must have been quaestor; to have been "promoted" by Titus he must
have been aedile; and as for his further advancement we know that
he was praetor under Domitian. By the Lex Villia Annalis, passed
by the Tribune Lucius Villius during the time of the Republic in
573 after the Building of the City, the years were fixed wherein
the different offices were to be entered on--in the language of
Livy; "eo anno rogatio primum lata est ab Lucio Villio tribuno
plebis, quot annos nati quemque magistratum peterent caperentque"
(xl. 44); and the custom was never departed from, in conformity
with Ovid's statement in his Fasti with respect to the mature
years of those who legislated for his countrymen, and the special
enactment which strictly prescribed the age when Romans could be
candidates for public offices:

"Jura dabat populo senior, finitaque certis
Legibus est aetas, unde petatur honos."
Fast. v. 65-6.

After the promulgation of his famous plebiscitum by the old
Tribune of the People in the year 179 A.C., a Roman could not fill
the office of quaestor till he was 31, nor aedile till he was 37,--as,
guided by the antiquaries, Sigonius and Pighius, Doujat, the
Delphin editor of Livy, states: "quaestores ante annum aetatis
trigesimum primum non crearentur, nec aediles curules ante
septimum ac trigesimum";--and the ages for the two offices were
usually 32 and 38.

From Vespasian's rule extending to ten years we cannot arrive at
the date when Tacitus was quaestor; but we can guess when he was
aedile, as Titus was emperor only from the spring of 79 to the