MOUSEION - Memorial University of Newfoundland

F.x. RYAN
ing a consul who would hold office for eleven hours.
If the priestly comitia were part of the elections for 44. it would not
be easy to gauge the month in which the pontiffs were elected. We do
not know whether some of the quaestors for 44 had been elected before
the last day of 45; with forty places to fill. the quaestorian comitia
by themselves might have consumed several days. The election of curule
aediles preceded that of quaestors. the election of praetors preceded
that of curule aediles. the election of consuls preceded that of
praetors. and the election of priests preceded that of consuls. In short.
if Nero was elected during the comitia held to elect the popular magistrates
of 44. he might have gained his victory in November 45 rather
than December 45; it seems likely. however. that the month of October
was largely devoted to electing the popular magistrates of 45.
Nor would it be easy to choose between the two alternatives and assign
the sacerdotal comitia either to the comitia held to elect the magistrates
of 45 or to the comitia held to elect magistrates for 44. 14 In favor
of the former alternative one might argue that the delay in electing a
successor to Scipio was already unconscionably long at twenty
months. ls and that the Romans would not have further postponed the
election of a successor; to this the obvious rejoinder is that the next
round of elections was not a full year in the future but only a month
or so in the future. and that a further delay of a month or two was not
a significant addition to the previous delay of twenty months. In favor
of the latter alternative one might argue that the Romans would not
have wanted to defer the election of popular magistrates for 45 by attaching
the sacerdotal comitia to those elections. since the year 45 was
rapidly vanishing. This seems a rather strong argument when one
remembers that the sacerdotal comitia preceded the consular and so
would delay the elections to all popular magistracies. when one remembers
that nearly twice the usual number of praetors and exactly
twice the usual number of quaestors were elected for 45. and when
one remembers that these elections probably got underway in mid­
October. seven weeks or so before the end of the quaestorian year.
14 Although in normal circumstances priestly candidates were nominated at a
contio and the sacerdotal comitia could occur no sooner than a trinundinum after
the nominations. in the case of delayed elections we may assume that the trinundinum-requirement
was suspended. a. J. Linderski (above. n. 5). "Cicero's election
to the augurate" 194 n. 55.196 n. 63 =Roman Questions 244 n. 55.246 n. 63· In other
words. it would not be proper to adduce the trinundinum-requirement as a reason
for associating the priestly elections with the comitia for 44·
15 Between the death of Scipio in April 46 and the elections in October 45
twenty months elapsed rather than eighteen. since two months were intercalated
between November and December 46 (Suet. Jul. 40.2).