E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
P.C. (patres conscripti).
The Roman senate. The hundred senators appointed by Romulus were called simply patres; a second hundred added by Tatius, upon the union of the Sabines with tho Romans, were called patres mino’rum gentium; a third hundred subsequently added by Tarquin’ius Priscus were termed patres conscripti, an expression applied to a fourth and fifth hundred conscribed to the original patres or senators. Latterly the term was applied to the whole body.
