The Cursus Honorum of the Early Principate
(A Senatorial Career Path)
VIGINTIVIRATE
(qualifying
post)
C.E.14
20 posts
Minimum
age:- Late teens / Early twenties
Minor
Magistrates
3...Mint-masters
(triumvir
auro argento sere flando feriudo)
4...Road
curators
(quattuovir
viarum curandarum)
10...Lawsuit
Judges
(decemvir
stlitibus iudicandis)
3...Capital
Judges
(triumvir
capitalis)
*
MILITARY
TRIBUNE
(qualifying
post)
C.E.14
25 posts
Minimum
age:- Early twenties
(tribunus
militum)
(latus
clavus)
2nd
in command of a legion.
1
year service.
______________
*
QUAESTOR
C.E.14
20 posts
Minimum
age:- 25
(quaestor)
Consular
assistant.
Financial
officer in Rome, Italy or the provinces.
Election
gave entry to Senate.
A
quaestor could be given charge of a province (quaestor propraetore).
______________
*
AEDILE
OR CURULE AEDILE
Minimum
age:- Late twenties
No
serious duties under the Principate
Patricians
were exempt from the aedileship giving them an accelerated career path.
Aediles
were in charge of monitoring weights and measures.
______________
*
TRIBUNE
OF THE PLEBS
C.E.
14 10 posts
Minimum
age:- Late twenties
No
serious duties under the principate
______________
*
PRAETOR
C.E.14
12 posts, up to 16 posts later
Minimum
age:- 39
(praetor)
Held
imperium.
Magistrate
and civil administrator.
Entitled
to 6 lictors.
Supreme
civil judge.
Issued
annual edicts which were a source of Roman law.
______________
*
LEGIONARY
COMMANDER
C.E.14
25 posts
(legatus
legionis)
General
in charge of a Roman legion.
Usually
2/3 year's service
*
GOVERNOR
OF A MINOR IMPERIAL PROVINCE
C.E.14
5 posts
(legatus
augusti propraetore)
Governor
of a province with one legion or less
*
GOVERNOR
OF A SENATORIAL (PUBLIC) PROVINCE
C.E.14
7 posts
(proconsul)
*
CURATOR
C.E.14
c.15 posts
Responsible
for major roads and justice in Italy.
______________
*
CONSUL
Minimum
age:- usually 42 (33 for patricians).
2
ordinarii
appointed on 1st January who gave their names to the year. Replaced
later by 2
suffecti who could then be replaced by 2 more etc.
Held
imperium.
Presidents
of the Senate
Entitled
to 12 lictors.
______________
*
CURATOR
OF PUBLIC WORKS AT ROME
C.E.14
4 posts
3
year's service
*
GOVERNOR
OF A MAJOR IMPERIAL PROVINCE
C.E.14
7 posts
(legatus
augusti propraetore)
Governor
of a province with more than one legion.
Commander
of a legionary army.
*
GOVERNOR
OF AFRICA OR ASIA
(proconsul)
1
year's service.
A
special honorific appointment given to ex-consuls of 12-13 years standing.
*
PREFECT
OF ROME
(praefectus
urbi)
In
charge of Rome.
The
summit of a senatorial career.
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To become a senator there was a wealth requirement of 1,000,000 sesterces (10,000 aurei).
Imperium
was the power :-
To
preside over the Senate.
To
preside over the assemblies.
To
introduce business to both the Senate and the assemblies.
To
oversee the interpretation and execution of the law.
To
act as an army commander.
Consuls,
praetors and curule aediles were regarded as curule magistrates.
This entitled the incumbent and his male descendants to call themselves
nobiles.
A
curule magistrate sat on a folding ivory stool (sella curulis).
The
same office could only be held again after a 10 year break.
There
was a 2 year break enforced between tenure of offices, to allow the senator
to be prosecuted for offences that he may have committed.
To serve "in ones own year (suo anno)" meant at the minimum age for the post.
A "new man (novus homo)" was a senator whose immediate family and ancestors had not been Senate members.
Senators wore the latus clavus (broad stripe) and special red leather shoes. To become a senator was to:- calceos mutare (to change shoes).
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