The legatus was officially assigned by the Senate, although it was generally only done after consulting with the magistrate in command, hoping to gather a commander and a lieuetenant that could work together without trouble. This was established in order to avoid clashes of leadership like that featured by consuls Varo and Paulus in Cannae. The legatus often acted as a military consultant or adviser, like Scipio Africanus did for his brother Lucius during the Roman–Seleucid War, or as a trusted man of action, as it was the chase of Lucius Quinctius Flamininus and his own brother Titus in their campaigns. Initially, only conflicts on foreign ground demanded the presence of legati, but the beginning of the Social War in 90 BC saw them being increasingly deployed in Italia.