praetor, a much higher grade than Priscus had yet achieved. And the post after that was even more extraordinary: governor of the province of Syria itself, a post that usually required the man to have been consul first. According to reliable sources, Priscus was governor of Syria in 97/98, twelve years prior to becoming consul. There is a likely explanation for this anomaly. Writing to his friend about the short reign of the emperor Nerva, Pliny the Younger alludes to alarmed reports concerning a man in charge of a massive army in the eastern part of the empire. It is commonly presumed that this person was the governor of Syria; further, due to the date, this person is commonly assumed to be a rival to Trajan for the position of successor to Nerva. Priscus' predecessor as governor of Syria was Marcus Cornelius Nigrinus Curiatius Maternus, an experienced general who had won victories for Domitian in his Dacian Wars, who disappears from history at this point. Any rival to Trajan, upon the latter's ascension to the throne, at the least would have been removed from an imperial position, and at most would have been executed. We have no record of Maternus after AD 97. Career after Syria After this anomalous assumption of authority, Priscus returned to Rome and resumed his career in the emperor's service. He held the next two republican magistracies, plebeian tribune and praetor, then served as legate to the proconsular governor of Hispania Baetica. After that he was praefectus frumenti dandi (the prefect responsible for the distribution of Rome's free grain dole). Then followed a pair of military commands, first as legate of Legio II Augusta in Roman Britain, then a second legion, Legio III Augusta during the years 105 to 108. Command of the III Augusta was the equivalent of being governor of Numidia, where the legion was stationed. While in Numidia, he engaged in a military campaign, but almost nothing is known of his expedition. Priscus was then awarded by the sortition the proconsular governorship of Gallia Narbonensis for the years 108/109. The same year Priscus was consul, he was also admitted into the priesthood of the Septemviri epulonum. His activities following his consulship are unknown. Edmund Groag suggested that an inscription indicated that Priscus was governor of Cappadocia at one point; however, Frederik Juliaan Vervaet has since shown that the inscription in question actually refers