Consul (Nova Roma)

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The consulship is the highest executive magistracy of Nova Roma. The two consules are co-presidents of the republic.


Contents

Collegiality and precedence

The consules are colleagues and their legal powers are equal.

In the ancient republic when both consules were at Rome they would hold the fasces (i.e. exercise power) in alternate months. This practice is sometimes adopted in Nova Roma, for example Q. Maximo M. Minucio cos. MMDCCLIII a.u.c..

The consul who held the fasces first was referred to as consul maior or consul prior. When it was necessary for one consul to take precedence on ceremonial occasions, for instance in religious processions, the maior consul took precedence; and it is probably the consul maior whose name was placed first in official documents and in the name of the year.

It is not entirely clear how it was decided which consul was maior, and there may even have been disagreement about this antiquity.[1]

 Some sources seem to indicate that the maior consul was the elder one;[2]

others that he was the one elected first;[3]

others that he was the one who ranked higher in prestige or status.[4]

 The solution is perhaps that in strict point of law the maior consul was the first elected, but that he customarily yielded precedence to his colleague if that colleague was significantly older or higher-ranking.[5]

 The most common view in Nova Roma is that the maior consul is the one elected first.

Offices and Edicta

Edicta of the Consules are posted in their respective officinae.

List of Consuls of Nova Roma

As of M. Moravio T. Iulio cos. MMDCCLXI a.u.c., 21 individuals have been Consul of Nova Roma.

  • Three have held the office twice.
  • Ten (48%) served as Praetor before becoming Consul. (indicated with PR.)
  • Four (19%) were not members of the Senate before being elected Consul. (indicated with **)
  • One is no longer a citizen.


Fl. Vedio M. Cassio cos. MMDCCLI a.u.c.

L. Equitio Dec. Iunio cos. MMDCCLII a.u.c.

Q. Maximo M. Minucio cos. MMDCCLIII a.u.c.

Fl. Vedio (II) M. Cassio (II) cos. MMDCCLIV a.u.c.

M. Octavio L. Sulla (II) cos. MMDCCLV a.u.c.

K. Buteone T. Labieno cos. MMDCCLVI a.u.c.

Cn. Salvio Cn. Equitio cos. MMDCCLVII a.u.c.

Fr. Apulo C. Laenate cos. MMDCCLVIII a.u.c.

K. Buteone Po. Minucia cos. MMDCCLIX a.u.c.

L. Arminio Ti. Galerio cos. MMDCCLX a.u.c.

M. Moravio T. Iulio cos. MMDCCLXI a.u.c.


References

  1. Discussion summarized in Lintott, The Constitution Of The Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 100. The issue sometimes gets confused with the question of whether consules are maiores than praetores, also discussed by ancient sources, on which see Stewart, Public Office In Early Rome: Ritual Procedure & Political Practice (University of Michigan Press, 1998), pp. 212-213.
  2. "postridieque [P. Valerius Publicola] sibi collegam Sp. Lucretium subrogavit, suosque ad eum quod erat maior natu lictores transire iussit, instituitque primus ut singulis consulibus alternis mensibus lictores praeirent" ("and the next day he [P. Valerius Publicola] had Sp. Lucretius elected as his colleage, and ordered his [Publicola's] lictors to go over to him [Lucretius] because he [Lucretius] was the elder, and he [Publicola] was the first to lay it down that the lictors should accompany each consul in alternate months") - Cicero, de re publica, 2.55 (the same story is told in Valerius Maximus, 4.1.1, and Plutarch, Publicola, 12.5); "Solitos tamen audio, qui lege potiores essent fasces primi menses collegis concedere aut longe aetate prioribus aut nobilioribus multo aut secundum consulatum ineuntibus" ("I have heard, however, that those who by statute had priority used to yield the first month's fasces to colleagues who were many years older, or much more noble, or who were beginning a second consulate") - Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 2.15.8.
  3. "Maiorem consulem L. Caesar putat dici vel eum penes quem fasces sint vel eum qui prior factus sit" ("L. Caesar thought the consul was called maior who held the fasces or who was elected first") - Festus, p. 154 Lindsay; a republican inscription also gives a special role to the consul first elected, but it is not certain that this is the same as the consul maior - see Lintott, The Constitution Of The Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 100 n. 29.
  4. "Solitos tamen audio, qui lege potiores essent fasces primi menses collegis concedere aut longe aetate prioribus aut nobilioribus multo aut secundum consulatum ineuntibus" ("I have heard, however, that those who by statute had priority used to yield the first month's fasces to colleagues who were many years older, or much more noble, or who were beginning a second consulate") - Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 2.15.8
  5. This interpretation appears to be supported by Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 2.15.8, quoted in the note above.

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