Decretum augurum de tripudio inrito (Nova Roma)

Decretum augurum de tripudio inrito

PARS I

Due to the irregularities of procedure followed by consul P. Memmius, the tripudia he has conducted are declared invalid and thus voided due to vitia. Further, the collegium augurum has determined that the senate session held in January 2763 AUC and the comitia centuriata held in April 2763 AUC were conducted in vitio and not under proper auspices. Thus the results of the specified senate session and comitia centuriata of April are likewise in vitio and ought therefore to be declared invalid.

PARS II

Elections in the comitia centuriata held June 2763 for praetores suffecti, were not begun under the auspices of the convening magistrate, K. Fabius Buteo, whose auspices indicated that voting ought to have begun on X Kal. Quinct. (24 June) with Centuria Praerogativa XIV. Instead consul P. Memmius issued a decree to reject the auspices of his colleague, substituted his own invalid tripudium in their stead, in spite of the fact that he was not the convening magistrate, and ordered the election to begin on IX Kal. Quinct. (23 June). This was done against the will of the Gods, as previously indicated in the auspices, and without selecting a new centuria praerogativa. The procedures followed by consul Memmius in conducting a tripudium were irregular, improper, and in vitio. He had been informed last February that his procedures were under review by the collegium because of the improper manner he employed. He had been informed of his not abiding with previous decreta of the collegia. He had been publicly informed that his manner of taking auspices is flawed and disallowed. The consul ignored these communications on his defective auspicia, and ignored warnings from the collegium augurum that he was violating augural and civil law. Attempts to work with him and bring his procedures into line under the instruction of the augures also went unheeded. His intervention into the auspices of another magistrate was irregular, improper, and illegal. In conducting elections without first attaining valid auspices or selecting a valid centuria praerogativa consul Memmius has violated augural law, and violated the Lex Fabia de ratione comitiorum centuriatorum 3.B.2 where it stipulates that the presiding magistrate, not another magistrate, shall be the one to seek favorable auspices, and that the convening magistrate shall do so by consulting with the collegium augurum. Further, consul P. Memmius has violated the decretum de impietate et auspicando that stipulates: "It shall constitute an offence of impietas prudens dolo malofor a curule magistrate to knowingly convene a meeting of the comitia centuriata, comitia populi tributa, or the senate without performance of a valid auspication."

Therefore

1. The elections for praetores suffecti held this month of June 2763 AUC in the comitia centuriata are declared invalid as they are found not to have been held under proper auspices and those elected as praetores designati are in vitio creati. Following the example of the tribuni militum pro consulibus A. Sempronius Atratinus, L. Atilius, T. Cloelius who in 310 AUC (T. Livius 4.7.3), as the praetores suffecti were in vitio creati they ought to resign their offices as improperly elected and a severe breach of the Pax Deorum. New elections should be called in their stead.

2. The comitia curiata is hereby instructed not to pass a lex curiata de imperio for any magistrates who are not elected under proper and valid auspices.

3. The Constitution VI.A that states "All magistrates and Senators, as officers of the State, shall be required to publicly show respect for the Religio Romana and the Gods and Goddesses that made Rome great." It is the determination of the collegium augurum that consul Publius Memmius Albucius, ignoring the augures publici and their collegium, knowingly proceeded with the conduct of elections in the comitia centuriata without valid auspices, on a date not approved by the Gods, and without selection of a centuria praerogativa as required by law. It is therefore the determination of the collegium augurum that consul P. Memmius Albucius has committed an offence of impietas prudens dolo malo in violation of the Constitution. The collegium augurum recommends that this matter be further referred to the collegium pontificum to determine a means for the restoration of the Pax Deorum.

PARS III

It is the determination of the collegium augurum that consul P. Memmius Albucius has not and does not perform tripudia in a proper and accepted manner. He was not granted any privilege of auspicium by the comitia curiata, and indeed there is no provision in Nova Roma law for any magistrate to hold auspicium. Only where a magistrate is himself an augur publicus, or where he is under the direct supervision of an augur publicus, may a magistrate take his own auspicia. Never may one magistrate take auspices instead for another magistrate unless he is himself an augur publicus and acting in that capacity. Consul P. Memmius Albucius, having violated augural law, is hereby disallowed from taking any further auspicia on public matters until the collegium augurum determines that his procedures conform to the requirements set by that body.