Cursus honorum
The cursus honorum comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts; the ultimate prize for winning election to each "rung" in the sequence was to become one of the two consuls in a given year.
The constitutional reforms of Sulla between 82 and 79 BC required a ten-year interval before holding the same office again for another term.
[1] To have held each office at the youngest possible age (suo anno, 'in his year') was considered a great political success.
[2][3] Prior to entering political life and the cursus honorum, a young man of senatorial rank was expected to serve around ten years of military duty.
[8] From the time of Augustus onwards, twenty quaestors served in the financial administration at Rome or as second-in-command to a governor in the provinces.
[9] At 36 years of age, a promagistrate could stand for election to one of the aediles (pronounced /ˈiːdaɪl/ EE-dyle, from aedes, "temple edifice") positions.
Moreover, they took charge of Rome's water and food supplies; in their capacity as market superintendents, they served sometimes as judges in mercantile affairs.
[citation needed] The aedile was the supervisor of public works; the words "edifice" and "edification" stem from the same root.
Also, they oversaw the organization of festivals and games (ludi), which made this a very sought-after office for a career minded politician of the late Republic, as it was a good means of gaining popularity by staging spectacles.
[11] The elections for curule aedile were at first alternated between patricians and plebeians, until late in the 2nd century BC, when the practice was abandoned and both classes became free to run during all years.
He had the power to overturn any verdict by any other courts, and served as judge in cases involving criminal charges against provincial governors.
Consuls were responsible for the city's political agenda, commanded large-scale armies and controlled important provinces.
Only laws and the decrees of the Senate or the People's assembly limited their powers, and only the veto of a fellow consul or a tribune of the plebs could supersede their decisions.
Because the consul was the highest executive office within the Republic, they had the power to veto any action or proposal by any other magistrate, save that of the Tribune of the Plebs.
After a consulship, a consul was assigned one of the more important provinces and acted as the governor in the same way that a propraetor did, only owning proconsular imperium.
Because each governor held equal imperium to the equivalent magistrate, they were escorted by the same number of lictors (12) and could only be vetoed by a reigning consul or praetor.
Their abilities to govern were only limited by the decrees of the Senate or the people's assemblies, and the Tribune of the Plebs was unable to veto their acts as long as the governor remained at least a mile outside of Rome.
The censors took a regular census of the people and then apportioned the citizens into voting classes on the basis of income and tribal affiliation.
The Tribune was an office first created to protect the right of the common man in Roman politics and served as the head of the Plebeian Council.
Due to their unique power of sacrosanctity, the Tribune had no need for lictors for protection and owned no imperium, nor could they wear the toga praetexta.
The dictator was free from the control of the Senate in all that he did, could execute anyone without a trial for any reason, and could ignore any law in the performance of his duties.
The magister equitum held praetorian imperium, was attended by six lictors, and was charged with assisting the dictator in managing the State.
