764 SENATE Paris, Dec. 20, 1770. He became physician to Marshal Saxe in 1745, and accompanied him through his campaigns. In 1752 he was ap- pointed first physician to Louis XV., by whom he was subsequently made a councillor of state and superintendent general of the mineral waters of the kingdom, llis principal work is a Traite de la structure du cceur (2 vols. 4to, !748-'9 ; new ed., enlarged by Portal, 1774). II. Gabriel Senae de Meilhan, son of the prece- ding, born in Paris in 1736, died in Vienna, April 5, 1803. He held various important public offices, and published several works, the best of which is Le gouvernement, let mceurs et les conditions en France avant la revolution (latest edition, with introduction and notes by U. de Lescure, Paris, 1862). SENATE (Lat. senatus, an assembly of elders), the deliberative assembly of the Roman peo- ple. It was composed originally of 100 mem- bers, each representing one of the decurice into which the populus Romanus, or body of the Roman citizens, when it comprehended but a single tribe, the Ramnenses, was divi- ded. When the Sabines or Titienses were in- corporated with the Ramnenses as a second tribe, an equal number of senators was add- ed ; and on the admission of the third tribe, the Luceres or Lucerenses, in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus (according to the opinion of recent critics), the number was increased to 800. The new senators were distinguished from those of the two earlier tribes (who were called patres majorum gentium) by the title of patres minorum gentium. The number was diminished considerably during the reign of Tarquin the Proud, but at the formation of the republic was recruited to the established standard from the principal plebeians of the equestrian order, who were thence called con- scripti, and it was thereafter customary to ad- dress the whole senate as patres conscripti, that is, patres et conscripti. No permanent change seems to have been made in the num- ber of the senators until the time of Sulla, when it was increased to about 600 by the ad- dition of about 300 equites. Julius Caesar cre- ated several hundred new senators, and during the second triumvirate the number exceeded 1,000. Augustus reduced it to 600. The sen- ators held office for life, and were originally men of advanced age; but under Augustus they were admitted in their 25th year. They were elected during the kingly period by the decurice, under the republic by the consuls and consular tribunes, and after the establishment of the censorship by the censors exclusively. The persons eligible to fill vacancies were those who had been qurostors or curule magis- trates, and the latter held seats ex cfficio, and were entitled to speak but not to vote. The plebeians as an order were never eligible, but after the quasstorship and curule magistracies were opened to them, they of course frequent- ly attained to the senatorial dignity. Hence the senate became gradually the real repre- sentative of the people. No property quali- fication seems to have been required previous to the time of Augustus, who established a senatorial census, which was increased from 400,000 sesterces to 1,200,000 ; and any sen- ator falling short of this amount was obliged to withdraw from office. Senators were for- bidden to engage in mercantile pursuits, and no one was eligible to office whose parents were not of free birth ; but from both these requirements there appear to have been fre- quent deviations. The senate met on the kal- ends, nones, and ides of each month during the republic, and under Augustus on the kal- ends and ides only ; but extraordinary meet- ings could be convoked on any day not a dies comitialis or a dies ater, by a variety of magistrates, who on such occasions exercised the privilege of presiding. At regular meet- ings under the empire one of the consuls, or the emperor if a consul, generally presi- ded ; and the number of senators constituting a quorum seems to have varied from about 70 to 400. The title of princeps senatus, which was originally associated with that of custos urbis, and conferred the power of convoking and presiding over the senate, became after the overthrow of the republic purely honorary, and was usually borne by the emperors. After the time of Julius Caesar the proceedings were regularly recorded by scribes appointed for the purpose. The powers of the senate during the republic comprehended the general care of the public welfare, the superintendence of all matters of religion, the management of all affairs with foreign nations, and the disposition of the finances requisite for these purposes. Its enactments, called senatus consul ta, which were passed by a majority of votes, under Augustus and his successors took the place of the leges enacted by the comitia tributa. Its authority was considerably impaired after the institution of the tribunes of the people, and in the latter part of the republic it frequently became merely an instrument in the hands of ambitious generals. The establishment of the empire reduced it to a condition of purely subordinate power, whose functions and very existence were dependent on the will of the emperor ; but as a high court of justice it still possessed a considerable degree of importance. A second senate was established by Constantino at Byzantium, upon which Julian conferred owers similar to those of the Roman senate, he latter body continued in existence until the Gothic conquest of Italy, and seems to have been the last depository of what remained of the old national spirit. The affairs of the Italian cities and provincial towns of the Roman empire were administered by bodies called senates, whose functions were general- ly civic ; and the term is frequently employed in modern times to designate the upper house of the legislature in republican or limited monarchical governments. The senate of the United States is composed of two members for
