IV. The Nobility and the Senate
The senatorial order. The conflict between the principate and the Senate resulted, as we have seen, in the exclusion of members of the senatorial order from all offices of state. But it was unthinkable that the great landed proprietors should be permanently shut out of the public service, and with the loss of any claim to authority by the Senate as a body there was no longer any objection to their entering the service of the emperor. Consequently, the essential distinction be[pg 343]tween the senatorial and equestrian orders vanished and a new senatorial order arose into which was merged a large equestrian element.
The clarissimate. The distinguishing mark of this new senatorial order was the right to the title clarissimus, which might be acquired by inheritance, by imperial grant, or by the attainment of an office which conferred the clarissimate upon its holder, either during his term of service or upon his retirement. Practically all of the higher officials in the imperial service were clarissimi and there was consequently a great increase in the number of senators in the course of the fourth century. The place of the equestrian order was in part filled by the perfectissimate, an inferior order of rank conferred upon lower imperial officials and municipal senators.
The higher orders of rank. The development of an oriental court life with its elaborate ceremonial demanding a fixed order of precedence among those present at imperial audiences, and the increase in the number and importance of the public officials, which necessitated a classification of the various official posts from the point of view of rank, led to the establishment of new and more exclusive rank classes within the circle of the clarissimi. There were in the ascending order the spectabiles, or Respectables, and the illustres, or Illustrious. The illustriate was conferred solely upon the great ministers of state. Under Justinian, in the sixth century, there was established the still higher order of the gloriosi (the Glorious). The official positions, to which these titles of rank were attached, were called dignities (dignitates), and the great demand for admission to these rank classes, which entitled their members to valuable privileges, caused the conferment of many honorary dignities, i. e., titles of official posts with their appropriate rank but without the duties of office.
The patricians and counts. The other titles of nobility were those of patrician and count. The former, created by Constantine I in imitation of the older patrician order, was granted solely to the highest dignitaries, although it was not attached to any definite official post. It was Constantine also who revived the comitiva, which had been used irregularly of the chief associates of the princeps until the death of Severus Alexander, and put it to a new use. The term count became a title of honor definitely attached to certain offices, but also capable of being conferred as a favor or a reward of merit. Like the [pg 344]other titles of rank the patriciate and the comitiva brought with them not only precedence but also valuable immunities.
Nothing illustrates more clearly the importance of official positions than the division of the people of the empire as a whole into two classes—the honestiores (more honorable) and the humiliores (more humble or plebeians). The former class, which included the imperial senators, the soldiers and the veterans, were exempt from execution except with the emperor’s consent, from penal servitude, and, with some limitations, from torture in the course of judicial investigations.
The Senate. The Senate at Rome was not abolished but continued to function both as a municipal council and as the mouthpiece of the senatorial order. After the founding of Constantinople a similar Senate was established there for the eastern part of the empire. At first all clarissimi had a right to participate in the meetings of the Senate, and their sons were expected to fill the quaestorship. However, after the middle of the fifth century only those having the rank of illustris were admitted to the senate chamber, and the active Senate became a gathering of the highest officials and ex-officials of the state. In addition to their functions as municipal councils, the Senates made recommendations for the quaestorship and praetorship, discussed with the imperial officials the taxes which affected the senatorial order and even participated to a certain extent in drafting imperial legislation.
The senators and the municipalities. The most important privilege enjoyed by the senators was their exemption from the control of the officials of the municipalities within whose territories their estates were situated. As we shall see, this was one of the chief reasons for the extension of their power in the provinces.