by Primus Aurelius Timavus on Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:16 pm
Salve Attice et alii,
Well, I'll start a discussion. I'm in favor of a minimalist organization.
Cleopatra and Coruncanus have written about how excited they were to discover SVR, and I suspect most of us shared that feeling. Here was a group of people who shared our love of Rome and who helped each other grow in their Romanitas through sharing with each other. The society was characterized by good fellowship rather than elitism and by welcoming rather than exclusion.
I joined back in the time of the mailing lists, and I had not heard of the OP before I learned of it from SVR discussions. I later visited OP and decided quickly that I didn't want any part of it. When I served on the Senate, I forcefully opposed any "negotiations" with OP. Why? Because I did not think that the kind of discussions that I saw there could add anything to the Societas, and I did not want to import all the bureaucratic infighting and other crap that I saw.
As I mentioned, I joined when SVR was a collection of mailing lists. I was a member for a few weeks without even knowing the existence of the Senate, the magistrates, and other offices. I just knew that there were rectors for the collegia that interested me. That was fine.
Since SVR has limited, albeit important, goals, it doesn't need an extensive admistration. We are not trying to create a virtual nation. We are just trying to enjoy our mutual interest.
I'd therefore like to suggest the following structure. Sodales would sign up as members of the particular collegia that interest them. The Sodales in each College would elect a Rector for two years. The Rectores would form the Senate and would appoint a single Consul. The Consul could be one of the Rectores or another individual chosen by them (in the latter case he would be an ex-officio member of the Senate). He would be the sole individual invested with auctoritas, and he would have the power to mete out any punishments, including permanent expulsion, as he sees fit. Yet he would serve at the pleasure of the Senate, his decrees could be overturned by the Senate, and any individual would have the right of provocatio to the Senate.
The Consul could appoint Censores, Aediles, Scriba, and even Praetores to assist him, but these offices would have no power in themselves (e.g. The Consul could appoint a Praetor to investigate an alleged offensive posting, but the Praetor could only present his findings to the Consul for his action without taking any action on his own.
This structure would eliminate the orders, familiae, gentes, provinces, and even the comitia (pace Mari). It would return the Societas to its stated aim of having the Collegia form the functional basis of the organization. Practically, it would have the effect of minimizing politics and bureaucracy. The Sodales could concentrate on what we love to do, talk Rome.
Tergestus
Primus Aurelius Timavus
Curator, Rogator, Praetor et Patricius
Civis Romanus Sum