Senatus frequens revisited: the quorum in the Roman Republican Senate

The term senatus frequens, when used of the Republican Senate, does not refer to a quorum; it was an instruction by the magistrate who summoned the meeting that all senators who were in a position to do so should attend. There were no categories of business which automatically required discussion at a senatus frequens; summoning one was a judgement by the presiding magistrate that the business in hand required or justified a high level of attendance. Quora for senatorial meetings did exist, but in the late Republic are known to have been required only in relation to the lex Cornelia concerning dispensations from the laws