Dear
Tacitus,
the table is maybe a
bit unclear at some points. The cursus honorum was different in different times of the republic as well as during the imperium. It is even unclear whether there was a real "cursus honorum" for the first two to three centuries of the republic. So, I would assume that the scheme shows the times of the late republic.
Even then, I would not see a reason why only senatorial family member should be able to go through the
quaestor line. That would be - at the very least - the case for anyone having senatorial
census, likely rather even for anyone (in theory, and, if you did not have senatorial
census, the censors would likely remove you from the senate in their next
census, again). Also, the
military tribunes would not have to serve ten years but ten campaigns. While in the earlier years, this generally accounted for 10 years (of course only during fighting season), usually, in later times, ten campaigns might have happened in a shorter (sometimes maybe longer, too) period of time.
Also, it is actually not clear if the lower age for patricians indeed did apply. This theory is based mostly on the fact that
Caesar became
praetor when he was 38 and
consul when he was 40. This might have
had other reasons, though, e.g. that he won a major crown in
his military career.
Coming to your questions - why would a
consul become
proconsul or
censor? Maybe some ideas, here:
Generally, one could not be elected
consul for another ten years after holding the consulship. Thus, after being a
consul for one year you would always be a "simple" senator (which is not really true - as a former
consul you would be high in the senate's speaking order) if you did not become a
proconsul.
Proconsul would mean that you generally were the
head of a provincia and thus could refinance what you've spent on your campaign of actually becoming
consul. That at least seemed to be one of the reasons why consuls wished to be
proconsul - and especially for provinces in which wars might be fought as a certain share of the spoils belonged to the
proconsul, then. Proconsulships generally were limited to one year, too, but could be
enhanced, if required (or, if granted by the people's assembly
per law could last longer from the very start)
And the censorship was highly sought after because simply to be elected
censor meant that you
had immense auctoritas (which might be translated as clout). And by being elected, your dignitas (yes, the stuff that
Caesar fought civil wars for) would rise in the eyes of your peers. As censors were elected every fifth year, only every fifth
consul had the chance to become
censor, at all. Thus, in a competitive society as the
Roman, a censorship was a career peak (
dictator or a second consulship would be great, too, but censorship was important). Btw., the censorship also gave you quite some control of who was member of the senate. Censors could remove senators if they did not have senatorial
census (i.e. having a sufficiently large fortune) or if they were considered "immoral" (as happened, e.g. to
Marcus Antonius's stepfather Publius
Cornelius Lentulus Sura who was
consul in 71 BC but was excluded from the senate for immorality in 70 BC. He
still re-entered the senate by becoming elected
praetor in 63 BC; however, he was executed as one of Catalina's companions). Thus, being
censor gave you quite some political influence, even if not imperium.
Maybe some of these ideas
help.
Best
Thilo
