As an offset to these gains of the plebeians, the patricians in 435 obtained two new officers, called CENSORS, elected from their own ranks every five years (_lustrum_) to hold office for eighteen months.
I. To see that the citizens of every class were properly registered.
II. To punish immorality in the Senate by the removal of any members who were guilty of offences against public morals.
III. To have the general supervision of the finances and public works of the state. This office became in after years the most coveted at Rome.
A few years later, in 421, the plebeians made another step forward by obtaining the right of electing one of their number as Quaestor. There were now four Quaestors.
Thus the patricians, in spite of the most obstinate resistance, sustained loss after loss. Even the rich plebeians, who had hitherto often found it for their interest to side with the patricians, joined the farmers or lower classes.
Finally, in 367, the Tribunes Licinius and Sextius proposed and passed the following bills, called the LICINIAN ROGATIONS.
I. To abolish the six military tribunes, and elect annually, as formerly, two Consuls, choosing one or both of them from the plebeians.
II. To forbid any citizen's holding more than 500 _jugera_ (300 acres) of the public lands, or feeding thereon more than 100 oxen or 500 sheep.
III. To compel all landlords to employ on their fields a certain number of free laborers, proportionate to the number of their slaves.
IV. To allow all interest hitherto paid on borrowed money to be deducted from the principal, and the rest to be paid in three yearly instalments.
These rogations were a great gain for the poorer classes. It gave them an opportunity for labor which had previously been performed mostly by slaves. They were less burdened by debts, and had some prospect of becoming solvent. But most of all, since the office of Consul was open to them, they felt that their interests were now more likely to be protected. The temple of CONCORDIA in the Forum was dedicated by Camillus as a mark of gratitude for the better times that these rogations promised.
The plebeians, however, did not stop until all the offices, except that of _Interrex_, were thrown open to them. First they gained that of Dictator, then those of Censor and of Praetor, and finally, in 286, by the law of HORTENSIUS, the plebiscita became binding upon all the people without the sanction of the Senate and Comitia Centuriáta. After 200 the sacred offices of PONTIFEX and AUGUR also could be filled by plebeians.