What Was The Role Of Senate In Julius Caesar

The Roman Republic and Empire were governed by the Senate people of Rome, there were also magistrates and emperors that made up the government system of the Roman Empire. However, it is the Senate that would have the biggest influence and most important role, without the Senate’s consent, no magistrate or emperor could give any orders. There were rules and requirements for Senate membership. In the middle Republic, there were financial prerequisites, the men must have been wealthy plebeians and were probably invited by the consuls, former magistrates automatically became members. The censors also selected the princeps who is the “first senator” with the most experience and influence. The Late Republic, it was coming to an end of the Roman Republic,
the empire was too large for a really democratic system, the only solution was one-man rule. For almost four years, Julius Caesar ruled the empire as if he were king, resembling a dictatorship, this was something unacceptable.
Caesar needed legitimacy and tried to reconstruct the Senate. To make matters worse, Caesar had pardoned many of his opponents, so that there were at a time no less than 900 senators, many of them had paid money to Caesar’s war chest and were not really the honourable men who could legitimise Caesar’s rule. A new civil war broke out. Senators who once opposed Caesar has now been pardoned, now hoped to restore the old Republican institutions. Caesar’s right-hand man Marc Antony was strong, however, the leader of the Senators, Marcus Tullius Cicero, was able to use Caesar’s adopted son Octavian, for the cause of the Senate. It gave him an army to reinforce the army of two consuls, and at Mutina in northern Italy. They defeated the army of Marc Antony, and for a moment, it seemed as if the Senate was firmly in charge of the Republic again, but this was not the case. When Senators stated that he was too young, Caesar’s heir marched on Rome and took what he demanded. Now, Octavian surprised everyone when he decided to make an alliance with Marc Antony. This remarkable volte-face has been engineered by Lepidus, a former officer in Caesar’s
army. He became the third member of the Second Triumvirate. The three men; Octavian, Antony and Lepidus set out to re-organise and stabilize the Roman Empire, and agreed that the Senate was the main source of troubles. Assassins took care of the last defenders of the Senate. It was agreed that Octavian took Rome, and Antony got Egypt.