Cursus Honorum: Key Role Functions
Quaestores:- This was the lowest administrative office. The position was filled by young men, ex equites, aspiring to become Senatores. They had an almost filial relationship with the Consules, and de-facto were young executives in charge of receiving the proceeds of direct and indirect taxes, all money belonging to the State from whatever source, and channel it to the Aerarium, i.e. the equivalent of today's H.M. Revenue & Custom. Incidentally, the term Aerarium is still in use in Italy.
Originally there were two Questores, then four and at the time of Sulla, there were 24 of them. Initially they were assigned to Rome and other parts of Italy, then with the expansion of the Roman Commonwealth some of them were posted to the provinces reporting to the local governor, but always managing the income of the Aerarium.
Aediles:- One year of successful management in the role of Questores opened up the opportunity to be elected to Aediles, the next rung up the ladder of the Cursus Honorum. Your duties as an Aediles were mainly three:
Curatores Urbis - Chief Executive of the City of Rome and the Police
Curatores Annonae - Manage its corn supplies
Curatores Ludorum Solennium - Manage the public games for the City
As Curatores Urbis they had jurisdiction over a territory extending up to one mile from the walls of the City. They could legislate and enforce by-orders to ensure the safety of property as well as the safety and comfort of the community. the City was divided into ten districts, and each district was supervised by appointees that were selected by lot within five days after the Aediles took office, originally on the 10th December, but after 154 B.C. on the first day of January, thus on the same day as the Consules and the Praetores.
It is interesting to list the duties of each of these appointees:
Keep the streets of his district in good order and if necessary arrange for their maintenance.
To have the streets swept regularly, and remove all nuisances that would affect their decor.
Proibit enchroachments which might obstruct the thoroughfare
To suppressl all forms of public disturbances
To upkeep public temples and public buildings
To ensure that private mansions did not fall in such a state of disrepair as to endanger the safety of the people.
As Curatores Urbis the Aediles exercised control. also, over public health and public morality. Hence they regulated public baths, taverns and restaurants, and became the public prosecutors of females accused of probrum (disgraceful) conduct.
All of the above duties fall within the scope of chief of Police. Another key role of the Aediles was to act as public prosecutors for three kinds of offenses:
Those that were in possess of more than the legal quantity of the Ager Publicus, i.e. the land belonging to the state.
Tenants of public grazing fields (Pecuarii) who had increased their flock beyond the legal limits.
Usurer, feneratores, who charged more than the legal rate of interest.
Curatores Annonae
The Annona was the goddes of the yearly harvest, hence as Curatores Annonae the Aediles was responsible to secure and oversee an adequate supply of corn and other foodstuff at all times. They had to be informed of the expected local and seasonal yield, and if necessary make arrangements to import the definciency from the provinces. Accordingly, they superinteded the warehousing and distrivbution arrangements, and could inflict heavy fines on corn dealers (frumentarii) who held excessive stocks (ob annonam compressam) to resell them at higher prices during times of scarsity.
A further role was that of acting as inspectors of the markets to ensure that:
The produce on sale was wholesome
That the price charged were not exorbitant
That the weights and measures were calibrated in accordance with the legal standard.
Transgressors would be heavily fined.
Curatores Ludorum Solennium
Whenever there were public holidays, and there were many during the year, the Aediles was called upon to interface with the organizers of such festivities, as their role of Chief of Police required, in order to maintain public order.
Praetores
If you were elected Praetores then you would have been the supreme judge in the civil courts, qui ius in urbe diceret. Originally, the office of Praetores was one of the duties of the Consules who were the supreme judges for all types of law cases. But in B.C. 367 a new law was passed, the Lex Licinia, by which the office of Consules became open to Plebeians. In order for the Patricians to maintain control over the courts, a new office was created, that of Praetores.
Originally there was only one Praetores elected annually, but with the end of the Punic Wars, 244 B.C., Rome acquired the hegemony of the Mediterrenean countries and, coupled to the increasing number of foreign visitors, peregrini, to the City, the posts increased first to two, then to four, later to six and by the time of Caesar up to 16.
When the posts became two, one was called the Praetores Urbanus because it dealt with cases in the City among Roman citizens, whereas the other was named Praetores Peregrinus as he dealt with the cases involving foreigners in dispute with citizens or vice-versa.
In 244 the posts were increased to four: the additional two were posted to Sicily and Sardinia as governors of those Provinces. Soon after, another two were added and assigned as governors of the two Spains.
By the way: in Italy, the office of Chief of Police is nowadays carried out by the Questore, and the office of Pretore, and there was for each town, was abolished in 1998 following a reform of the Italian judicial system.
Consules
Since the very beginning the office of Consul was shared between two consules, and both shared equal power. The first election took place soon after the last king was driven away. The two Consules exercised the same power as the kings, therefore both civil and military powers, but the religious power exercised by the earlier kings was removed from the consules and transferred to a priest appropriately called, Rex Sacrorum, and later, Pontifex Maximum. The authority of the office was equally shared, imperium duplex, and neither one could take any steps without the consent of the other, and both remained in office for one year, annum imperium. They were the heads of government and the commanders-in-chief of the armies. They were also the heads of all the other magistrates, and only they could summon meetings of the Senate or the Comitia and propose law decrees for approval.
If both consules were in Rome then they would govern one month at a time. The governing consul would be attended by 12 officers named lictores who marched in front of him carrying a bundle of rods and an axe fastened together. The rods were called fasces and this name begat the word fascist during the last world conflict. An unfortunate inspiration to troubled minds of which we all are aware of.
In addition to the fasces of the 12 lictores another insignia of the office of Consul was the Sella Curulis as sketched in the image shown above. and of course the Toga Praetexta, a white toga with a scarlet border.
Pro Consules
These were ex-consuls assigned to special duties, normally the governship of a province. This Office carried with it a high level of prestige as well as the opportunity of substantial economic rewards.
Dictator
In the days of the early republic, and only in exceptional circumstances when Rome was being threatened by the invasion of foreign arms, the Senate legislated (Lex de Dictatore Creando) in favour of a single magistrate with absolute powers and no appeal against his decisions. The office and the power lasted until the enemy had been defeated. Once the operation was over the dictator would resign his office and consules would be re-elected or restored to their earlier office. The first dictator was created in 501 B.C., nine years before the elections of the Tribuni Plebis. The post was never for life. The only time that someone tried it, it was Caesar, and you know what happend on the Ides of March of 44 B.C.
Censores
This Office was created with the constitution promulgated by the wise king Servius Tullius who established a new magistracy, called Censura, and the appointed magistrate Censores, i.e. Registrar. The task involved that of organizing and conducting the census of the population in order that the citizens could be properly categorised into their own classes and thus the proper income tax levied in relation to the class. The classes were ranked in terms of wealth measured in asses, the monetary currency, and the tax was proportionate to their wealth. This classification ensured, also, that the Comitia Centuriata could properly function as its organization was, as the name indicates, by centuries, and the whole population was divided into 193 centuries. Each century carried the weight of one vote in the Comitia; this vote was decided by a majority call of the citizens belonging to each century. For more information on the Comitia Centuriata please refer to the page Comitiae.
N.B.: If you are reading this section on the Cursus Honorum as part of your studies in Classics then you must also read the page on Comitiae.
I am also planning to write another article on the political upheaval of the later Republic, viz. from the Gracchi to the time of the divine Caesar.