At the time of the battle of Actium there were eighteen provinces; viz. Sicilia (227 (Footnote: The figures in parentheses indicate the date at which the province was established.)), Sardinia and Corsica (227), Hispania Citerior (205), Hispania Ulterior (205), Illyricum (167), Macedonia (146), Africa (146), Asia (133), Achaia (146), Gallia Citerior (80), Gallia Narbonensis (118), Cilicia (63), Syria (64), Bithynia and Pontus (63), Cyprus (55), Cyrenaica and Crete (63), Numidia (46), and Mauritania (46). Under the Emperors the following sixteen were added: Rhoetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Moesia, Dacia, Britannia, Aegyptus, Cappadocia, Galatia, Rhodus, Lycia, Judaea, Arabia, Mesopotamia. Armenia, and Assyria. CHAPTER XLV. (Footnote: Most of the information given in this chapter is scattered in different parts of the history; but it seems well to condense it into one chapter for readier reference.) ROMAN OFFICERS, ETC. The magistrates of Rome were of two classes; the _Majores_, or higher, and the _Minores_, or lower. The former, except the Censor, had the _Imperium_; the latter did not. To the former class belonged the Consuls, Praetors, and Censors, who were all elected in the Comitia Centuriata. The magistrates were also divided into two other classes, viz. Curule and Non-Curule. The Curule offices were those of Dictator, Magister Equitum, Consul, Praetor, Censor, and Curule Aedile. These officers had the right to sit in the _sella curulis_, chair of state. This chair was displayed upon all public occasions, especially in the circus and theatre; and it was the seat of the Praetor when he administered justice. In shape it was plain, resembling a common folding camp-stool, with crooked legs. It was ornamented with ivory, and later overlaid with gold. The descendants of any one who had held a curule office were nobles, and had the right to place in their halls and to carry at funeral processions a wax mask of this ancestor, as well as of any other deceased members of the family of curule rank. A person who first held a curule office, and whose ancestors had never held one, was called a _novus homo_, i. e. a new man. The most famous new men were Marius and Cicero. The magistrates were chosen only from the patricians in the early republic; but in course of time the plebeians shared these honors. The plebeian magistrates, properly so called, were the plebeian Aediles and the Tribuni Plebis. All the magistrates, except the Censor, were elected for one year; and all but the Tribunes and Quaestors began their term of office on January 1st. The Tribune's year began December 10th; that of the Quaestor, December 5th.