Catullus

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SOCIAL CLASSES
1. Senators - ruling class, usually from wealthy, noble families with a tradition of holding public office. Supporters are known as Optimates.
2. Equestrians - business class, well-to-do business men, bankers, and publicani (tax-collectors in the provinces).
3. Plebeians - all remaining freeborn citizens, merchants, manual laborers, and peasants. Supporters are known as Populares.(Could be of patrician or equestrian orders)
4. Freedmen - former slaves. May vote (men only) and own property (men and women), but may not hold high office.
5. Slaves - obtained through wars and piracy, children of poor families, volunteers (very few) who hoped to gain a better life, no rights. At the end of the republic there were more than 2 million slaves - over 20% of the population of Italy.
VOTING ASSEMBLIES
1. Comitia Curiata
  1. Most ancient voting assembly
  2. Made up of any citizen able to bear arms
  3. Senate needed to confirm any decrees or resolution they imposed.
2. Comitia Centuriata
  1. Organized by wealth
  2. Voters grouped into centuries
  3. Only 100 men - One vote per century
  4. Meets in Campus Martius
  5. Elects higher magistrates: consuls, praetors, censors
  6. Can declare war.
3. Comitia Tributa/Concilium Plebis
  1. Organized by location of residence
  2. Voters grouped into tribes
  3. One vote per tribe
  4. Meets in Forum or Campus Martius
  5. Elects lesser magistrates: quaestors, aediles, tribunes and later Pontifax Maximus.
  6. Pass laws
SENATE
1. Membership automatic upon election to quaestorship.
2. Lifetime membership unless removed by censor.
3. Meets in Curia (senate house) or a temple.
4. Duties
  1. Declare war, if Comitia Centuriata agrees.
  2. Levy troops
  3. Grant triumphs (victory parades) to generals
  4. Make peace treaties
  5. Appoint governors to provinces
  6. Oversee the treasury
  7. Declare religious festivals
5. Senatus consultum - decree of the senate.
6. Senatus consultum ultimum - special "final" decree of the senate. Gives consuls absolute power in an emergency.
7. Privileges
  1. Tunic with purple stripe
  2. Toga praetexta (purple stripe)
  3. Boots with special strap
  4. Gold ring
  5. Curule chair
  6. Lictors carrying fasces (bundles of rods with ax)
  7. Front-row seats in arena and theater
MAGISTRATES
1. Cursus honorum (fixed order of 1 year offices)
  - Two year wait between running for new office
  - Ten year wait between running for same office
  - No salary
  1. Quaestor (20, minimum age 31) - treasurer
  2. Aedile (4, minimum age 37) - supervised games, streets, and public buildings
  3. Praetor (8, minimum age 40) - judge. Has imperium. Afterwards, could become propraetor (provincial governor).
  4. Consul (2), minimum age 43) - president. Has imperium. Afterwards, could become proconsul (provincial governor).
2. Other magistrates
  1. Tribunes of the plebs - 10 plebeians elected to look after the interests of the common people, sacrosanct, veto power, (veto = "I forbid"), established after revolt of Plebs in 509 BC, defend the rights and interests of plebeians, served first in the Comitia Tributa, accompanied by viatores not lictors, always accessible to any plebeian (could not leave Rome).
  2. Censors - 2, usually ex-consuls, elected every five years. Serve 1 1/2 year term. Take census, oversee public morals, control list of senators.
  3. Dictator - appointed by consuls only in an emergency. Has absolute power for six months.

Roman Government