(Latin, usually translated "conscript fathers" or "enrolled fathers", though Lukmann prefers "assembled fathers" - as do I, for linguistic elegance).
The formal term of address when speaking to the Senate of Rome.
According to Roman tradition, Romulus instituted the first senate, consisting of a hundred elders, called patres ("fathers"). When the Sabine people was incorporated, another hundred senators were added. Another hundred were added by Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome - these were called the patres minorem gentium ("fathers of the lesser peoples").
When the seventh and final king, Tarquinius Superbus, was exiled, a number of senators elected to go with him. The vacant seats were filled by decree of the first consul, Junius Brutus, and the new senators were enrolled in the senatorial register and called conscripti ("enrolled", or "conscripted"). After this, it became customary to address the entire assembled Senate as patres (et) conscripti, or patres, conscripti.