ituendae_). Sulla's appointment occurred late in 82 B. C. The scope
of his powers and their unlimited duration gave him monarchical or rather
tyrannical authority.

*Sulla's reforms.* The general aim of Sulla's legislation was to restore
the Senate to the position which it had held prior to 133 B. C. and to
guarantee the perpetuation of this condition. His reforms fall into two
classes; firstly, those directed to securing the rule of the _optimates_,
which were not long-lived; secondly, those seeking to increase the
efficiency of the administration, which being of a non-partizan character
enjoyed greater permanency than the preceding. Those of the former sort
constituted a renewal and extension of his reforms of 88 B. C. The
senatorial veto over legislation in the Assembly of Tribes was renewed,
and the tribunes' intercession restricted to interference with the
exercise of the magistrate's _imperium_. To deter able and ambitious men
from seeking the tribunate, it was made a bar to further political office.
The senators were once more made eligible for the juries, while the
equestrians were disqualified. The Domitian Law of 104 B. C. was abrogated
and the practise of co-opting the members of the priestly college was
revived. Most important of Sulla's administrative reforms was that which
concerned the magistracy. The established order of offices in the _cursus
honorum_ was maintained, an age limit set for eligibility to each office,
and an interval of ten years required between successive tenures of the
same post. The number of quaestors was increased to twenty, that of the
praetors raised from six to eight. In connection therewith the method of
appointing provincial governors was regulated. By the organization of the
province of Cisalpine Gaul, the number of provinces was raised to ten, and
the two consuls and eight praetors, upon the completion of their year of
office in Rome, were to be appointed to the provinces as pro-consuls and
propraetors for one year. The pro-magistrates thus lost their original
extraordinary character and this change marks the first step in the
creation of an imperial civil service.

As before, the Senate designated the consular provinces before the
election of the consuls who would be their proconsular governors. The
consuls were not deprived of the right of military command, but, as
before, regularly assumed control of military operations in Italy. The
consular _imperium_ remained senior to t