Senatus consultum de Cn. Cornelio Lentulo Alexandro patre patriae

SENATUS CONSULTUM DE CN. CORNELIO LENTULO ALEXANDRO PATRE PATRIAE

Enacted on: a.d. VIII Id. Oct. Q. Arrio P. Annaeo cos. ‡ XXII ANRC et MMDCCLXXII AUC (In the year of the consulship of Q. Arrius and P. Annaeus, 13rd April, 22 ANRC / 2772 AUC / 2019 AD)

I. The senate recognizes that Cn. Cornelius Lentulus, after having been awarded with the honorific "pater patriae" by the senate on a.d. VII Kal. Iun. C. Claudio T. Domitio (II) cos. in the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of Nova Roma, the Sacred Year of Concordia, transferred this honorific to his pater familias Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander, on Id. Sept. C. Claudio T. Domitio (II) cos., with the following reasoning:

"It was my pater familias Cn. Lentulus Alexander under whose auspices the rituals of the founding of the Nova Roman Nation were completed last year, he is the one whom the gods saw, even if I made the rituals, because I acted in his name, under his auspices, under his imperium. According to Roman legal and traditional thinking, it is him who should bear this title, and after my investigation in Roman antiquities, I concluded that it would be an act against pietas if I took a title which is granted to founders or re-founders, while I was only an envoy, an agent of Lentulus Alexander in the gods' eyes, and divine justice compels that any honor that comes from the acts of completing the foundations of Nova Roma must go to him, and not to me.

There are other, less compelling -- but to me important -- reasons which I shall not detail now, such as that it was customary and expected from younger awardees to refuse such a title, or to accept only in old age, after completing the cursus honorum, having children and having given all or most what one give in his life to the res publica. I don't meet any of these requirements. I am living in the hope that I can give yet many things to this spiritual republic, and the larger parts of my contribution is still ahead of me in the future. Such a high title, "father of the nation", would make me just lose my focus of working and giving more, and would cause my character to allow more laziness and rest to myself, since bearing the title pater patriae suggests that the awarded person has already done more than enough for the res publica. I would like to keep myself in a state of mind where I am not about to be retired, but about to work more and do more.

With this, I am not saying I refuse this gift from the senate, as I would not like to offend any of you who prepared this surprise for me. Let's say I defer this title until better days, and inactivate it for the time being, and I will not use it. In the future, when the coup d'état will be fully solved, and the republic will be gloriously thriving, and I will still have proven to serve the interests of NR in a manner that you still content with me and you deem it necessary that I should take this title from you, I will agree to take the title. Until that day, let it be in your envelope, and let's see if I can still meet your expectations later!

As a substitute solution and something that comes from the nature of Roman way of thinking, I suggest that the distinction of being referred to as the re-founder of the nation, be transferred to the person who deserves it by human and divine law, Lentulus Alexander, who as interrex and interim rex sacrorum gave the authorization and blessing to the final acts of the creation of the New Roman People and its sacred tokens. I consider it my filial duty to hand over my title to him if the senate sees him as a trustworthy custodian of this honor."

II. The senate missed to address officially Cn. Lentulus' awarding of this honorific to Cn. Lentulus Alexander, but hereby the senate recognizes and accepts that the transfer of this title to Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander went into effect by the date of Id. Sept. C. Claudio T. Domitio (II) cos., based on the reasoning of Cn. Lentulus, and the senate makes the following declaration:

III. The senate hereby awards, effective from Id. Sept. C. Claudio T. Domitio (II) cos., the honorific “pater patriae” to Cn. Cornelius Lentulus Alexander in recognition of his indispensable role presiding over the completion of the founding of the Nova Roman nation, in the renewal of the Palladium and the Pignora Imperii, the issuing of the Confirmation of the Declaration, our extended mission statement, and in the unification of the worldwide renascent Roman people, the Quirites, with the Nova Roman people, as interrex and rex sacrorum, and also for his role in the restoration of law and order to the state, and the restarting of the activities of our Republic as our first interrex, first functioning rex sacrorum, and as the first lawfully elected consul after the chaos of the coup.