Note 331 — Chapter II · THE GROWTH OF THE REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTION

Tac. Ann. xi. 22 “Sed quaestores regibus etiam tum imperantibus instituti sunt, quod lex curiata ostendit ab L. Bruto repetita. Mansitque consulibus potestas deligendi, donec eum quoque honorem populus mandaret. Creatique primum Valerius Potitus et Aemilius Mamercus sexagesimo tertio anno post Tarquinios exactos, ut rem militarem comitarentur” (i.e. 447 B.C.; hence Mommsen, Staatsr. ii. p. 529, thinks the change was due to the Valerio-Horatian laws of 449 B.C.). Plutarch (see note 1) thinks they were elected from the first. The meaning of the passage of Tacitus seems to be that the king nominated his quaestors after his own election, and their appointment was then ratified by the lex curiata. Another explanation is that the lex recited that the kings had appointed quaestors and empowered the consuls to do so. Cf. Ulpian in Dig. 1, 13.