Every aristocratic male desired the public office of consul or the title of the emperor. Realistically, not every competent male could become an emperor or a consul. However, there were a myriad of other public office jobs that one could wield considerable power over the city of Rome.

One such job was the office of Censor. The responsibilities of the Censor included the proper handling of government finances and the collecting of census data. Most importantly the task of the Censor was to supervise public morality. Censors were often hated by the public and even by their other peers who held public office. The Censors were nicknamed castigatores or chastisers.

In what we would call an invasion of privacy, the Censors pried into the lives of Roman citizens to judge whether they had committed an illegal act, or whether they were about to break the law. The Censors were in charge of the census, which gave them considerable information on every individual. If the individual was a Roman citizen, he would have to state his name, his family members and the total valuation of his property. If the individual was a slave, an orphan or a single woman, a guardian was appointed and responsible for the data on these individuals.

If a person was intentionally absent for a census, that person was labeled an incensus and subject to punishment. One of the reasons why upper class citizens dreaded the census was because of the sumptuariae leges or the sumptuary laws. The Sumptuary Laws regulated the consumption habits of its citizens. Any citizen deemed to have too many luxuries were branded with nota censoria or the census mark. There was a belief that love of luxuries would bring a decline in regimem morum or public morals, so the ancient Romans made sure to punish those individuals who were guilty of living luxuriously.

Another way to receive animadversio censoria or censorial reproach was for a citizen to be celibate. Most citizens of today’s democratic nations would view this as intrusive government power, but in ancient Rome, marriage was a necessary obligation to the state. In order to increase the number of legitimate citizens in Rome, the Censors fined bachelors who were of marriageable age and were not yet married. However, this aes uxorium or fine, only applied to citizens. Slaves who were not married or did not have children were not viewed as a threat to Rome.

Censors had the ability to influence the lives of rich Roman citizens through various punishments like fines, or what was called ejectio e senatu or removal from the Senate. If the Censor felt that there were grounds for a crime to have been committed, they could remove those individuals from the Senate.

Being a Censor was a great position of power. However, it was not a position where one could make many friends!