09-28-2009, 07:29 PM
Quote:... Beneficiarius Proconsulis - orderly or military assistant to a Proconsular governor. Both are mentioned in the ESG article, and were, I believe, otherwise ordinary soldiers.Interestingly, Joachim Ott, Die Beneficiarier (1995), observes (p. 84) that there is not a single known case of a beneficiarius proconsulis. I suppose, in theory, the proconsul Africae, with the legion nearby, might've had access to beneficiarii. It's difficult to see how the others would've managed, though.
Having given the beneficiarius proconsulis the thumbs-down, you may also like to ponder what on earth a praefectus proconsulis ("proconsul's prefect") is!