The quaestors
The quaestorship was the first step in the regular cursus honorum (primus gradus honoris), the process through which an individual could gain access to the highest offices of the state.
Like the aediles, the quaestors belonged to the magistratus minores and thus they were invested with potestas only. During their year in office they had the right to attend the meetings of the senate and ex-quaestors could be considered for permanent senatorial posts, although priority was given to those who had held higher magistracies.[287]Officials bearing the title of quaestor (quaestores paricidii) first appeared in the period of the kings. The quaestores paricidii were extraordinary officials who were appointed to investigate cases of homicide. Similarly, in the early years of the Republic quaestors were appointed by the consuls to carry out the prosecution of criminal offences before the assembly of the centuries.[288] As an ordinary magistracy the quaestorship was established in the middle of the fifth century BC, probably in imitation of a similar office found in the Greek cities of Southern Italy and Sicily. Until 421 BC the quaestors were appointed by the consuls, exclusively from the patrician class, to assist them in matters pertaining to the administration of public finance.[289] From that time they were elected by the assembly of the tribes (comitia tributa) from both the patrician and the plebeian orders. The number of the quaestors was originally two, but in 421 BC it was increased to four.[290] Of these two remained in the city where they served as public treasurers (quaestores urbani or aerarii), while the other two (quaestores militares) accompanied the consuls in military campaigns and performed the duties of quartermasters in charge of supplies, the payment of troops and the
The Constitution of the Roman Republic 95 distribution of war booty.[291] Around the middle of the third century BC the number of quaestors was again increased to eight. In the last century of the Republic Sulla raised their number to twenty, and Julius Caesar to forty.[292] Of these the provincial quaestors {quaestores provinciales) served in the Roman provinces overseas, where they acted as assistants to the governors in financial and other administrative matters.[293] The allocation of the various duties among the quaestors was usually done by lot, although the senate had the right of assigning a specific duty to a particular individual.
The quaestores urbani were in charge of the public treasury {aerarium) which also served as a public records office.
In this were kept the account books of the quaestors, the lists of taxpayers drawn by the censors, the contracts by which public revenues were leased, the reports of provincial magistrates as well as the military standards of the Roman army.[294] In the aerarium were also kept the statutes {leges) passed by the assemblies, the resolutions of the senate {senatus consulta) and the official list of those who were chosen to serve as jurors in criminal trials {album iudicum). Moreover, magistrates, whether civil or military, retiring from office were required to deposit in the aerarium all records connected with their offices.[295] Besides supervising the aerarium, the quaestors were entrusted with the collection of all public revenues derived from taxation and other sources and the financing of various public projects, such as public works and military operations. In discharging these duties they acted under the authority of the senate, under whose overall control the administration of public finance lay.[296] All financial transactions involving public money which took place in the provinces were carried out by the provincial quaestors who were responsible to the senate either directly or indirectly, through the quaestores urbani. Finally, the quaestors dealt with claims by private individuals contesting debts and other financial obligations to the state.
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