Editing Arval Brethren (section)

==Restoration of the priesthood==
The importance of Arval Brethren apparently dwindled during the [[Roman Republic]], but emperor [[Augustus]] revived their practices to enforce his own authority. In his time the college consisted of a master (''magister''), a vice-master (''promagister''), a priest (''[[flamen]]''), and a ''[[praetor]]'', with eight ordinary members, attended by various servants, and in particular by four chorus boys, sons of [[Roman Senate|senators]], having both parents alive. Each wore a wreath of corn, a white fillet and the ''[[toga praetexta]]''. The election of members was by co-optation on the motion of the president, who, with a flamen, was himself elected for one year.<ref name="EB1911"/>

After Augustus' time emperors and senators frequented the festivities. At least two emperors, [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Elagabalus]], were formally accepted as members of the Brethren. The first full descriptions of their rituals also originate from this time.

It is clear that, while the members were themselves always persons of distinction, the duties of their office were held in high respect. And yet no mention of them occurs in the writings of [[Cicero]] or [[Livy]], and literary allusions to them are very scarce. On the other hand, we possess a long series of the ''acta'' or minutes of their proceedings, drawn up by themselves, and inscribed on stone. Excavations, commenced in the 16th century and continued to the 19th, in the grove of the Dea Dia, yielded 96 of these records from 14 to 241 AD.<ref name="EB1911"/> The last inscriptions ''([[Acta Arvalia]])'' about the Arval Brethren date from about 325 AD. They were abolished along with Rome's other traditional priesthoods by 400 AD.