(a) In the year 25 January 51 to 24 January 52, he received
his twenty-second, twenty-third, and twenty-fourth
acclamations as imperator.
(b) In the year 25 January 52 to 24 January 53, but
before1 August 53 (as we can surmise from the Porta
Praenestina inscription and Frontinus), he received
his twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh acclamations as
imperator.This means his twenty-fifth acclamation happened either late in
51 or early in 52. Even with this uncertainty, it looks most prob-
able that the twenty-sixth acclamation belongs to the first half
of 52 and, with it, the inscription mentioning Gallio.
As a result, we can date Gallio’s term as proconsul quite
precisely. Such governorships were allocated to senators by lot
on an annual basis, with governors serving a single year in office
from the spring of one year until the spring of the following one
(Talbert 1984: 348–53, 497–8). Therefore, if the letter of Claudius
preserved in the Delphi inscription is dated to the first half of 52,
then Gallio must have sent his report to Claudius some time
before that. The usual conclusion is that Gallio’s term of office
stretched from the spring of 51 to the spring of 52.
In addition, we can speculate further about Gallio’s procon-
sulship. His brother was none other than the philosopher Seneca,
who records in one of his writings that Gallio did not complete
his tour of duty in Greece. He states: ‘When he began to feel ill
in Achaia, he boarded a ship immediately, stating that the illness
was not one of his body, but of the place’ (Seneca, Epistula
Morales104.1). As a result, it has been postulated that Gallio left
Achaia very soon after taking up office there, perhaps before
the end of November 51, after which date sea travel would
have become hazardous owing to inclement weather (Murphy-
O’Connor 1992: 154–8). Unfortunately, however, we cannot know
for sure exactly when Gallio gave up on his proconsulship and
returned to Rome, although Seneca certainly gives the impres-
sion that his stay in Achaia was not a long one. When the various
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