 By the new Constantinian arrangement , one could become a senator , either by being elected praetor or ( in most cases ) by fulfilling a function of senatorial rank : from then on , holding of actual power and social status were melded together into a joint imperial hierarchy . At the same time , Constantine gained with this the support of the old nobility , as the Senate was allowed itself to elect praetors and quaestors , in place of the usual practice of the emperors directly creating new magistrates ( adlectio ) . In one inscription in honor of city prefect ( 336 – 337 ) Ceionius Rufus Albinus , it was written that Constantine had restored the Senate " the auctoritas it had lost at Caesar 's time " . 
