[4] He was legatus legionis or commander of Legio IX Hispana while it was stationed in Africa; Tacitus mentions Scipio participating in the successful campaign of Quintus Junius Blaesus, proconsular governor of Africa, against Tacfarinas, and provides the year of Scipio's commission as AD 22.
[5] Syme writes his commission makes him "notable, and seems anomalous, being the earliest nobilis registered in command of a legion when praetorian rank.
However, Syme points to an inscription discovered in Lydia which indicates the date 41/2; thus three men who achieved the rank of consul after Scipio became governor of Asia before him.
"The wide variations in consular seniority will duly be noted," writes Syme, "as conveying the caprice of the Caesars or the influence of their ministers.
Evidence for the name of his first wife has not yet been recovered, but she was the mother of his oldest son, Publius Cornelius Scipio, suffect consul in 56.