Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/284

270 old royal authority of appointment (p. 17). But he abandoned this plan and permitted the regular magistrates formally to retain their previous powers. In practice he confined them, however, in a large measure to the municipal sphere, and in so far made Rome the first municipality in the state, in place of the ruling city.

The Consulship. — After returning from Spain, Caesar resigned his office of sole consul, and caused the ordinary magistrates to be elected for the rest of the year. The repeated election of consuls for a few months may have been due to circumstances; but it decreased the dignity of the office, and led to the result that, after 45, consuls with a full annual term became exceptional.

In December, 45, Caesar had a candidate elected consul for a few hours, and thereby gave him the privileges of an ex-consul, but degraded the office and unnecessarily wounded the feelings of old republicans like Cicero. He also conferred on ten ex-praetors who had not held the consular office the insignia and honorary privileges of ex-consuls (ornamenta consularia), and he gave others all the honorary and political rights of a higher rank (by adlectio e.g. inter praetorios, consulares) than their official career entitled them to. Such distinctions had been granted in exceptional cases during the republic, especially as the reward of successful prosecution, but in the imperial period they became quite common.

The Increase of Magistracies. — Caesar further increased the number of praetors from ten to fourteen, and finally to sixteen. He desired partly to reward his followers, and in part to improve the provincial administration. He created two new plebeian aediles (aediles Ceriales), who were placed in charge of the grain supply, and he raised the number of quaestors to forty. This was necessary on account of the larger number of praetors and of senators (p. 271).