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.
The two Consuls were the highest magistrates, except when a Dictator was appointed, and were the chiefs of the administration. Their power was equal, and they had the right before all others of summoning the Senate and the Comitia Centuriáta, in each of which they presided. "When both Consuls were in the city, they usually took turns in performing the official duties, each acting a month; and during this time the Consul was always accompanied in public by twelve lictors, who preceded him in single file, each carrying on his shoulders a bundle of rods (_fasces_), to signify the power of the magistrate to scourge criminals. Outside the city, these fasces showed an axe projecting from each bundle, signifying the power of the magistrate to behead criminals."
At the expiration of his year of office, the Consul was sent to govern a province for one year, and was then called the _Proconsul_. He was chief in his province in all military, civil, and criminal cases.