curule aedile and praetor. Géza Alföldy estimates the date of this last office as around the year 150.[7]
After stepping down as praetor, Junior was commissioned as
legatus legionis or commander of two legions consecutively. The name of the first is lost, but Alföldy dates his command from about 152 to about 155.[8] The second was Legio VI Victrix, and Alföldy dates his command of that legion from immediately after leaving the first legion to around 158.[9] It was an unusual situation for a man to command more than one legion; Birley offers a list of no more than 30 men who had done so, and he notes that "where evidence is available, special circumstances can be seen to have brought about the iterated command."[10] Birley attributes the cause in Junior's case to the critical military situation in Roman Britain during the mid-150s. "It is not unlikely," writes Birley, "that Numisius Junior had been commanding a legion on the Rhine, and was appointed to VI Victrix on the recommendation of Cn. Julius Verus, when the latter went from Germania Inferior to Britain.[11]
After concluding his command of the VI Victrix, Numisius Junior acceded to the consulate.
