This time the people voted for the war. In
Rome it was the people who reigned, just as is the case with the king
in England, but it was the Senate that governed.
=The Offices.=--Being magistrate or senator in Rome is not a
profession. Magistrates or senators spend their time and their money
without receiving any salary. A magistracy in Rome is before all an
honor. Entrance to it is to nobles, at most to knights, but always to
the rich; but these come to the highest magistracies only after they
have occupied all the others. The man who aims one day to govern Rome
must serve in the army during ten campaigns. Then he may be elected
quaestor and he receives the administration of the state treasury.
After this he becomes aedile, charged with the policing of the city and
with the provision of the corn supply. Later he is elected praetor and
gives judgment in the courts. Later yet, elected consul, he commands
an army and presides over the assemblies. Then only may he aspire to
the censorship. This is the highest round of the ladder and may be
reached hardly before one's fiftieth year. The same man has therefore,
been financier, administrator, judge, general, and governor before
arriving at this original function of censor, the political
distribution of the Roman people.
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