The cursus honorum was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in both the Roman Republic and the early Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The cursus honorum comprised a mixture of military and political administration posts. Each office had a minimum age for election. There were minimum intervals between holding successive offices and laws forbade repeating an office. These rules were altered and flagrantly ignored in the course of the last century of the Republic.
The cursus honorum officially began with ten years of military duty in the Roman cavalry as an equites, or in the staff of a general who was a relative or a friend of the family. The ten years of service were intended to be mandatory in order to qualify for political office. The first official post was that of quaestor. Candidates had to be at least 30 years old. However, men of patrician rank could subtract two years from this and other minimum age requirements. Such exemptions, however, either were rarely permitted or removed after the reforms of Sulla, since Julius Caesar had been elected a quaestor after turning 30.
There was also the post of tribune. But the candidates had to be plebeian, because the office was established to protect the plebeians from arbitrary actions of magistrates. Hence the primary power of tribunes was negative; they could veto the act of any magistrate and stop any official act of administration. They were by law sacrosanct, meaning that anyone who attacked them physically could be immediately and summarily killed.
Former quaestors could stand for election to one of the aedile positions when they had turned 36 years of age. Of these aediles, two were plebeian and two were patrician, with the patrician aediles called Curule Aediles. The plebeian aediles were elected by the Plebeian Council and the curule aediles were either elected by the Tribal Assembly or appointed by the reigning consul. After holding either the office of quaestor or aedile, a man of 39 years could run for praetor. The number of Praetors elected varied through history, generally increasing with time. During the republic, six or eight were generally elected each year to serve judicial functions throughout Rome and other governmental responsibilities. In the absence of the Consuls, a Praetor would be given command of the garrison in Rome or in Italy.
In the cursus honorum the office of consul was the most prestigious of all and represented the summit of a successful career. The minimum age was 42 for plebeians and 40 for patricians. Consuls were responsible for the city’s political agenda, commanded large-scale armies and controlled important provinces. To prevent corruption, the consuls served for only a year and could only rule when they agreed, because each consul could veto the other’s decision.
[...] Julius Caesar joined the army, serving under Marcus Minucius Thermus in Asia and Servilius Isauricus in Cilicia. He fought with distinction and won the Civic Crown for his part in the siege of Mytilene. In 78 BC, Sulla died after having resigned his dictatorship. Then Caesar felt safe enough to return to Rome. Since his inheritance had been confiscated, he began to work as a lawyer in legal advocacy. He became known for his exceptional oratory, accompanied by impassioned gestures and a high-pitched voice, and ruthless prosecution of former governors notorious for extortion and corruption. [...]