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Servian Wall
The governing council of Republican Rome. The Senate was established very early and was an outgrowth of the council of the kings.
By the 3d cent. B.C. the senate was a group of 300 men with a high degree of
political, legislative, and administrative power at Rome. There was a consistent
method of ways to checks on its power, usually made by the tribunes. The
members were chosen by the censors and included supposedly the best citizens, but
really the senate consisted of ex-magistrates, almost entirely members of a
special families from either the patrician or plebeian classes. Membership was
usually for life. During the third and second centuries BC the senate governed the
armies, established treaties, organized new territory, and controlled financial
matters.
The History of Rome - Part One 743 - 136 B.C. © Bible History Online (http://www.bible-history.com) |