Discuss the role of the Senate in imperial Rome. How did the presence of an emperor affect it?

THE ROLE OF THE SENATE IN IMPERIAL ROME AND HOW THE PRESENCE OF AN EMPEROR AFFECTED IT
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Brief History of Rome
“The founding of Rome dates back to the very early days of civilization” (Woolf 2001, p. 312). The place is so old that it earned itself the name ‘the eternal city.’ Modern history believes that the Roman Empire was founded somewhere around 625 BC; however, the Romans themselves believe that their empire was established in 753 BC. Kings were the top governing authorities in the early Roman Empire. However, after the reign of just seven kings, the Romans took possession of their city and started ruling themselves. Instead of Kings, they introduced a council called the Senate which governed them. After the introduction of the Senate, Rome ceased being an empire; it became a republic. The word republic is derived from the Latin word res publica which stands for “matters of the state or public matters” (Woolf 2001, p.319). Under the kings, the senate was only existent to serve as advisors to the king. After becoming a republic, the Roman senators were given the power to appoint a consul who ruled the republic like a king for just a year. Unlike the King, the Consul ruled carefully without any tyranny because he knew he had a short term and once he was out of office, the next Consul could easily punish him for any injustices he carried out against his people.
During this period and the period before, Rome maintained four social groups for its residents.

The slaves occupied the lowest class in the social hierarchy. They were owned by individuals who allowed them no rights whatsoever. The plebeians were just one class ahead of the slaves in the societal hierarchy. These were free people who had very little say in important matters to the society. The equestrians; also known as the Knights, occupied the second highest class of people in the community. Their group was given a name whose other meaning is ‘the riders’ because they whenever they were required to fight for the empire or the republic, they were given some horses to ride. One had to be rich to become an equestrian. The Roman nobles occupied the top class of the Roman society. This group was also referred to as the Patricians. They were the wielders of the real power in Rome. The Republic of Rome enjoyed tremendous successes as a government. Its existence spanned from 510 BC to 23 BC; nearly half a millennium (Bury 2013, p.13).
One of the biggest challenges that the Roman Republic faced was dealing with the Carthaginians. The city if Carthage was arguably the most powerful city in North Africa. Like Rome, it had full control of its empire. The fight between the Roman and Carthaginian Empire was lengthy and was fought on both land and sea. One of the greatest events during this war was when General Hannibal of the Carthaginians managed to cross the Alps mountain chain to the northern parts of Italy with all his troops and war elephants to invade Rome. In the year 146 BC, Rome managed to vanquish the Carthaginians completely. Julius Caesar was without a doubt, the most famous Roman citizen. Caesar was a general and a politician who conquered large sections of the Gaul’s territory to the northern part of his province without any orders or instructions to do so. In 49 BC, he managed to cross river Rubicon, a small river between Italy and his province and conquered Rome then ruled them as a dictator. His military endeavors also led him to Egypt where he encountered the famous Cleopatra. However, his life came to a dramatic end when he was murdered in the Roman Senate. Caesar was so famous that the month of July was named after him and his heirs. In the end, the Barbarians overrun the Roman Empire “from the north and east of Europe” (Woolf 2001, p.321). The great migrations that took place around three times s in history proved too much for the Romans to handle. It weakened the empire whose collapse became complete after being conquered by Visigoth Odoacer and his army in 476 AD.
The Roman Senate
In Imperial Rome, as has been mentioned before, the Senate played the role of an advisory and a governing council. Over time, the Senate proved to be the most permanent aspect of the Roman constitution. It grew as an advisory council in the ancient monarchy with a total of 300 members in 509 BC. “During this period, there was a distinction between” the family heads of the lesser and those of the greater families (Frier 2014, p. 15). All through the monarchical era, all members of the Senate were Patricians and its powers were indefinite. In 509 BC, after the monarchy was abolished, “the Senate became an advisory council of consuls (the two highest magistrates)” (Habinek 2001, p.39). It used to meet only when the consuls felt like and was tasked with the role of appointing these consuls; therefore, its powers became secondary to those of the magistrates. However, whereas the Senate was permanent in both prestige and experience, the consuls were allowed to be in office for just one year. A consul would rarely venture in disrespecting the advice given by the Senate because he would, according to the customs of the city, become a senator after retiring from the consul’s office; this was the first avenue through which Plebeians got into the Senate. However, in the early years of the republic, the Senate maintained the role of an advisory body with no clear executive powers.
In the final 200 years of the Roman Republic, a tremendous change took place. The Senate was transformed into “a self-perpetuated, automatically constituted the body,” free of the yearly magistrates and a factor with extensive powers enshrined in the constitution of Rome (Habinek 2001, p.47). In around 312 BC, the power of senators’ selection was shifted to the censors from the consuls. In 81 BC, an automatic Senate composition was secured, and the number of quaestors increased to 20 (Habinek 2001, p.47). Also, legislation was passed that allowed all quaestors to get into the Senate at once. By this time, the power of the senators had by far extended its earliest prerogatives. The house had gained more efficient control through observing certain unwritten rules that governed the relationship between magistrates and senators; people it initially used to advice. It then became Rome’s principal governing body and gave advice on legislation, foreign policies, and religious and financial matters. It also gained the right to give tasks to magistrates and prolong their terms in office, appoint commissions in the Senate to help magistrates organize subdued territories, and decide which two provinces would be entitled to a counsel. The earlier influence it had on foreign policy developed into a certain claim to carry out all negotiations with any foreign power. However, treaty ratifications and war declarations were referred to the Roman populace. The house often played arbitrators in disputes involving Italian client-states, provinces, and communities.
Although senators were temporarily barred from trading, the mandate to control finance still lay squarely in the hands of the Senate. Three situations played out together to bring about that state of affairs. First, the leasing of public revenue was entrusted to occasional officials known as the censors. The Senate had the authority to order the censors to redraft contractors. Second, the quaestors who were inexperienced magistrates were entrusted with the public expenditure details. And finally, the Senate assumed direction of the income generated by the provinces by exercising control over provincial matters. It also assumed the role of allowing occupation and directing alienation of land that belonged to the public. Therefore, every arm of state finance was in its hands; it supervised the treasury and regulated all revenue and expenditure.
The Tribunes, starting with Tiberius Gracchus and the top military officials, challenged the ever broadening power and influence of the Senate. These people put their administrative powers against those of the Senate. Sulla made a brief attempt to restore the senate’s supremacy; however, the repeated strokes against the Senate’s authority overran his efforts and led to its collapse. After the civil war that took place between 49-45 BC, the number of senators, which Sula had initially increased from 500 to 600 was severely depleted (Winterling 2009, p.17). Julius Caesar reviewed the list and increased the number to 900 (Winterling 2009, p. 21). Most of the people in Caesar’s list were his supporters. Only a small number of the senators who were opposed to Caesar survived the drastic change in the senate’s composition. The incoming council of senators included many municipal Italians, knights, and a few Gaulish provincials.
Since Emperor “Augustus officially restored the Republic,” in 27BC, there was a need to at least preserve the outward prestige of the Senate (Winterling 2009, p.32). Even though the emperor did not share his authority with the Senate, he permitted it to liaise with him in most political spheres. The Senate remained in charge of the regular administration of Italy and Rome, as well as the provinces that did not need any military power or pose any unique administrative challenges. The house kept on running the treasury, but the emperor soon overshadowed it. He only allowed it to supervise the coinage of copper. The Senate got judicial roles and became a court of law for the first time. It was fully capable of trying extortion cases in the provinces. This new judicial role gradually rendered the authority of the elective assemblies extinct (TLE 2005, p.181). The orders issued by the Senate then slowly took the place of the bills that the assemblies used to adopt in ordinary matters. However, the Senate decrees did not gain immediate recognition as laws. Although the house acquired a new and dominant role, it lost all the control it had over foreign policy. Even though the emperor occasionally consulted the Senate on matters of foreign policy, the house was entirely subordinate to him in this area. The emperor has the power to convene Senate meetings and preside over them. In these meetings, his communications and reports would take precedence over those of the Senate. His name also came before the names of all the senators and could virtually choose new senators whenever he felt like.
The number of provincial and Italian senators went up, especially under the rule of Vespasian. However, the Italians still outnumbered the provincials until the time of Septimius Severus. This period was somewhere between 193 AD and 211AD. Initially, most of the provincials originated from Narbonese Gaul and Spain, but later most of them came from Africa and Asia. “Under Gallienus, the Senators lost the right to command legions and much of their part in provincial administration” (Ando 2000, p.39). Under Constantine, there was virtually an amalgamation of the senate and the knights who were prime benefactors of the changes that had been introduced. In the 4th century, the number of senators rose to approximately 2000 (Ando 2000, p.42). The fact that Constantine came up with a replica Senate in Constantinople goes to show that the Senate was still viewed as a representative and essential part of the Roman constitution.
The most respected and influential senators were those who owned vast tracts of land across the empire (the great land owners). Their position in the Senate almost became feudal. A majority of these senators often failed to move away from the comforts of their estates to attend the senatorial meetings. Even during the early years of the Roman Republic when the Senate acted merely as the Roman town council, it still acted when senators failed to attend Senate sessions. Therefore, it was no surprise that it still took action against the landowners who failed to attend most of the meetings that required their presence. Many of the people in this group were civilized men who were representations of the civilization of Rome in the midst of growing barbarism. They tried to sustain paganism in Italy for as long as they possibly could. However, in the 5ht century, some of the great landowners in the Senate helped the barbarian leaders to stand against the authority of the Roman Empire (Frier 2014, p.56). That century marked the end of any documented activity of the Roman Empire; it completely vanished in the 6th century (Ando 2000, p.44).
Conclusion
From the article, one can see why the Roman Empire was so famous under emperors like Julius Caesar. The article also takes one through the various phases of the Roman Senate. Any keen reader can see that the Senate played many different roles at different times of the Roman history. During the era of kings, the house served merely as a body to offer advice to the king. After the abolition of the senate, the house got a more significant role of appointing consuls who were to head the Empire for not more than one year then retire as senators. However, the gist of this paper was the role of the Roman Senate when Rome was still an empire and not a republic. During this period, the paper talks about the house playing roles like offering advice on matters like foreign policy, finance and religion, legislation, and governance etcetera. The power of the house also fluctuated and went down as time went by and as new emperors emerged. The fact that the power of the Senate varied with time and rulers means that emperors indeed had a role to play in determining the duties and composition of the Senate. The more powerful the emperor, the less powerful the Senate became. Emperors like Caesar took away most of the powers of the Imperial Senate and made themselves so powerful that the Senate could not operate if they said so. Concisely, emperors were, in some way, responsible for determining how the Senate ran and when it ran.
References
Ando, C., 2000. “Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire (Vol. 6).” Univ
of California Press.
Bury, J.B., 2013. “History of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. 2:” From the Death of Theodosius I
to the Death of Justinian. Courier Corporation.
Frier, B.W., 2014. Landlords and tenants in imperial Rome. Princeton University Press.
Habinek, T.N., 2001. “The politics of Latin literature: writing, identity, and empire in ancient
Rome.” Princeton University Press.
T LE, C.I.A.H., 2005. From exempla to exemplar? Writing history around the emperor in
imperial Rome. Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome, p.181.
Winterling, A., 2009. Politics and society in imperial Rome. John Wiley & Sons.
Woolf, G., 2001. Inventing empire in ancient Rome. Alcock et al., 2001, pp.311-22.