Cato, standing for the consulate, was signally defeated, to the satisfaction of Pompeius no less than of Caesar. […] In theory, every free-born citizen was eligible to stand for the quaestorship: in fact, the wealth and standing of a knight was requisite no exorbitant condition. […] An ex-centurion could be a knight, and therefore juryman, officer or man of affairs, the progenitor, when he was not the heir, of a family with municipal repute and standing at least not all centurions were rustic and humble in origin. […] On the whole question of the social standing of centurions at this time, cf. the evidence and arguments adduced in JRS XXVII (1937), 128 f. and BSR Papers XIV (1938), 13. […] Yet surmise about origins and social standing may claim validity.