Editing Cursus honorum (section)

== Praetor ==
{{Main|Praetor}}
After serving either as quaestor or as aedile, a man of 39 years could run for praetor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherk |first=Robert K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnP7LdsgrIoC&pg=PA149 |title=Rome and the Greek East to the Death of Augustus |date=1984 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-27123-3 |pages=149 |language=}}</ref> During the reign of [[Augustus]] this requirement was lowered to 30, at the request of [[Gaius Maecenas]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Madsen, Jesper M.; Scott; Andrew G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2uxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA377 |title=Brill's Companion to Cassius Dio |date=2023 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-52418-7 |pages=377 |language=}}</ref> The number of praetors elected varied through history, generally increasing with time. During the republic, six or eight were generally elected each year to serve judicial functions throughout Rome and other governmental responsibilities. In the absence of the consuls, a praetor would be given command of the garrison in Rome or in Italy. Also, a praetor could exercise the functions of the consuls throughout Rome, but their main function was that of a judge. They would preside over trials involving criminal acts, grant court orders and validate "illegal" acts as acts of administering justice. A praetor was escorted by six lictors, and wielded ''[[imperium]]''. After a term as praetor, the magistrate could serve as a provincial governor with the title of propraetor, wielding ''propraetor imperium'', commanding the province's legions, and possessing ultimate authority within his province(s).<ref>{{cite book |first=Jo-Ann |last=Shelton |title=As the Romans did: a sourcebook in Roman Social History |edition=2nd |pages=207–215 |year=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWihGXyCIw8C |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195089745}}</ref>

Two of the praetors were more prestigious than the others. The first was the Praetor Peregrinus, who was the chief judge in trials involving one or more foreigners. The other was the Praetor Urbanus, the chief judicial office in Rome. He had the power to overturn any verdict by any other courts, and served as judge in cases involving criminal charges against provincial governors. The Praetor Urbanus was not allowed to leave the city for more than ten days. If one of these two praetors was absent from Rome, the other would perform the duties of both.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}