of the latter principle. Some qualified candidates were set aside by the Senate either on its own motion or by the advice of the Emperor,[1] and the jus liberorum admitted some to the sortitio in preference to others.[2] All the governors of public provinces were now called proconsuls, whether they had previously held the consulship or not,[3] in order to distinguish them from the legates of Caesar's provinces, who all bore the title pro praetore. The two greatest of the public provinces, Asia and Africa, were always given to consulares, while the other governments might be held by men of praetorian rank. A definite allowance (salarium) was now given to the governor,[4] which must have removed some of his temptation to extortion. Each proconsul was attended by lictors and had the other insignia of his rank. But the proconsulare imperium was in many respects a mere shadow of its former self. Its possessor did not wear the sword or the military dress,[5] to show that his command was not a military one, and in deference to the full proconsulare imperium possessed by the Princeps. It was an exception to this rule that until the time of the Emperor Gaius the legion in Africa was under the command of the governor of that province;[6] but even here, where the employment of active military power was needed, the appointment of the proconsul was thrown practically on the Princeps.[7] The governor was also hampered by assessors[8] more carefully selected than the legati of Republican times. The legati proconsulis pro praetore, three of whom were assigned to the higher class of provinces, such as Asia and Africa, and one to the lower, such as Sicily and Baetica, although nominally selected by the proconsuls themselves, had to be approved by the Princeps; and the fact that they bear a title which suggests the imperium shows, that although they were still delegates of the governor, their jurisdiction was more definite and independent in the dioceses assigned them than it had been in Republican times. Even the quaestor now bears the title quaestor pro praetore,[9] and exercises, besides his(Dio Cass. liii. 14).]
- ↑ Tac. Ann. iii. 32. In A.D. 22 it was determined afresh that the Flamen Dialis might not leave Italy, "ita sors Asiae in eum qui consularium . . . proximus erat conlata" (ib. iii. 71).
- ↑ Dio Cass. liii. 13.
- ↑ ib.
- ↑ "Salarium proconsulare" (Tac. Agric. 42).
- ↑ Dio Cass. l.c.
- ↑ Tac. Hist. iv. 48.
- ↑ Tac. Ann. iii. 35 (on the outbreak of the war with Tacfarinas in A.D. 21) "Tiberius . . . M'. Lepidum et Junium Blaesum nominavit, ex quis pro consule Africae legeretur."
- ↑ [Greek: paredroi
- ↑ Wilmanns Index p. 553.
