Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SENATUSCONSULTUTLM. SENATUSCONSULTUM. 1023
pose of the Circenses was made legal (Plin. IH. N. date and place are also given; and the names of
viii. 17); an old Senatusconsultum. by which those qui scribendo adfuerunt (SC. ARF. in the
" quaestio (servorum) in caput domini prohibeba- Inscription). The names of the persons who were
tur " (Tacit. Anns. ii. 30), a rule of law which witnesses to the drawing up of the SenatusconCicero (prto Milon. 22) refers to Mores as its sultum were called the " auctoritates," and these
foundation. From these instances of Senatuscon- auctoritates were cited as evidence of the fact of
sulta made in the Republican period we may col- the persons nanmed in them having been present at
lect in a general way the kind of matters to which the drawing up of the S. C. (4" id quod ilnl auctothis form of legislation applied. The constitution ritatibus praescriptis extat," Cic. de Or. iii. 2);
of the Senate was such as to gradually bring from which passage, and from another (Cic. ad
within the sphere of its legislation all matters that oPart. v. 2; " illud S. C. ea praescriptione est ")
pertained to religion, police, administration, pro- in which Cicero refers to his name being found
vincial matters, and all foreign relations. And it among the auctoritates of a S. C. as a proof of
seems that the power of the Senate had so far in- his friendship to the person whom the S. C. concreased at the time of the accession of Augustus cerned, it is certain that " praescribo" in its
that it was no great change to make it the only various forms is the proper reading in these Senalegislating body. Pomponius (Dig. 1. tit. 2. s. 2), tusconsulta. (Compare the similar rse of Praethough his historical evidence must be received scriptio in Roman Pleadings [PRAESCRIPTIo].)
with caution, states the matter in a way which There can be no doubt that certain persons were
is generally consistent with what we otherwise required to be present "6 scribendo," but others
know of the progress of Senatorial legislation: might assist if they chose, and a person in this way
" As the plebs found it difficult to assemble, -&c., might testify his regard for another on behalf of
it was a matter of necessity that the administra- whom or with reference to whom the S. C. was
tion of the State came to the Senate: thus the made. (" Cato autemr et scribendo adfuit," &c.
Senate began to act, and whatever the Senate had Cic. ad Att. vii. 1.) Besides the phrase "scridetermined (cossstituisset) was observed (observa- bendo adesse," there are "esse ad scribendtum"
batur), and a law so made is called Senatuscon- (Cic. ad Aft. i. 19), and c" poni ad scribendum "
sultum." (as to which see the curious passage in Cicero, ad
A Senatusconsultum was so named because the Farn. ix. 15). When a S. C. was made on the
Cansul (qui retulit) was said" Senatum consulere:" motion of a person, it was said to be made " in
" Marcivs L. F. S. Postvmivs L. F. Cos Senatvm sententiam ejus." If the S. C was carried, it was
Consolvervnt." (Senatusconsultum de IBacchana- written on tablets and placed in the Aerarium: the
libus.) In the Senatusconsultum De Philosophis et S. C. de Bacchanalibus provides that it shall be
De Rhetoribus (Gell. xv. 11), the Praetor " con- cut on a bronze tablet, but this was for the pursuluit." In the enacting part of a Lex the Populus pose of its being put up in a public place where it
wvas said "jubere," and in a Plebiscitum "scire:" could be read (vbeifyciliveaed gnoscier potisit).
ill a Senatusconsultum the Senate was said " cen- The Senatusconsulta were originally intrusted
selre:" " De Bacchanalibyvs, &e., ita exdeicendvm to the care of the tribunes and the aediles, but in
censvere." (S. C. de Bacch.) In the Senatuscon- the time of Augustus the quaestors had the care of
sulta of the time of Augustus cited by FrontinIus them. (Dion Cass. lv. 36, and the note of Rei(de Aqzaeductibus Romae, ii.), the phrase which marus.) Under the later emperors the Senatusfollows " censuere " is sometimes " placere huic consulta " quae ad principes pertinebant," were
ordini." In Tacitus the verb " censere" is also preserved in " libri elephantini." (Vopiscus,
applied to the person who made the motion for a Tacitees, c. 8.)
Senatusconsultum. (Ann. iv. 20.) Sometimes A measure which was proposed as a Senatusconthe term " arbitrari" is used (Dig. 16. tit. 1. s. 2); sultum might be stopped by the Intercessio of the
and Gaius (i. 4), writing under the Antonines ap- Tribunes, and provision was sometimes made for
plies to the Senatus the terms which originally further proceeding in such case: " si quis huic
denoted the legislative power of the Populus: senatusconsulto intercesserit senatui placere aucto" Senatus jubet atque constituit; idque legis vicem ritatem perscribi (praescribi) et de ea re ad sena.
optinet, quamvis fuit quaesitum," "i Habere sena- tum populumque referri." (Cic. ad Famn. viii. 8.)
tum " is to hold a meeting. of the senate. When This explains one meaning of Senatus auctoritas,
Cn. Pompeius was elected consul for the first time, which is a Senatusconsultum which has been prohis friend M. Varro wrote for his use a treatise posed and not carried, and of which a record was
" de Senatu habendo consulendoque." A Senattus- kept with the " auctoritates eorum qui scribendo
consultumn made before the rising or after the set- adfuerunt." In one passage Cicero calls a S. C.
ting of the sun was not valid. (Gellius, xiv. 7.) which had failed owing to an Intercessio, an AucThe mode in which the legislation of the Senate toritas (ad Fam7. i. 7). One meaning of Auctoritas
was conducted in the Imperial period is explained in fact is a S. C. proposed, but not yet carried
in the article ORATIONES PRINCIPUM. and this agrees with Livy (iv. 57): "Si quis inCertain forms were observed in drawing up a tercedat Sto, auctoritate se fore contentum." If
Senatusconsultnm, of which there is an example in Senatus auctoritas occasionally appears to be used
Cicero (ad Faslz. viii. 8): "S. C. Auctoritates as equivalent to Senatusconsultum, it is an im(for this is the right reading) Pridie. Kal. Octob. proper use of the word, but one which presents no
in Aede Apollinis, scribendo adfuerunt L. Domi- difficulty if we consider that the names which dctius Cn. Filius Ahenobarbus, &c. Quod M. Marcel- note a thing in its two stages are apt to be conlus Consul V. F. (verba -fIcit) de prov. Cons. D. E. founded in popular language, as with us the words
R. I. C. (de ea 1e itca censuzeruznt Uti, dc.)." The pre- Bill and Act. In its general and original sense
amble of the Senatusconsultum de Bacchanalibus Senatus Auctoritas is any measure to which a
is similar, but the names of the consuls come at the majority of the Senate has assented. (See the
beeinnilng and the word is " consolvervnt:" the note of P. Manuitius on Cic. ald [rsms. v.,o)