Rogatio Servilia de Legati

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Rogatio Servilia de Legati

Postby Quintus Servilius Priscus on Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:46 pm

I, Quintus Servilius Priscus of Gens Servilia, propose the creation of the Office of Legatus for the Societas Via Romana ("SVR").

The Legatus will be an appointed official. Each Legatus shall serve a specific regio, the regiones to be defined by the leadership and/or membership of the SVR. The duties of this position will be as follows:

A. Outreach: The Legatus shall act as a Liaison between the SVR and other Roman living-history organizations. He or she shall help recruit new members and otherwise be responsible for the official promotion of the Societas Via Romana. This can include the making and distributing of flyers and the attending of events related to the themes of the Societas.

B. Orientation: The Legatus shall serve as a newcomer’s guide (praeceptor) for new Sodales in his or her regio.

C. Public Relations: The Legatus shall represent and speak for the Societas, serving as the "Face of the SVR" in his or her regio.

Legati may also perform other duties assigned by the leadership of the SVR as needed.

The Legatus shall be appointed by the leadership of the SVR. Any active Sodalis may send a request to the leadership to be considered for the post of Legatus.

A Legatus may, on his or her own authority appoint a praefectus as an assistant.

If the Legatus steps down or attains higher office, the praefectus will temporarily fill the position. The Legatus may recommend a member to the leadership as his or her permanent replacement.

If the regio managed by the Legatus attracts enough Members to become a Province, the Legatus will become its Propraetor or Provincial Governor. The new Propraetor will recommend a replacement, possibly his or her praefectus to the leadership of the Societas.

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Postby Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:39 pm

salve

I have no objection to the creation of a Legatus. Just that, what to do if we don't find anyone to take that position? Looking back at previous elections, the problem we faced some of the time was the lack of participation to volunteer for certain positions.
Maybe it would be wise to first check our current positions to see if we can add the functions of a legatus to a existing function.
vale

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SVR Legati

Postby Aldus Marius on Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:27 am

Salve, mi Servili, et Salvete omnes!

I know what this looks like: "Hei, let's create another office (magistracy, whatever) for nobody to occupy!" But that's not what it is, at all.

I agree with anyone who says the last thing the SVR needs is more administrative structure. Mehercule, we've never had enough volunteers to support the one we've got. This organization began with less than fifteen members...and if the original Regula had been carried out to the letter, every spankin' one of 'em would've been a Magistrate. Anyone who understands this, you're right: Who needs it?

But the original Regula had a phase-in schedule for the magistracies. We were not expected to start with a full slate. We actually launched the Societas with just one Censor, one Rogator (election official), and one Aedilis (Web-head). We didn't get a Consul until there'd gotten to be 15 of us; no magistrate had a colleague until we had 35 members. And if we'd kept our 'government' scaled to the size of the active membership, we could do just fine with a handful of magistrates even now.

If they made me interrex for a day and I had to start us from scratch, I'd have one Censor; one Consul; one Aedilis; a Tribunus Plebis to complain to, since we would be Praetor-less and none of the other magistrates would have a colleague to veto him; and a five-member Senate, none of whom would be then-serving magistrates.

There. There's your government. Nine active members; and the rest could go on about their business, doing what they do best, what they came to the SVR to do: whatever Cool Roman Thing they like.

I think this, rather than the distractions of elections and selections and detections and defections, would be a healthy (very) first step in making the Societas Via Romana a more Roman experience for the people who are already in it.

This rogatio addresses the needs of the people who are not in the SVR...yet.

I have assumed from the first that any Sodalis who thinks enough of this place has been out there bragging on us to his or her friends. Many of those friends, kinfolk, or coworkers have come to check us out, and a decent number of them have joined. But they have done this through the Web site, and what they have joined still remains almost solely a Web community. Our original vision would have featured much more face-to-face contact; personal correspondence; voluntary alliances such as with praeceptores, patrons, and gentes; and live events. We never did as much of this as we'd planned to. And now, except for the "bragging on us" part, I don't know if it gets done at all.

Bene, that's where Quintus Servilius' proposed Legatus comes in.

When a potential Roman-in-Spirit decides that the SVR is something he would like to be a part of, who would be his first official point-of-contact? --His regio's Legatus. To whom would he direct newbie questions, if he doesn't know anyone here? --Perhaps a Legatus. And, very importantly to our situation: Who could we get to brag on us more widely, more thoroughly, and more effectively than anyone else? ...Bingo.

We don't have enough active members. We never did, and many of the ones we used to have are either semi-retired or actually gone. Those left behind must get tired of the same half-dozen people running the same few things. Guess what--so do "the same half-dozen people". Wouldn't we like to get back to doing our Cool Roman Things?

New blood is necessary to anything living. In our case it is not only desirable, but it is the only real solution I can see for any of the things that now ail us. I'm not for counting up tally-marks, mind you, or seeking numbers just for numbers' sake. But if recruitment were at least partially a face-to-face endeavor, I'm thinking we could end up with a whole new breed of Sodalis. Active people, excited people, people who arrive already knowing someone here, people who would want to form themselves into Roman social groupings such as gentes, because they see themselves as Romans and that is the sort of thing they find natural to them.

Because we need new blood, and because, at this point, it is going to take a concerted effort to get it, I am strongly in favor of establishing the Legati. They would be the bridge between the "SVR-as-Web-club" and the real-life contacts that we hope are going to bring us more active members. Anything (ethical) we can do to get more active, excited people in the SVR is good. If we can assign those tasks to people who make it their business to let the rest of the Roman world know that we're here, that's going to help everybody--newbies and "Establishment" alike.

Mi Aureli, you ask (and others wonder, I'm sure) where we're going to get Legati. Maybe nowhere, you're right; in which case we're right where we started...but with provision for a Legatus if any future Sodalis would like to become one. And once someone does step up, even for a limited region, he may (once appointed) go looking for people with volunteering tendencies himself.

This is the only SVR office that could be self-replenishing. (Unless I've made the Aedileship look tempting... <g>) It is also the only one that comes with the possibility of getting a promotion. You've heard me already about performance incentives for the magistrates. A good Legatus can take credit for making a regio into a Province, and find himself in the governor's chair. Hei, if outreach is your thing, who can beat that?

The other notable feature is that Legati would be appointed only as needed. This, as sensible as it seems, is a departure from SVR practice, which at one time or another has saddled us with all manner of magistracies whether we needed them, or could find people to hold them, or not. We don't have to scramble to find Legati; there is no fixed number of them that we're supposed to have. When we get a volunteer for PR work...we make him or her a Legatus. When we get enough Sodales in a regio to need one, we ask one of 'em if s/he'd like to be their Legatus. When someone joins us, online or off, with contacts in other Roman and historical associations and a willingness to share, we ask that person if s/he'd like to be a Legatus.

And we'd know if they did have such contacts, because if we've been doing outreach--if we've stuck our heads in other Roman places besides here--we'd have first met those new members on ROMARCH or LATIN-L or in the SCA, so we'd know a bit about them even before they filled out the app.

Side question: How many Romans-in-Spirit can there possibly be out there? --Bene, I don't know either; but I know where to look for 'em. For starters, a Legatus could try contacting:


-- Reenactor groups

-- The SCA and other living-history societies

-- The RenFaire crowd

-- Classical-studies groups and mailing-Lists

-- Junior Classics League/Latin League students and coaches

-- Live wargamers

-- Live roleplayers


...and, of course, other Roman Entities on the 'Net.

Potential Sodales are out there, amici Romani. I had contacts in all these worlds before Nova Roma led me off the scent. NR's early ranks were noticeably augmented by people I bragged to about them. And I was just one Citizen! I don't think we'd have to field a whole cohort of Legati to get what we needed out of Servilius' proposal. This is one of those positions that stands to have a lot of impact on the SVR out of all proportion to its own numbers.

Anyone who likes that idea and who has contacts in other groups, I'll take your petition whether this rogatio passes or not! >({|:-D


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Postby Primus Aurelius Timavus on Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:29 pm

I also approve of the idea of legati. Since Priscus' proposal only indicated that legati be appointed by the leadership of SVR, presumably the Curatores, we need not fear a lack of volunteers to stand for election. And, as Marius points out, it would be valuable to have this office/structure available even if a full roster of legati is not appointed right away.

Anyone opposed?

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Postby Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:12 pm

Salvete

As it stands, and after reading Marius' post, I'm all for it. I have no other objection to the proposal. Maybe we should create a poll for this, to see how people feel about this?
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