, so that these soon came to outnumber the
appointees of the Senate. Eventually, as has been observed in connection
with the history of the civil service, the public provinces passed
completely into the hands of the princeps.

*Administrative officials.* The governors of the senatorial provinces were
entitled proconsuls, even if they were of pretorian rank. However, Asia
and Africa were reserved for ex-consuls. Following the law of Pompey, a
period of five years intervened between the holding of a magistracy and a
promagisterial appointment. Each proconsul was assisted by a _quaestor_,
and by three propraetorian _legati_ whose appointment was approved by the
princeps. The imperial governors were of two classes, _legati Augusti_ and
procurators. In the time of Hadrian there were eleven proconsuls,
twenty-four _legati Augusti_ and nine procurators, besides the prefect of
Egypt. The subordinates of the _legati Augusti_ were the legates in
command of the legions, and the fiscal procurators. The procuratorial
governors, at first called prefects, were equestrians, and were placed in
command of military districts of lesser importance which were garrisoned
by auxiliaries only. An exception to this practice was made in the case of
Egypt, which senators were forbidden to enter, and which was governed by a
prefect who ranked next to the praetorian prefect and had under his orders
a garrison of three legions. These governmental procurators had, in
addition to their military duties, the task of supervising financial
administration. The title _praeses_ (plural _praesides_) which was used in
the second century for the imperial governors of senatorial rank, came to
designate the equestrian governors when these supplanted the _legati_ in
the latter half of the third century.

As under the republic, the governors exercised administrative, judicial,
and, in the imperial provinces, military authority. However, with the
advent of the principate the government of the empire aimed to secure the
welfare and not the spoliation of its subjects, and hence a new era dawned
for the provinces. All the governors now received fixed salaries and thus
one of their chief temptations to abuse their power was removed.
Oppressive governors were still to be found, but they were readily brought
to justice--the senatorial governors before the Senate and the imperial
before the princeps--and condemnations, not acquittals, were the rule. It
was from the exaction