Remarks on the Existence of a Senatorial Property Qualification in the Republic

Abstract

This article reviews the evidence for the existence of a senatorial census rating in the middle and late republic. It argues that senators shared a property qualification with the equites, being registered in the equestrian centuries. This was a symbolic qualification not rigidly enforced and was not sufficient by itself to become a senator. The emergence of such a census rating is to be understood in the context of the growing emphasis put on marks of senatorial privilege during the middle and late republic as well as the implementation of an increasing number of laws regulating and codifying political competition.