Extract

Pro consule, pro praetore, a magistrate (see magistracy, roman) in place of a *consul or *praetor respectively, operating outside Rome and outside the regular annual magistracy.The first instance is Q. *Publilius Philo, who was about to take Naples (*Neapolis) in 326 bce, when his consulate ran out. The people voted that he should retain his *imperium in place of a consul (pro consule). He later triumphed as such. In the following centuries Rome's imperial expansion produced an endemic shortage of magistrates with imperium. Extensions were henceforth voted (prorogatio imperii) for both consuls and praetors whenever necessary for military purposes or to enable the holder of imperium to *triumph. This became a routine measure requiring only a decree of the senate, not a popular vote. Similarly the magistracies of quaestors could be prorogued pro quaestore.In 295 bce four private citizens were given commands pro praetore; at least two of them had been delegated by a consul on his own authority.