bunes varied: there were
never less than three, more often four or six, while two boards had eight
and nine tribunes respectively. As their name indicates, these were
essentially military officers, and this lends support to the tradition
that they were elected because the military situation frequently demanded
the presence in the state of more than two magistrates who could exercise
the _imperium_.

*The praetorship.* However, by 362 this method of meeting the increased
burdens of the magistracy was definitely abandoned. For the future two
consuls were annually elected, and, in addition, a magistrate called the
praetor, to whom was assigned the administration of the civil jurisdiction
within the city. The praetor was regarded as a minor colleague of the
consuls and held the _imperium_. Consequently, if need arose, he could
take command in the field or exercise the other consular functions.

*The curule aediles.* In the same year there was established the curule
aedileship. The two curule aediles were at first elected from the
patricians only, and, although their duties seem to have been the same as
those of the plebeian aediles, their office was considered more honorable
than that of the latter.

*Promagistrates.* The Roman magistrates were elected for one year only,
and after 342 reelection to the same office could only be sought after an
interval of ten years. This system entailed some inconveniences,
especially in the conduct of military operations, for in the case of
campaigns that lasted longer than one year the consul in command had to
give place to his successor as soon as his own term of office had expired.
Thus the state was unable to utilize for a longer period the services of
men who had displayed special military capacity. The difficulty was
eventually overcome by the prolongation, at the discretion of the Senate,
of the command of a consul in the field for an indefinite period after the
lapse of his consulship. The person whose term of office was thus extended
was no longer a consul, but acted "in the place of a consul" (_pro
consule_). This was the origin of the promagistracy. It first appeared in
the campaign at Naples in 325, and, although for a time employed but
rarely, its use eventually became very widespread.

*Characteristics of the magistracy.* Thus the Roman magistracy attained
the form that it preserved until the end of the Republic. It consisted of
a number of committees, each of which, with