(Variar.l.vi.

epistol.
9.)] [Footnote 144: Gutherius (de Officiis Domus Augustae, l.ii.c.20, l.
iii.) has very accurately explained the functions of the master of the offices, and the constitution of the subordinate scrinia.

But he vainly attempts, on the most doubtful authority, to deduce from the time of the Antonines, or even of Nero, the origin of a magistrate who cannot be found in history before the reign of Constantine.] [Footnote 145: Tacitus (Annal.xi.

22) says, that the first quaestors were elected by the people, sixty-four years after the foundation of the republic; but he is of opinion, that they had, long before that period, been annually appointed by the consuls, and even by the kings.

But this obscure point of antiquity is contested by other writers.] [Footnote 146: Tacitus (Annal.xi.