Editing Promagistrate (section)

=== Emergence ===
The literary sources of [[Livy]] and [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] name a number of commanders in the early republic as proconsuls or propraetors. Modern historians believe the use of these titles is largely anachronistic and also self-contradictory, as Livy notes that the first promagisterial appointment was in 327&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=27}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Develin |first=Robert |date=1975 |title=Prorogation of imperium before the Hannibalic war |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41533367 |journal=Latomus |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=716–722 |jstor=41533367 |issn=0023-8856}} Cf Livy 3.4.10.</ref> In the republic after 367&nbsp;BC, only three types magistrates held ''imperium'': dictators, consuls, and praetors. At first, the appointment of ''[[Roman dictator|dictatores]]'' and ''[[Master of the Horse#The Roman Master of the Horse (Magister Equitum)|magistri equitum]]'' filled the need for additional military commanders.{{sfn|Lintott|1999|p=113}} 

The first recorded prorogation and promagistrate was that of the consul [[Quintus Publilius Philo]] in 327&nbsp;BC. The senate ordered Philo, whose consulship was about to expire, to continue to perform his military duties as he was on the verge of capturing Palaepolis (modern day [[Naples]]) and completing his ''provincia'' (assigned task). It "probably seemed imprudent to send a new consul to take over a command that would be completed within days".{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=210}} Livy reports that legislation was then moved by the tribunes that "when [Quintus Publilius' term expired] he should continue to manage the campaign ''pro consule'' until he should bring the war with the Greeks to an end".<ref>{{harvnb|Drogula|2015|p=211}}; Livy 8.23.11-12. This decision also may have been motivated by the substantial delay in consular elections that year.</ref> This innovation permitted Philo to hold the military authority and responsibility of a magistrate while not actually being one.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=211}} The Romans did not seem to be too bothered by the legal innovation which occurred, as Philo's success was rewarded with a triumph even though his consulship had expired.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=212}}

In the following decades, it became regular practice to prorogue consuls and prorogation of praetors started in 241&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Drogula|2015|p=212}} During the [[Samnite Wars|Second and Third Samnite Wars]] (326–290 BC), prorogation became a regular administrative practice that allowed continuity of military command without violating the principle of annual magistracies, or increasing the number of magistrates who held ''imperium''.{{sfn|Brennan|2001|p=602}} In 307, [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus]] became the second magistrate to have his command prorogued.{{sfn|Cornell|1989|p=378}} But in the years 296–95, several prorogations are recorded at once, including four promagistrates who were granted ''imperium'' while they were private citizens (''privati''). Territorial expansion and increasing militarization drove a recognition that the "emergencies" had become a continual state of affairs, and a regular system of allotting commands developed.{{sfn|Cornell|1989|p=378}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Millar |first=Fergus |date=1984 |title=The political character of the classical Roman republic, 200–151 BC |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/abs/political-character-of-the-classical-roman-republic-200151-bc/6870706C8E33C21E8775363F7D78237A |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=74 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.2307/299003 |jstor=299003 |s2cid=155069351 |issn=1753-528X |quote=Roman [[militarism]] was demonstrated consistently in northern Italy and Spain, at various periods in Greece and Macedonia (200–194, 191–187–171–168), and for one period of three years in Asia Minor (190–188).|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 

In this early period, prorogued assignments, like the [[Roman dictator|dictatorship]], originated as special military commands, they may at first have been limited in practice to about six months, or the length of the campaigning season.{{sfn|Brennan|2001|pp=38-43}}