I read this book for a graduate course in Roman history. This book is the definitive anthology pertaining to Roman military history!



The articles contain a plethora of primary source documents, which are about the subject. I find this to be the genius of the book. The books appendix of primary sources and bibliography make this book an indispensable resource for anyone who studies Rome.



The glory that was Rome came with a price. Some historians have said at too high a price--the fall of the Republic and the reinstitution of a monarchy. This political change came about for two important reasons. The first reason was that the political structure of the Republic could no longer adequately serve Rome's expanding empire in the last century BCE. Secondly, politically ambitious generals facilitated changes in Rome's military structure from a volunteer force to a professional force. This change gave them total control over the military, which they used to usurp the political power of the Senate. This precipitated the bloody political revolution, changing the government from a republic to a dictatorship and eventually a monarchy.



The goal of this book is to examine the importance of the development and the effect that a professional army had on the downfall of the Roman Republic. The focus of this book includes such topics as how the Roman army developed from a volunteer force into a professional, mercenary force, created by generals and politicians who coveted power. Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, Mark Antony, and Augustus are four examples of men drunk with power who plunged Rome into Civil War to wrest power from a weak Senate, which proved to be inadequate in coping with the intricacies of a burgeoning empire. In addition, this book examines how by changing the traditional pay structure, bonuses, and retirement payments made to the legions, these politically ambitious generals changed the traditional allegiance that the legions had to the Republic and essentially not only bought their services, but also brought the legions under their control for their own personal and political gain. This book articles prove that the successful subversion of the Roman Legion's structure for personal gain had a direct correlation in the downfall of the Republic and the rise of a permanent monarchy.



Rome had an army from its earliest beginnings as a small city-state. There is little known of the structure of the military in early Roman history. John Rich did a masterful job of compiling the first solid information that has survived through history regarding Rome's military. "At first, military service in the Roman Army entailed a man being away from his home...for a few weeks or months over the summer. The campaign season opened in March and closed in October, as official festivals in the Roman calendar make clear." Stephen Oakley also did vital work in explaining the military importance for Rome in the Servian Constitution. Servius Tullius was the sixth king of Rome who reigned from about 580-530 BCE. Servius instituted many reforms in both the political and military structures of Rome which were codified in the Sevian Constitution. He conducted the first census of the citizenry and used this information to divide the population into classes based on wealth. The class structure was then used both politically for voting classification and militarily to determine in what portion of the legion a man would serve in to defend Rome. The men were organized into centuries (hundreds) within the class structure. Militarily, the class ranking was based on wealth, which determined where a man would serve in the legion based on his ability to provide his own weapons and equipment. The wealthiest class in Roman society served in the equites or the Roman cavalry, of which there were eighteen centuries. Obviously, these men had the financial ability to provide their own horses. The majority of the population was divided into five classes who served in the infantry. Men who had no property had no military obligation. The military tactics used were similar to the Greek hoplite formation.

"Members of the `first class' were to be armed with a bronze cuirass, spear, sword, shield and greaves to protect the legs; the `second class' with much the same panoply minus the cuirass; the `third', the

same but lacking the greaves; the `fourth; the shield and spear only, and the `fifth' was armed only with slings or stones.



John Patterson's work on the organization and social change in the Roman army expertly explained how the Roman soldiers' pay and benefits differed between the Republic and the early Empire systems. During the period of the Republic, the structure of the army went through some changes after the enactment of the Servian Constitution. When a Roman citizen volunteered or was drafted, it was to fight in a specific campaign rather than for a specific length of time. Since Rome's empire was expanding in the second century BCE, it might not be uncommon for soldiers to serve in successive campaigns with a length of service reaching six years--the usual maximum length of service. In some very rare instances a soldier could volunteer to serve longer terms of service, mainly for the booty reward available to soldiers. Normally, a soldier would be maintained in a citizen reserve for sixteen years after his initial term of service. If a soldier was mobilized later, it was unlikely he would retain his former rank. This fact made it difficult for a man to make the army a lucrative profession in the Republic era. Even if a citizen showed exceptional aptitude and bravery in combat and rose to the rank of centurion, he would only have received double the pay of an ordinary soldier until Julius Caesar changed the pay and reward structure for his legions. Patterson noted one exception to the difficulty of Roman soldiers gaining upward social mobility in the late Republic era. "Between 200 and 177 BC, 15 Roman colonies and 4 Latin colonies were established in Italy with the primary function of providing a Roman presence in areas which had recently been conquered. It seems likely that many of the colonists sent...were ex-soldiers." Rich also noted that after the Second Punic War against the Carthaginians 218-201 BCE, veterans of the war were granted plots of land that were confiscated in southern Italy. Typically, a veteran was given a little over one acre of land for every year served; this formula was increased according to rank as well. Thus, many soldiers received about thirty acres of land in which their families would be able to move to and make a fresh start in life. Finally, it is important to understand, as Rich pointed out in his research, that the army of the Republic was by no means a second rate militia force. "Discipline and training were its hallmarks; the care with which the camp was laid out reveals no ordinary grouping of amateur warriors. The Romans adopted professional attitudes to warfare long before the army had professional institutions."



Patterson's work examined Roman pay scales for soldiers, showing how the pay structure ultimately changed. This affected the socio-economic structure of the lower social strata of the Roman population. Patterson noted that the potential for a soldier to gain wealth, rank, and upward mobility in society was much greater beginning with the reforms made by Julius Caesar and carried on by his heir Augustus around the beginning of the first century CE. It was not uncommon for a soldier to reach the rank of centurion after fifteen years of service, with the potential for earning an even higher rank. During this period, the rank of centurion garnished him fifteen times that of the ordinary soldier. Patterson noted that over one-third of Roman men who entered the army lived until retirement. Almost half of the centurions would succeed to the office of primipilares--the senior centurion of a legion for one year. With this rank came the honor of becoming a member of the Roman equestrian order, which provided a step up the ladder of the Roman social class structure. Upon their retirement, these successful military men would receive a substantial payment of 600,000 sesterces. This payment, coupled with their savings from pay and booty they earned while on campaign could propel a man well beyond his original station in life. Patterson's study of the Roman Senate has shown that centurions had the ability to rise to higher office in the towns they retired to and their sons had the ability to become senators. Patterson's research into social mobility in the early empire showed that the rewards for service become more astounding when one considers that many of the soldiers in the army during the early imperial era came from Rome's provinces. This meant that upon their retirement they became Roman citizens. One can see from the information that it became lucrative for a man, Roman citizen or not, to join the army. This proved to be especially true in the two centuries leading up to the imperial period and soon after as Rome's empire was expanding.



Recommended reading for those interested in Roman history, military history.