The Senate in Rome continued to play an important but declining role in the administration of the Roman Empire. When Augustus took power and made himself emperor he needed a bureaucracy to run the Empire. Additionally, keeping the elites of the old regime in power helps a smooth transition of government. Therefore Augustus turned to the Senate. The Senate retained its financial powers over the Roman treasury. They could also regulate and hold festivals, games, honours, and grant legal exceptions as they could during the Republic. They were also given many new powers, such as the legislative powers of the Republican law-making assemblies and control over the many of the richest provinces of the Empire, like Africa, Macedonia, and Asia. The governors of the provinces under the command of the emperor were also from the senatorial class. They also had judicial powers and technically elected and approved new emperors, granting them the power of imperium!

However, in reality the Senate had minimal independent agency. The Senate was absolutely under the thumb of the emperor, and their powers were carefully selected and neutered to ensure they actually posed no real threat to the rule of the emperor. The emperor could sit in on any meeting of the Senate, and speak whenever he wanted. Many of their powers could only be executed with the acceptance of the emperor. They granted the emperor his total power, but they had no real choice in the matter. The emperor had veto power over any judicial decision they made, and the power to appoint and remove individuals from the Senate. The senatorial provinces were the rich and safe internal provinces, but this ensured that the governors did not control any armies. Thus while the Senate played a large administrative role, they had no real power to challenge the authority of the emperor, and a lot of what they did were attempts to curry favour with him.

As time progressed, the Senate continued to lose even more power and influence to the rising Equestrian class. Augustus had already decreed that Egypt, one of the richest provinces and the source of the grain annona to Rome, would be ruled by an Equestrian praefectus. Later territorial acquisitions, such as the provinces of Mesopotamia by Septimius Severus, would be similarly ruled by an Equestrian praefectus. The Equestrian position of Praetorian Prefect would become the second most powerful person in the Empire, with the Praetorians able to assassinate emperors they disliked and auction off the imperial rule to whomever paid them the most. Even though the Senate had official authorization over the imperial powers, the Praetorians were able to appoint their candidate, Didius Julianus, over Albinus, who had the support of the Senate.

This trend continued in the third century. Gallienus banned senators from holding military positions, which was a crucial step for many on the way to a high office in the administration. However this may also be in part because Senators were ill-suited to the increasing demands placed upon the Roman military. The limited group of 600 senators and their children (who would be on a career path to become Senators) were not enough to fill all the Empire’s military positions. Additionally, Senators typically came from rich families from the central Empire, whereas a high percentage of soldiers were lower class and from the provinces. This could sometimes lead to tension between the soldiers and a Senatorial officer. The Equestrian career path likely also involved more low-rank military positions, so Equestrians were more militarily experienced than many Senators.

Yet maybe the Senate gained a modicum of power back in the fifth century, when the emperor’s position was reduced to that of a puppet. Stilicho, the dominant figure of the western Empire, petitioned the Senate in Rome to pay 4,000 pounds of gold to Alaric in 410 to stave off an attack. The Senate granted the request, but did so begrudgingly and with great disdain for Stilicho’s apparent cowardice in not fighting Alaric directly. I also believe the Senate played an important role in Odoacer’s and Theoderic’s Italian Kingdoms, but that is extending past my knowledge.