QUAESTOR (ταμίας), a name given to two distinct classes of Roman
officers. It is derived from _quaero_, and Varro gives a definition
which embraces the principal functions of both classes of officers:
_Quaestores a quaerendo, qui conquirerent publicas pecunias et
maleficia_. The one class, therefore, had to do with the collecting
and keeping of the public revenues, and the others were a kind of
public accusers. The former bore the name of _Quaestores Classici_,
the latter of _Quaestores Parricidii_.--The _Quaestores Parricidii_
were public accusers, two in number, who conducted the accusation of
persons guilty of murder or any other capital offence, and carried
the sentence into execution. In the early period of the republic
the quaestores parricidii appear to have become a standing office,
which, like others, was held only for one year. They were appointed
by the populus or the curies on the presentation of the consuls.
When these quaestores discovered that a capital offence had been
committed, they had to bring the charge before the comitia for trial.
When the sentence had been pronounced by the people, the quaestores
parricidii executed it; thus they threw Spurius Cassius from the
Tarpeian rock. They were mentioned in the laws of the Twelve Tables,
and after the time of the decemvirate they still continued to be
appointed, though probably no longer by the curies, but either in
the comitia centuriata or tribute, which they therefore must have had
the right of assembling in cases of emergency. From the year B.C. 366
they are no longer mentioned in Roman history, as their functions
were gradually transferred to the triumviri capitales. [TRIUMVIRI
CAPITALES.]--The _Quaestores Classici_, usually called _Quaestores_
simply, were officers entrusted with the care of the public money.
They were elected by the centuries, and the office is said to have
been first instituted by Valerius Publicola. They were at first
only two in number, and of course taken only from the patricians.
As the senate had the supreme administration of the finances, the
quaestors were in some measure only its agents or paymasters, for
they could not dispose of any part of the public money without being
directed by the senate. Their duties consequently consisted in making
the necessary payments from the aerarium, and receiving the public
revenues. Of both they had to keep correct accounts in their _tabulae
publicae_. Demands which any one might have on the aerarium, and
outstanding debts, were likewise registered by them. Fines to be paid
to the public treasury were registered and exacted by them. Another
branch of their duties, which, however, was likewise connected with
the treasury, was to provide the proper accommodation for foreign
ambassadors, and such persons as were connected with the republic
by ties of public hospitality.--In B.C. 421 the number of quaestors
was doubled, and the tribunes tried to effect, by an amendment of
the law, that a part (probably two) of the quaestores should be
plebeians. This attempt was indeed frustrated, but the interrex L.
Papirius effected a compromise, that the election should not be
restricted to either order. After this law was carried, eleven years
passed without any plebeian being elected to the office: at last, in
B.C. 409, three of the four quaestors were plebeians. A person who
had held the office of quaestor had undoubtedly, as in later times,
the right to take his seat in the senate, unless he was excluded as
unworthy by the next censors. And this was probably the reason why
the patricians so resolutely opposed the admission of plebeians to
this office. Henceforth the consuls, whenever they took the field
against an enemy, were accompanied by one quaestor each, who at
first had only to superintend the sale of the booty, the produce of
which was either divided among the legion, or was transferred to
the aerarium. Subsequently, however, we find that these quaestors
also kept the funds of the army, which they had received from the
treasury at Rome, and gave the soldiers their pay; they were in fact
the paymasters of the army. The two other quaestors, who remained
at Rome, continued to discharge the same duties as before, and
were distinguished from those who accompanied the consuls by the
epithet _urbani_. In B.C. 265, after the Romans had made themselves
masters of Italy, and when, in consequence, the administration of
the treasury and the raising of the revenues became more laborious
and important, the number of quaestors was again doubled to eight;
and it is probable that henceforth their number continued to be
increased in proportion as the empire became extended. One of the
eight quaestors was appointed by lot to the _Quaestura Ostiensis_,
a most laborious and important post, as he had to provide Rome with
corn. Besides the quaestor Ostiensis, who resided at Ostia, three
other quaestors were distributed in Italy, to raise those parts of
the revenue which were not farmed by the publicani, and to control
the latter. One of them resided at Cales, and the two others probably
in towns on the Upper Sea. The two remaining quaestors were sent to
Sicily.--Sulla, in his dictatorship, raised the number of quaestors
to twenty, that he might have a large number of candidates for the
senate, and J. Caesar even to forty. In the year B.C. 49 no quaestors
were elected, and Caesar transferred the keeping of the aerarium
to the aediles. From this time forward the treasury was sometimes
entrusted to the praetors, sometimes to the praetorii, and sometimes
again to quaestors. [AERARIUM.] Quaestors, however, both in the city
and in the provinces, occur down to the latest period of the empire.
The proconsul or praetor, who had the administration of a province,
was attended by a quaestor. This quaestor had undoubtedly to perform
the same functions as those who accompanied the armies into the
field; they were in fact the same officers, with the exception that
the former were stationary in their province during the time of
their office, and had consequently rights and duties which those who
accompanied the armies could not have. In the provinces the quaestors
had the same jurisdiction as the curule aediles at Rome. The relation
existing between a praetor or proconsul of a province and his
quaestor was, according to ancient custom, regarded as resembling
that between a father and his son. When a quaestor died in his
province, the praetors had the right of appointing a _proquaestor_ in
his stead; and when the praetor was absent, the quaestor supplied his
place, and was then attended by lictors. In what manner the provinces
were assigned to the quaestors after their election at Rome, is
not mentioned, though it was probably by lot, as in the case of the
quaestor Ostiensis.