In the period of the Roman Republic (509–27 BC) the Praetorian Guard originated as bodyguards for Roman generals. The first historical record of the Praetorians is as bodyguards for the Scipio family, ca. 275 BC. Generals with (command authority of an army) also held public office, either as a magistrate or as a promagistrate, each was provided with lictors to protect the person of the office-holder. In practice, the offices of Roman consul and of proconsul each had twelve lictors, whilst the offices of praetor and of propraetor each had six lictors. In absence of an assigned, permanent personal bodyguard, senior field officers safeguarded themselves with temporary bodyguard units of selected soldiers. In Hispania Citerior, during the Siege of Numantia (134–133 BC), general Scipio Aemilianus safeguarded himself with a troop of 500 soldiers against the sorties of siege warfare aimed at killing Roman field commanders.