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The
Roman Senate was the governing council of the Roman Republic
(as opposed to the Roman Empire, which came later). It
is entirely possible this was the first time that anyone
had decided to name the building “the Senate”
after the political body “The Senate”. At
any rate, both were an outgrowth of the council of the
kings. By the 3rd century BC the senate was a group of
300 men with a high degree of political, legislative,
and administrative power at Rome. There were checks and
balances, similar to the checks and balances that exist
in the senates around the world today. The members were
chosen by the censors and included theoretically the best
citizens; but as it worked out, the senate consisted of
ex-magistrates, almost entirely members of a small number
of old families from either the patrician or plebeian
classes. Membership was usually for life. |
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As
Rome expanded senate sent out the armies, made the treaties,
organized the new domains, and controlled finances. The
senatorial conduct of Roman affairs was fairly successful
until 130 BC. After that the senate's provincial administration
of the huge empire was increasingly inefficient and graft-ridden.
Form here on in the Senate would become a symbol for both
the concepts of “law and order” and for the
concepts of “tyranny and graft”. While it
is true that under the Senate system Rome was still a
Republic, but it was far from the democracy we know today.
As years passed the powers of the Senate and the importance
of The Senate waxed and waned, sometimes exacting real
power over emperors and kings, and at other times being
a puppet of a higher power. |
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