The praetorship was a costly position to hold as praetors were expected to possess a treasury from which they could draw funds for their municipal duties. There are known to have been eight praetors in the Eastern Roman Empire who shared the financial burden between them. The late Eastern Roman Senate was very different from the Republican Senate as the offices of aedile and tribune had long fallen into abeyance and by the end of the 4th century the quaestorship was on the point of disappearing, save as a provincial magistrate.[1] The emperor or the Senate itself could also issue a decree to grant a man not born into the senatorial order a seat in the Senate.