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Opposition there could not fail to be, and in 161 a senatus consultum ordered all Greek philosophers and rhetoricians to leave the city.

In fact, it was not until the year 657 after the foundation of Rome, under the consulate of Cornelius Lentulus Crassus, that it was forbidden by a senatus consultum to sacrifice human beings; a fact which proves that up to this date these horrible sacrifices were made.

And, likewise, it fell to the Senate to deal with all sudden crises which constituted a menace to the welfare of the state, like the spread of the Bacchanalian associations which was ended by the Senatus Consultum of 186 B. C.

And, finally, the Senate claimed the right to proclaim a state of martial law by passing the so-called Senatus Consultum ultimum, a decree which authorized the magistrates to use any means whatsoever to preserve the state.

Senatus consultum ultimum, defined, 106; passed against Cataline, 163; against Cæsar, 174.