CHAPTER XLV.
(Footnote: Most of the information given in this chapter is scattered in different parts of the history; but it seems well to condense it into one chapter for readier reference.)
ROMAN OFFICERS, ETC.
The magistrates of Rome were of two classes; the Majores, or higher, and the Minores, or lower. The former, except the Censor, had the Imperium; the latter did not. To the former class belonged the Consuls, Praetors, and Censors, who were all elected in the Comitia Centuriáta. The magistrates were also divided into two other classes, viz. Curule and Non-Curule. The Curule offices were those of Dictator, Magister Equitum, Consul, Praetor, Censor, and Curule Aedile. These officers had the right to sit in the sella curúlis, chair of state. This chair was displayed upon all public occasions, especially in the circus and theatre; and it was the seat of the Praetor when he administered justice. In shape it was plain, resembling a common folding camp-stool, with crooked legs. It was ornamented with ivory, and later overlaid with gold.
The descendants of any one who had held a curule office were nobles, and had the right to place in their halls and to carry at funeral processions a wax mask of this ancestor, as well as of any other deceased members of the family of curule rank.
A person who first held a curule office, and whose ancestors had never held one, was called a novus homo, i. e. a new man. The most famous new men were Marius and Cicero.
The magistrates were chosen only from the patricians in the early republic; but in course of time the plebeians shared these honors. The plebeian magistrates, properly so called, were the plebeian Aediles and the Tribúni Plebis.
All the magistrates, except the Censor, were elected for one year; and all but the Tribunes and Quaestors began their term of office on January 1st. The Tribune's year began December 10th; that of the Quaestor, December 5th.
The offices, except that of Tribune, formed a gradation, through which one must pass if he desired the consulship. The earliest age for holding each was, for the quaestorship, twenty-seven years; for the aedileship, thirty-seven; for the praetorship, forty; and for the consulship, forty-three. No magistrate received any salary, and only the wealthy could afford to hold office.