ACTA SENATUS, or

COMMENTARII SENATUS  , minutes of the discussions and decisions of the Roman senate . Before the first consulship of Julius Caesar (59 B.C.), minutes of the proceedings of the senate were written and occasionally published, but unofficially; Caesar, desiring to tear away the veil of mystery which gave an unreal importance to the senate's deliberations, first ordered them to be recorded and issued authoritatively . The keeping of them was continued by Augustus, but their publication was forbidden (Suetonius, Augustus, 36) . A young senator (ab actis senatus) was chosen to. draw up these Acta, which were kept in the imperial archives and public libraries (Tacitus, Ann. v . 4) . Special permission from the city praefect was necessary in order to examine them . For authorities see ACTA DIURNA .