The Silentium

The Silentium is the main body of government that oversees the Empire, an elite council of interests across the Empire. They evolved from an Imperial tradition dating back to when the prehistoric peoples who settled in the centuries before the legendary founding of the Eternal City(1 AU) were structured into tribal communities and these communities often included an aristocratic board of tribal elders. Over time, the elders came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected one, and vested in him their sovereign power. When the leader died, that sovereign power naturally reverted to the elders. The Silentium holds three principal responsibilities: It functions as the ultimate repository for the executive power, it serves as the executive council, and it functions as a legislative body in concert with the people of the Empire. During the years of the monarchy, the Silentium’s most important function was to elect new kings. While the king was technically elected by the people, it was actually the Silentium who chose each new king. The period between the death of one king, and the election of a new king, was called the interregnum, during which time the Interrex nominated a candidate to replace the king. After the Silentium gave its initial approval to the nominee, he was then formally elected by the people, and then received the Silentium's final approval. At least one king was elected by the Silentium alone, and not by the people. The Silentium’s most significant task, outside of regal elections, was to function as the king's council, and while the king could ignore any advice it offered, it's growing prestige helped make the advice that it offered increasingly difficult to ignore. Technically, the Silentium could also make new laws, although it would be incorrect to view the Silentium’s decrees as "legislation" in the modern sense. Only the king could decree new laws, although he often involved both the Silentium and the curiate assembly (the popular assembly) in the process. The Silentium are entitled to wear a tunic with a broad purple stripe, maroon shoes, and a gold ring. The Silentium passes decrees which in form constituted "advice" from the senate to a magistrate. While these decrees do not hold legal force, they usually are obeyed in practice. If a decree conflicted with a law that was passed by an assembly, the law overrode the decree because the decrees had their authority based in precedent and not in law. A decree, however, could serve to interpret a law. Through these decrees, the Silentium directs the magistrates, especially the consuls (the chief magistrates) in their prosecution of military conflicts. The senate also has an enormous degree of power over the civil government. This is especially the case with regards to its management of state finances, as only it can authorize the disbursal of public funds from the treasury. As the Empire grew, the Silentium also supervised the administration of the provinces, which were governed by former consuls and praetors, in that it decided which magistrate should govern which province. The Silentium also plays a pivotal role in cases of emergency. It can call for the appointment of a dictator (a right resting with each consul with or without the senate's involvement). However, the office of dictator fell out of use and was replaced with the consultum ultimum ("ultimate decree"), a decree which authorised the consuls to employ any means necessary to solve the crisis. While Silentium meetings can take place either inside or outside of the formal boundary of Byzantium, no meeting can take place more than a mile outside of the city.The Silentium operates under various religious restrictions. For example, before any meeting could begin, a sacrifice to the gods is made, and a search for divine omens (the auspices) is taken. Meetings usually begin at dawn, and a magistrate who wishes to summon the Silentium has to issue a compulsory order. The meetings are public and are directed by a presiding magistrate, usually a consul. While in session, the Silentium has the power to act on its own, and even against the will of the presiding magistrate if it wishes. The presiding magistrate begins each meeting with a speech, and then refers an issue to the Silentium, who discuss the issue by order of seniority. The Silentium has several other ways in which they can influence (or frustrate) a presiding magistrate. For example, all members have to speak before a vote can be held, and since all meetings have to end by nightfall, a member could talk a proposal to death (a filibuster or diem consumere) if he could keep the debate going until nightfall. When it is time to call a vote, the presiding magistrate can bring up whatever proposals he wishes, and every vote is between a proposal and its negative. At any point before a motion passes, the proposed motion could be vetoed, usually by a tribune. If there is no veto, and the matter is of minor importance, it can be voted on by a voice vote or by a show of hands. If there was no veto, and the matter is of a significant nature, there was usually a physical division of the house, with members voting by taking a place on either side of the chamber. Silentium membership is controlled by the Censors. Ownership of property worth at least one million sesterces is required for membership. The ethical requirements of the Silentium are significant. In contrast to members of the Equestrian order, the Silentium can not engage in banking or any form of public contract. They can not own a ship large enough to participate in foreign commerce, they can not leave Byzantium without permission from the Silentium, and they are not paid a salary. Election to magisterial office results in automatic Silentium membership. During the reigns of the first emperors, legislative, judicial, and electoral powers were all transferred from the local assemblies to the Silentium. However, since the emperor holds control over the Silentium, it acts as a vehicle through which he exercises his autocratic powers. Under the Empire, as was the case during the late republic, one can become a member by being elected quaestor (a magistrate with financial duties), but only if one was of patrician rank. In addition to quaestors, elected officials holding a range of senior positions were routinely granted patrician rank by virtue of the offices that they held. If an individual is not of patrician rank, there are two ways for him to enter the Silentium. Under the first method, the basileus grants that individual the authority to stand for election to the quaestorship, while under the second method, the basileus merely appoints that individual to the Silentium by issuing a decree. The power that the basileus holds over the Silentium is absolute. During Silentium meetings, the basileus sits between the two consuls of Byzantium, and usually acts as the presiding officer, if he is present. Members can ask extraneous questions or request that a certain action be taken by the Silentium. Higher ranking members speak before those of lower rank, although the basileus can speak at any time. Besides the basileus, consuls and praetors could also preside over the Silentium. Since no member could stand for election to a magisterial office without the basileus’s approval, members usually do not vote against bills that have been presented by the basileus. If a member disapproves of a bill, he usually shows his disapproval by not attending the senate meeting on the day that the bill is to be voted on. While the smaller city assemblies continue to meet, their powers were all transferred to the Silentium, and so the Silentium decrees have the full force of law. The legislative powers of the Silentium are principally of a financial and an administrative nature, although the Silentium holds a range of powers over the provinces. During the early Empire, all judicial powers that had been held by the assemblies were also transferred to the Silentium. For example, the Silentium now holds jurisdiction over criminal trials. In these cases, a consul presides, the members constitute the jury, and the verdict is handed down in the form of a decree and, while a verdict can not be appealed, the basileus can pardon a convicted individual through a veto. The basileus transferred some electoral powers from the assemblies to the Silentium, and, while theoretically the Silentium elected new magistrates, the approval of the basileus was always needed before an election could be finalized. They also retain the power to try treason cases, and to elect some magistrates, but only with the permission of the basileus. In the final years of the Western Empire, the Silentium would sometimes try to appoint their own emperor, which fractured the Empire and may have lead to the collapse of the Western Empire. The Silentium remains the last stronghold of the cult of state, and several times attempted to facilitate the return of the Altar of Victory to the Silentium curia. Constantine offered free land and grain to any patricians who were willing to move to the East. When Constantine founded the Silentium in Byzantium, it initially resembled the councils of important cities like Antioch. His son Constantius II raised it from the position of a municipal to that of an Imperial body but the Silentium in Byzantium had essentially the same limited powers as the Senate in the Eternal City. Constantius II increased the number of members to 2,000 by including his friends, courtiers, and various provincial officials. The traditional principles that patrician rank was hereditary and that the normal way of becoming a member of the Silentium itself was by holding a magistracy still remain in full force. By the time of the permanent division of the Empire, praetors' responsibilities had been reduced to a purely municipal role.Their sole duty was to manage the spending of money on the exhibition of games or on public works. However, the Praetorship remains an important portal through which aristocrats could gain access to the Silentium. The Praetorship was a costly position to hold as praetors were expected to possess a treasury from which they could draw funds for their municipal duties. There are known to have been eight praetors in the Empire who shared the financial burden between them. The Silentium is very different from the Republican Senate as the offices had long fallen into basilical control. The basileus or the Silentium itself can also issue a decree to grant a man not born into the patrician order a seat in the Silentium. Exemption from the expensive position of praetor would also often be conferred on such persons that had become members in this way. The Silentium is mostly composed of statesmen and officials, ranging from the most important statesmen in the Empire such as the Master of Offices and the Master of Soldiers to provincial governors and retired civil servants. The patrician families in Byzantium tend to be less affluent and less distinguished than those in the Eternal City(where the size of the municipal senate had also been increased to 2,000 in the 4th century). Some aristocrats attempted to become senators in order to escape the difficult conditions that were imposed on them by late Emperors. The middle class were often forced to become decurions where they were charged with participating in local government at their own expense as well as having to collect taxes and pay any deficits from their own pockets, as it was recognised that many who sought seats in the Silentium were doing so primarily to escape the harsh duties of the decurion it was decreed that they must complete their public service even if they became members. The Silentium is led by the Prefect of Byzas, who conducts all of its communications with the basileus. It is composed of three orders, the excellencies, reverences and honors. The members of the excellencies were those who held the highest offices in the Empire, such as the Master of Soldiers and Praetorian Prefects. The reverences form the middle class of the Silentium and consists of important statesmen such as proconsuls, vicars and military governors of the provinces. The honors is the lower class of the Silentium and attached to the governors of the provinces and to other lesser posts. Members of the lower two orders were permitted to live anywhere within the Empire and were generally inactive. The majority of active members in the Silentium are the excellencies, whose important offices are usually based in Byzantium and so are able to attend the Silentium frequently. While the powers of the Silentium are limited, it can pass resolutions which the basileus might adopt and issue in the form of edicts. It can thus suggest Imperial legislation, and it acts from time to time as a consultative body. Some Imperial laws took the form of 'Orations to the Silentium', and were read aloud before the body. Eventually, they formulated a legislative procedure which granted to the Silentium the right of co-operation, where any new law was to be discussed at a meeting between the Silentium and the affected municipal councils before being confirmed by the basileus. In addition, the basileus uses the Silentium as a judicial court, and trials for high treason are sometimes referred to it. Ordinary crimes are often judged by a court consisting of the Prefect of the City and five members chosen by lot. There were two Silentium houses in Byzantium; one, built by Constantine, was on the east side of the Augustaion, close to the Basilical Palace at Magnaura, whilst the other was on the north side of the Forum of Constantine. The Silentium later lost its houses and from then on assembled in the Constantine Palace.

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Subsidiary Organizations