included objects as well as slaves, with the proceeds to be deposited in the public treasury. They were also responsible for public auction of property seized from citizens who had debts or fines owed to the state if they were unable to pay. These responsibilities over public debts also included the collection of fines in general, where a convict ordered to pay a fine would be required to make a surety to the urban quaestors and deposit the money in the aerarium. Returning magistrates and governors also had to produce detailed account books for their handling of public money, which would then be deposited in the treasury, where the urban quaestors and their staff would audit them. These records were supposed to total a running ledger of starting balances, a line-by-line itemised accounting of all inflows and outflows, and ending balances for the province. They also included, for generals, detailed lists of all the money, gold, silver, spoils, and other assets acquired during a governorship. The scribes checked the account books, looking for transactional documentation and arithmetic errors, the results were then approved or disapproved by the quaestors. A negative audit could provide fodder for corruption charges, which was regular in the last two centuries of the Republic. After the formation of the permanent courts (), the urban quaestors were also responsible for assembling the jury pools and allocation of portions of those pools to the various courts. These quaestors also handled various tasks assigned ad hoc by the Senate, such as meeting and accompanying foreign dignitaries on state visits or leaving Rome to the provinces on special assignments. In earlier Republic, the quaestors also controlled the distribution of the legionary aquilae (eagle standards), which were kept in the treasury before distribution to generals before they were returned on the conclusion of a campaign. This likely, however, fell into disuse as Rome expanded across the Mediterranean. Provincial administration Because consuls, praetors, and their promagisterial counterparts were "practically... plenipotentiary agent[s] upon [which all] aspect[s] of government associated with that provincia depended", the quaestor's responsibilities could vary widely, including not only financial and administrative matters but also sometimes encompassing military command and judicial functions. In general, however, the core administrative duty of the quaestor was to "[extract] whatever material assets the Roman military apparatus might need". When quaestors were sometimes assigned to a province alone (without attachment to a superior) in the