Editing Promagistrate (section)

== Legal effect ==

A ''[[Roman province|provincia]]'' was originally a task (e.g., war with Carthage) assigned to someone, sometimes with geographic boundaries; when such territories were formally annexed,{{efn|What precisely a formal annexation meant is a subject of much scholarly discussion.{{which |date=March 2023}} }} the fixed geographical entity became a "province" in modern terms, but in the early and middle Republic, the "task" was most often a military command within a defined [[Theater (warfare)|theatre of operations]] with unclear geographic boundaries.

Prorogation did not create a new commander or even class of general. It merely allowed a magistrate to continue performing duties beyond the expiration of the magistracy.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=213}} While Livy implies that prorogation extended a magistrate's ''[[imperium]]'', this is contradicted in that ''imperium'' was not time-limited.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=214}} Cicero, for example, possessed ''imperium'' even after his governorship of Cilicia expired.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=127}}

Because ''imperium'' did not expire, prorogation was simply an extension or reassignment of a commander's possession of a ''provincia'', something feasible by senatorial decree.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=377}} Previously, a ''provincia'' expired with a magistracy; prorogation severed the old tightly-linked connection between magistrate and ''provincia''.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=291}} While normally someone in the theatre or province was prorogued, one could also be prorogued by assigning a someone still possessing ''imperium'' to new ''provincia'' (as was the case with two ''imperatores'' during the [[Catilinarian conspiracy]]).{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=215}}

While modern scholars often suppose that prorogation was intended originally to ensure that an experienced commander with hands-on knowledge of the local situation could conclude a successful campaign, in practice the extension of command was subject to "unsteady ad-hoc politics".{{sfn|Pittenger|2009|p=77}} And "unusual political influence" was required for prorogations of longer than one year.{{sfn|Lintott|1999|p=114}} 

A [[Roman governor]] had the right, and was normally expected, to remain in his province until his successor arrived, even when he had not been prorogued. According to the ''[[lex Cornelia de maiestate]]'', passed following [[Sulla]]'s dictatorship, a governor was then required to give up his province within 30 days.{{sfn|Lintott|1993|pp=46-7}} A prorogued magistrate could not exercise his ''imperium'' within Rome.{{sfn|Brennan|2001|p=606}}{{sfn|Drogula|2007|p=419}}

The nature of promagisterial ''imperium'' is also complicated by its relation to the celebrating of a [[Roman triumph|triumph]] as awarded by the Senate. Before a commander could enter the city limits (''[[pomerium]]'') for his triumph, he had to lay aside arms formally and ritually, that is, he had to re-enter society as a civilian.{{efn|After his term as governor in [[Hispania|Spain]] in the late 60s&nbsp;BC, for instance, [[Julius Caesar]] was awarded a triumph. However, the law required him to declare his candidacy in person within the pomerium. Unable to get a dispensation from the senate and unwilling to wait a year, he entered the pomerium and gave up his command. }} There are several early instances, however, of a commander celebrating a triumph during his two- or three-year term; it is possible that the triumph was held at the completion of his assignment and before he returned to the field with prorogued ''imperium''.<ref>{{harvnb|Versnel|1970|p=189}}. This triumphal pattern is visible, for instance, in <!--the article in which the following table appears is under construction-->provincial commands and prorogations in Cisalpine Gaul during the middle republic.</ref>