In 143 he was consul for two months, but declined the proconsulship of Asia on the ground of ill-health.
After this he obtained the proconsulship of Africa, and again on his return was sent as legate successively to Dalmatia and Pannonia.
Augustus, while leaving the right of asylum untouched, diminished the space to which the privilege belonged, and built round it a wall, which still surrounds the ruins of the temple at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, bearing an inscription in Greek and Latin, which states that it was erected in the proconsulship of Asinius Gallus, out of the revenues of the temple.
The country soon became one of the most important provinces of the Roman Empire; its proconsulship was from the first regarded as the most desirable, and this eminence became still more marked afterwards.