by Aldus Marius on Sat Sep 30, 2006 7:19 pm
Salvete Romani,
[Scerio--Here--Just the other day:]
After this, we need to restore our Senate. While we still have the Curia working, it is no Senate. The Senate was not the current collection of magistrates, but the collection of the senior elite. It was a place where the elders could congregate for legal issues and other matters. [...]
...a board of seniors, the Senate, can more efficiently decide on certain minor but necessary decisions, such as caretaking of the site or bestowing awards on outstanding achievement, such as awarding patrician status to deserving members... No, amici, some things need a smaller group to decide.
Our original Senate was composed of all current and former Magistrates of the Societas. Censores, Consules, Praetores certainly; the senior Aedilis; and the Rectores (heads) of the Collegia (each Collegium had one). Junior Aediles and the Rogatores were not members. We did not have Tribuni.
The membership of serving Magistrates made a certain kind of sense; and I could see emeriti being included on a case-by-case basis. There was provision for the nomination and elevation of deserving non-Magistrates as well. But what I actually found, when I was reconfiguring the Board's Curia section (which serves as our Senate-house), was that the former officers were not Senators because anybody had proclaimed them so; they'd just never had their Curia access revoked when they left office!
So who's in the Curia now? --We four Something-or-Others, because we still need somewhere to meet. (I was for calling us 'Rectores', since we don't have them for the Colleges anymore; but 'Curatores' seems to be winning out. Blah. And I had already named our Webmail box too...) Also these others, in an advisory capacity: Quintus Servilius, who has served as Censor; Tiberius Draco, my predecessor as Aedilis; and Q Pomponius Atticus, who chaired the Concilium. Conditor Gnaeus Draco will always have a seat, as long as I have anything to do with it; it just wouldn't feel right without him. And while Valerius Scerio originally needed access only to upgrade the Forum Board, we like his company, so we've decided to keep him. >({|;-)
Effectively, then, our current "board of directors" could be considered a body of officeholders and their aides. However, it is also composed of many of the senior members of the Societas, and others are being considered. But, structurally-speaking, who is there to nominate them? This would be a whole lot easier and less awkward if we were an actual Senate.
Likewise, what aspirations do members of SVR have without a Senate? We all can name some things, but certainly a distinguishing seat in the Senate is always proper.
I think there is a need for a "Council of Elders" in the SVR. It is a more Roman concept than simply having Magistrates, already being honored in that way, doubling up as their own advisory panel. Taking the word "Senate" back to its original root, senex, meaning "elder"...a Senate might be composed of the longest-standing active members, as well as any active, deserving others, whose seats would be granted on the basis of their dedication, experience, unique perspective, or expertise.
Punctuational/grammatical clarification:
"...longest-standing active members...whose seats would be granted on the basis of..."
- and -
"...any active, deserving others, whose seats would be granted on the basis of...".
There would be nothing automatic about Senate membership as I see it. Every prospective Senator would be nominated by the existing Senate based on his or her contributions to the life of the Societas. The sodalis would then be asked if s/he were willing to serve. If so, s/he would be admitted. They'd be patres et matres conscripti, basically, except for being asked--and we'd be that much more in tune with that element of the Heritage.
What this means is that anyone who gives the SVR a bit of time and attention could become eligible for the Senate. Remember that 'recognition' thing...? This is one effective way to acknowledge the folks who are actually out there doing something. And as we have already seen in this discussion, there could be all kinds of Somethings out there for them to do!
Should a serving Magistrate also be able to hold a Senate seat? Maybe, if that seat were gotten on the basis of merit, and not just for holding office. Perhaps it'd be better if they didn't, though, until after they left office. This would avoid the 'doubling-up' problem; it would also give our Magistrates something to shoot for--or am I the only one who has noticed that there is not a hell of a lot of incentive for an officer of the Societas to turn in an outstanding performance?
Bene, you may ask, what's to keep the ten or twelve of us who are actually running things from just nominating ourselves, each other, our friends, and their puppy-dogs, thus establishing a self-perpetuating ruling 'clique' which no Mere Mortal Sodalis can squeeze into? --Honor, for one thing; the current senior membership is just not like that. For another, the Societas Via Romana has never been a cliquish place. And even should it become so, there is still a powerful third check. This last does not operate by keeping the insiders from doing things, but rather by making it more possible for anyone else to be noticed:
Mi Scerio, are you about ready to talk about patron/client yet?? >({|;-]
In amicitia et fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.