The Viri Sacris Faciundis and the Consulship

This paper examines the changes to the viri sacris faciundis in 368/7 b.c.e . when the tribunes Lucius Sextius Sextinus Lateranus and Gaius Licinius Stolo passed a plebiscite to increase the membership of the priesthood from two to ten and to reserve half of these spots for plebeians. It argues that this reform was closely connected to the tribunes’ attempt to open the newly restored consulship to the plebeians, which was achieved in the following year. Divination (in the form of expiation) was a privilege of power, and expiation was a particular duty of the consuls.