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their voice was usually heard with attention;^[1] and a prince with a weak or failing title to the throne would naturally cling to them for support.^[2] They were sometimes constituted as a High Court for the trial of criminal cases of national importance, such as conspiring against the rule or life of the Emperor.^[3] They could pass resolutions to be submitted for the approval of the crown;^[4] they had a share in the nomination of some of the higher and lower officials; and they performed generally the duties of a municipal council.^[5]

In addition to the Imperial provinces there was also, to facilitate the work of local government, a subsidiary division of the Empire into Municipia. Every large town or city, with a tract of the surrounding country, was formed into a municipal district and placed under the charge of a local Senate

[Footnote: himself on a decree of the Senate before embarking on the war with

Maximus; Zosimus, v, 43, 44.]

↑ When there was no emperor in the East, after the death of Valens, Julius, the Master of the Forces, applied for sanction to the Senate before ordering the massacre of all the Gothic youth detained as hostages throughout Asia; Zosimus, iv, 26.
↑ As in the case of Anastasius himself; Marcellinus Com., an. 515, etc.
↑ Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 32.
↑ Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 4; XV, ix; Cod., I, xiv. Leo Sap. at last abolished the Senatusconsulta; Nov. Leo., lxxviii.
↑ References to, and a résumé of, modern authorities who have tried to work out the political significance of the Senate at this epoch will be found in Schiller, op. cit. p. 31. I may add that fifty members formed a quorum (Cod. Theod., VI, iv, 9), but a couple of thousand may have borne the title of Senator; Themistius, xxxiv, p. 456 (Dind.). Many of these, however, had merely the "naked" honour by purchase (Cod. Theod., XII, i, 48, et passim), or received it on being superannuated from the public service, but the potential Senators inherited the office or assimilated it naturally on account of their rank. Many of the titular Senators lived on their estates in the provinces; Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 2; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., iii, 6, etc.

[1] When there was no emperor in the East, after the death of Valens, Julius, the Master of the Forces, applied for sanction to the Senate before ordering the massacre of all the Gothic youth detained as hostages throughout Asia; Zosimus, iv, 26.

[2] As in the case of Anastasius himself; Marcellinus Com., an. 515, etc.

[3] Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 32.

[4] Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 4; XV, ix; Cod., I, xiv. Leo Sap. at last abolished the Senatusconsulta; Nov. Leo., lxxviii.

[5] References to, and a résumé of, modern authorities who have tried to work out the political significance of the Senate at this epoch will be found in Schiller, op. cit. p. 31. I may add that fifty members formed a quorum (Cod. Theod., VI, iv, 9), but a couple of thousand may have borne the title of Senator; Themistius, xxxiv, p. 456 (Dind.). Many of these, however, had merely the "naked" honour by purchase (Cod. Theod., XII, i, 48, et passim), or received it on being superannuated from the public service, but the potential Senators inherited the office or assimilated it naturally on account of their rank. Many of the titular Senators lived on their estates in the provinces; Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 2; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., iii, 6, etc.

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