’Other citizens’ such as: the Praetor;
No, I mean that the lictors had no power beyond that of other citizens. The lictors had no ability beyond what we would regard as a "citizen's arrest". They had no power of their own. If a Praetor told a random citizen on the street to arrest another, the process would be entirely and exactly the same, as well as the punishment for not doing so - nil. A detainment by a lictor was not any more legally binding than a detainment by anyone else. Lictors had no authority, and even the authority of their magistrate was extremely limited in that their detainments, likewise, were not regarded as more lawful than any other citizen bringing in another to court.
hence the rest of the comment. They served a critical role for the local rulers and magistrates.
Not really? Lictors were overwhelmingly ceremonial at any time beyond the earliest years of the Republic.