 However, the role of choosing senators became rather limited as all magistrates down to the rank of quaestor eventually gained admission to the senate after the office's expiration.The modern concept of a head of state, insofar as the republican times excepting the dictatorships are concerned, can hardly be translated to Roman conceptions, but most other powers—the imperium—were ceded to the consuls (the etymology suggests that these were originally the king's chief counsellors) and to the praetors ("leaders") after the creation of that office (about 367, according to Livy); thereby at least roughly separating the judiciary from the executive.According to tradition (which is disputed by historians for the first decades), the consulate was always entrusted to two persons to prevent autocracy.