during his lifetime. At his death the sovereignty naturally reverted to the elders. This view of the situation Livy has expressed, when, after mentioning the death of Tullus Hostiulius, he remarks (I. 31. 1), res, ut intitutum iam inde ab initio erat, ad patres rediit. This view that the senate was the ultimate source of authority was the aristocratic theory of the constitution down to the end of the republican period, and was the cause of violent and protracted struggles, first between patricians and plebeians, and later between the nobilitas and the democracy.
16. Method of Selecting a King. The supreme executive power, which thus reverted to the senate, and in the later republican period to the patrician senators, was exercised by that body in a peculiar fashion. A member of the senate, bearing the title of interrex, and chosen in a way not entirely clear to us, assumed charge of the affairs for a period of five days. He nominated a second interrex, and this sytem was continued until a king was selected. The choice was made by the interrex in harmony with the wishes of the senate, and was submitted by him for approval to the people assembled by curiae. The senate then ratified the selection by passing the auctoritas patrum, and the candidate was formally declared king by the interrex. The ceremony ended when the newly elected king had taken the auspices and had been vested with the imperium by the lex curiata de imperio. The selection of a king rested essentially with the senate. His election or confirmation by the people was a matter of form, although, since the king was primarily the leader of the army, the hearty support of the fighting men of the community was a matter of great importance. Since the real selection of the king was made by the senate through one of its own number, the auctoritas patrum had a formal significance
