L'autonomia del senato nella res publica tardoantica

The paper explores the relationship between the Senate of Rome and the imperial government from an institutional point of view and in a broad chronological perspective. It starts from the age of Constantine, when we witness the emergence of a new balance in the Roman institutions, down to the end of the fourth century, when this framework begins to break down; then it goes from the years of Theodosius I down to the end of the Western Roman empire: a period when the senatorial class acquires increasing autonomy at the expense of the imperial system.