PROPRAETOR
PROPRAETOR The propraetorship was, like the proconsulate,
technically a delegation of the praetorian imperium where alone such
delegation was constitutionally allowable--that is, outside the pomerium;
but, instead of the delegation of a new
imperium
militiae, the course usually adopted was the prolongation of
an imperium already existing (
prorogatio). The
title
pro praetore seems really to be an older
title than that of
pro consule. As the title
praetor belonged originally to all
magistrates who demanded obedience from the army in virtue of their imperium
(Pseud.-Ascon.
in Verrin. p. 168; Festus, p. 161), so the
title
pro praetore was applied to an officer
who had this authority delegated to him; and accordingly Dionysius (
9.12) calls the military delegate
appointed by the consuls for the command of the reserve force
ἀντιστρατηγός (propraetor), which is more
likely to have been the original title than proconsul, given by Livy (
3.4). This view of the propraetorship as a delegated
military imperium never died out. When, for instance, the military imperium
was to be conferred on an individual who had held no magistracy, or only a
minor one, it is generally conferred with the title
pro
praetore. M. Antonius, while still tribune, had this title
granted him by Caesar, for the purpose of military command in Italy (
Cic. ad Att. x. 8 a); and
Octavian, who had held no magistracy, had the title
propraetor conferred on him by the senate for the purpose of
acting against Antony (Suet.
Oct. 10).
But the propraetorship, as a standing office, originated with the necessities
of provincial government. When the number of the Roman provinces increased
beyond the four original provinces, for which special praetors were
appointed, the prolongation of the imperium of the two city praetors became
usual. Provincial government was subsequently divorced from the
administration of the praetors, and the provinces divided between the past
consuls and praetors, the propraetors obtaining those provinces where least
military forces were required. As provincial governors they were invested
with the imperium with the same ceremonies with which the imperium for
military service had been confirmed: among which were especially the
religious ceremonies of the
vota and
auspicia
[p. 2.502]（
Cic. in
Verr. 5.13, 14; Festus,
l.c.) and
the Lex Curiata, or popular sanction for all the
magistratus cum imperio (
Cic.
de Lege Agr. 2.1. 1, 26). The tenure of his
imperium by the praetor was now, as a rule, biennial, one year being spent
in office at home, the other as governor of a province; this separation of
commands was first formally recognised by Sulla (Lex Cornelia de provinciis
ordinandis), and the limit of the propraetor's government of a province
fixed at one year. (For the administration of the provinces by propraetors,
see
PROVINCIA) The
senatusconsultum of 52 B.C. affected the propraetor as it affected the
proconsul [
PROCONSUL]. The
propraetor did not now leave Rome to take command of a province until five
years after he had ended his period of office at home (
D. C. 40.30,
1;
46,
2). Although the
division of the provinces between the propraetors and the proconsuls was
regulated by constitutional usage, and the interval between home and foreign
commands regulated by law, yet the senate might by a decree interfere with
the ordinary arrangements. In 51 B.C. a senatusconsultum was passed by which
the senate commanded that all the praetorii who were qualified for foreign
command should be sent to provinces, and that, if there were not sufficient
praetorii of five years' standing, those of less standing should be sent out
in the order of seniority (
Cic. Att. 8.8,
8). The effect of this decree was to
debar from government consulares duly qualified by the five years' interval
(
Caes. Civ. 1,
6).
When, under the Empire, the provinces were divided into senatorial and
imperial, the republican system was reversed; the military provinces were
given to governors with the title
pro praetore,
the non-military to proconsuls. In the latter, however, we find the
senatorial proconsuls accompanied by
legati proconsulis
pro praetore. They were assessors (
πάρεδρος,
D. C. 53.14,
7) of
the senatorial governor, and were all alike called propraetors, though some
might be consulares. For a senatorial province of the higher class, such as
Asia and Africa, which were governed always by consulares, three such legati
pro praetore were selected; to one of the lower class, such as Sicily and
Baetica, which were governed by a proconsul who had been praetor, one such
legatus accompanied the governor. They were selected by the proconsuls
themselves, subject to the approval of the princeps: in the lower senatorial
provinces these propraetors might be praetorii; in the higher they might be
consulares (Dio Cass. ib.).
The title
quaestor pro praetore is connected
with senatorial government. It may mean one of three offices. During the
Republic, a magistrate with this title was either (i.) one who replaced an
absent or dead superior in a province for the purpose of temporary
government (
Sal. Jug. 103; cf. ib. 36), and,
from the instances referred to, we see that the quaestor took this title,
although he might be commanding in the room of a proconsul; or (ii.) one
who, though still only a quaestor, was appointed to an independent command
by senate or people. Cato bore this title when sent to annex Cyprus in 58
B.C. (Vell. 2, 45; cf.
C. I. L. 1.4, 598); and (iii.) in a
senatorial province, during the Empire, the quaestor, who is the finance
officer in such a province, had this title, as we know from inscriptions, in
which the title
quaestor pro praetore appears
by the side of that of his superior the proconsul (Orelli, 151). Two
explanations of this are possible. He may have been
adlectus inter praetoris because the other leading members of
the staff, the legati, were propraetors: or, more probably, the title was
given him because he was the provincial representative of the finance
officer of the aerarium at Rome, which, under the Empire, was in the hands,
not of a quaestor, but of a praetor.
The governors of the imperial provinces, under the Empire, were all
legati Caesaris pro praetore. Their government was
not an independent command; they were legati of the Emperor: hence they
could not have the proconsulare imperium, which was vested in the princeps,
and could not therefore be proconsuls. The imperial provinces, like the
senatorial, were divided into a higher and a lower class. To the higher,
such as Syria and the two Germanies, consulares were sent; to the lower,
such as Aquitania and Galatia, praetorii; but the governors of both were
called propraetors (
D. C. 53.13,
5), those who had been consuls adding the title
vir consularis or
consularis legatus. These propraetorial governorships had no
definite limit of time, and their tenure depended on the emperor's
discretion (
D. C. 53.13,
6;
Tac. Ann. 1.80), their holders
having fixed salaries from the imperial treasury (
D.
C. 52.23,
1). The imperial provinces
all involved military commands; and hence the legati Caesaris wore the
military dress and sword (
D. C. 53.13,
6), which were not worn by the proconsuls of
senatorial provinces.
[
A.H.G]
