legal

Second Constitutional Settlement

Date

-23

Part of

legal

In 23 BCE, Augustus retooled his powers—accepting tribunician authority for life and superior proconsular imperium—securing legal primacy without royal titles [2][4][16]. The Senate murmured approval; the Forum heard continuity. The constitution now lived in a person.

What Happened

The first settlement of 27 BCE stabilized Augustus’ rule, but its mechanics needed refinement. Repeated annual consulships made him conspicuous; provincial commands required clear precedence over other governors. In 23 BCE, after a bout of serious illness reminded Rome how fragile arrangements could be, Augustus recalibrated [4][16].

He resigned the consulship. In its place, the Senate granted him tribunicia potestas—tribunician power—renewed annually but effectively for life. It allowed him to convene the people and Senate, propose legislation, and, crucially, wield sacrosanctity—the inviolability that protected a tribune of the plebs. The symbolism of championing the plebs without holding the plebeian office was elegant and potent [2][4][16].

Alongside it came maius imperium proconsulare—greater proconsular command—placing his authority above that of any provincial governor wherever their jurisdictions intersected. A proconsul in Syria or Hispania now understood that the man on the Palatine outranked him even outside Augustus’ designated provinces. Hierarchy became portable [4][16].

Cassius Dio explains the structures; Suetonius hints at the human calculation: Augustus avoided odium by stepping back from the consulship while retaining tools that mattered. Senators in crimson-bordered togas could debate under the Curia’s roof; everyone knew who could overrule whom when legions were involved [2][4].

The city absorbed the change with a shrug and a nod. On the Rostra, speakers spoke as if the Republic’s forms persisted; on the Campus Martius, centuries still cast votes that registered known outcomes. The soundscape—vendors, litigants, the clink of coin near the Temple of Saturn’s treasury—did not change. But the legal map did, invisibly [16].

The package was constitutional craftsmanship. It honored the 27 BCE promise of restoration while ensuring that Augustus’ primacy no longer depended on recurring consulships or informal pressure. The Palatine’s household, the Senate’s agenda, and the legions’ standards all now pointed to the same man by law [2][4][16].

Why This Matters

Directly, the second settlement removed awkwardness and risk. Augustus no longer needed annual consulships to direct policy; tribune’s powers and maius imperium made his authority durable and flexible across Rome and provinces. The succession problem—what happens if the princeps is ill—was less fraught when powers were decoupled from elected office [2][4][16].

This event is a model of legal fictions as power tools. Tribunician power let a patrician champion the plebs; greater proconsular imperium subordinated governors without abolishing their offices. Republican vocabulary delivered monarchical function.

In the broader arc, the 23 BCE settlement finalized the template others would inherit. Tiberius, adopted in AD 4, would be fitted into these powers, ensuring continuity without crowns. The hum of normal civic life in the Forum concealed a new operating system installed behind the scenes [16].

Historians mine Dio and Suetonius to trace motive and effect: prudence after illness, sensitivity to elite resentment, and genius for institutional design. The law’s quiet sentences outlived marble and men [2][4][16].