of the Orders
b. 10 elected yearly
c. "protectors of the people"
d. had veto power
e. have to be of pure plebeian blood
5. aedile (min. age 34)
a. 4 elected yearly
b. oversaw public works
c. put on cool public games
6. quaestor (min. age 31)
a. 10 elected yearly
b. affiliated with treasury
c. automatic election to Roman Senate
7. dictator
a. elected only in emergencies
b. holds office for no more than 6 months
c. assistant = "master of horse"
C. privileges of office
1. social prestige
a. quaestors automatically became Senators
b. each office had its own "rank"
2. provincial commands
a. went to ex-consuls and praetors
b. very lucrative
III. Roman assemblies
A. Senate
1. open to all ex-quaestors
a. usually around 300 in number
b. only ex-consuls are nobiles
2. gains steadily in influence
a. almost all magistrates were senators
b. magistrates had to toe the line
1). unruly consul one year
2). Senatorial pariah for the next 25 years
c. some senators are much more influential than others
1). depended on how high you made it in the cursus honorum
2). depended on how much the presiding consuls liked you
3. not all members of Senate held equal power
a. how to wield power in Senate
1). be of patrician-noble birth
2). be an ex-consul
3). be wealthy
4). have lots of clients in the Senate
b. otherwise, shut up and vote when it's time
4. may not legislate for state
a. mere technicality
b. senatus consulta have force of law
5. senatorial perks
a. wear broad purple stripe on togas
b. best seats at assemblies and public games
c. remember: no pay for serving in the Senate
d. even the poorest Senators are rich and famous
B. Curiate Assembly
1. stripped of almost all powers
2. confers imperium upon curule magistrates
3. may not legislate for state
C. Centuriate Assembly (Comitia centuriata)
1. members: all citizens
a. vote weighted towards richer citizens
b. supposedly a military assembly
1). throwback to earliest Roman times
2). the more equipment you can afford, the better you fight
3). the better you fight, the more important you are to Rome
4). the more important you are, the more important your vote
c. how it was weighted (193 to 373 "centuries")
1). The wealthy few had disproportionate number o' "centuries"
2). the poor masses had about
2. elects "curule" magistrates (with imperium)
3. legislates for state
D. Council of Plebeians (Comitia plebis tributa)
1. plebeians only
2. elects the 10 tribunes
3. transacts same business as Centuriate assembly
a. legislates for state
b. trials for non-capital offences + appeal from capital sentences
c. generally quicker than Centuriate assembly
E. Tribal Assembly (Comitia populi tributa)
1. established by Appius Claudius
2. members: all citizens
a. voting in tribes supposedly fairer
b. rich still exerted influence
3. elects aediles and quaestors
4. legislates for state
F. The contio
1. summoned by any elected magistrate
a. not to pass legislation
1). that was the privilege of the asssemblies
2). that was too democratic
b. opportunity to discuss proposed legislation
1). elected magistrates and others do the talking
2). the populus sounds off with its reaction
2. Any and all allowed to attend
a. Men of course
b. Women, kids, and slaves even
3. About as directly democratic as it actually got in Rome
G. legislative chaos in Rome
1. three assemblies have power to legislate
a. four including the Senate
b. all have equal jurisdiction
2. who really gets to vote?
a. all citizens supposedly
b. rich people's votes carry more weight
c. all voting done in downtown Rome
1). if you can get there from the boonies, you vote
2). if not, not
3. great potential for chaos
a. strike out one place, try in another
b. Roman state lurched on
4. analogy: who legislates on the federal level in US?
IV. Political campaigns
A. realities of political rights
1. changes in eligibility
a. restricted to patricians until after conflict o' the orders
b. plebeians theoryetically eligible after
2. Senatorial class alone elected
3. the novus homo not a frequent occurrence
a. not from a noble family
b. crashes the ranks by being elected consul
c. examples
1). M. Porcius Cato: conservative
2). C. Marius: radical
3). M. Tullius Cicero: conservative
B. political "parties"
1. inaccuracy of term "parties"
a. only Senatorial class ran for office
b. Roman politics extremely self-interested
c. no such thing as "party unity"
1). much more loyal to individuals
2). much more loyal to particular classes
2. optimates
a. courted the upper class
b. governed on behalf of upper class
3. populares
a. made noises about issues concerning the lower class
b. governed on behalf of upper class
c. tended to become optimates as they moved up the cursus honorum
C. how to win an election
1. amicitia
a. make influential friends
1). buy them
2). marry into their families
3). do them a favor (patron-client)
b. have them help you
c. return the favor some time
2. ambitio
a. voting system very corrupt
1). loaded toward the wealthy
2). poor folks could be bought
b. bribery laws not very eefective
1). difficult to convict
2). seldom had sting
3. campaign speeches
a. bogus issues
1). style more important than substance
2). important to run negative campaign
b. tremendous freedom of speech
1). libel more of a right than a crime
2). nothing or nobody was sacred
V. Failure of the system
A. problems with the -cursus- -honorum-
1. collegiality often a hindrance to concerted action
2. one-year terms worked against continuity
a. magistrates scared of Senate
b. Senate accordingly too powerful
B. vested Senatorial interests too strong
1. fanatically resisted needed change
a. influence of the mos maiorum again
b. custom of the Senate prevailed, usually optimates
2. looked out for their own interests
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