Roman History, 65–50 B.C.: Five Problems

Abstract

Under the late Republic (after Sulla) a province was normally administered by a proconsul (an ex-consul or an ex-praetor) and, in subordination to him, a quaestor. If a quaestor died in the province or left it before the arrival of a replacement, the proconsul might appoint one of his legati or perhaps even one of his cohors praetoria to be acting-quaestor—‘pro quaestore’, ‘ἀντιταμίας’; and this was strictly the title also of a quaestor who remained at his duty in the province after the year of his magistracy had come to an end (either because his tenure had been extended by the government at Rome, or because he was awaiting the arrival of a successor).