The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

5 The army in peacetime
MILITARY LIFE IN AND AROUND THE CAMPS
Many documents illustrate the routine duties of Roman soldiers in
time of peace, on guard duty, patrols, foraging expeditions, as
messengers and guards of the provincial governor. Soldiers could be
detached from their unit for long periods to serve in a neighbouring
outpost, and the better educated were often seconded for secretarial
work either in their base or at headquarters (for the daily life of soldiers,
see Davies 1974).
Detailed records were needed to list the whereabouts and activities
of every soldier in a unit, and keep a running check on the total strength
available. Three types of report have been identified: a morning report
including orders of the day, the number of junior officers and men,
their duties; a monthly inventory of personnel; a pridianum—a yearly
record of a unit on 31 December, stating accessions, losses, and those
absent on duty (Fink RMR 64 is the only certain example; it uses the
word pridianum—the only technical name for any of these reports to
be mentioned in papyri). However, it is doubtful if so precise a distinction
is possible, or if a pridianum was required yearly, or if these types of
record were used uniformly everywhere. The strength report discovered
in 1988 at Vindolanda (text no. 182) may be an interim summary,
from several of which a pridianum could have been compiled later
(Fink RMR pp. 179–82; Bowman and Thomas 1991).
Foremost among the army’s duties was the maintenance of order
in the provinces. Since there was no regular police force, much
responsibility lay with the governing élite of the local cities who had
only limited resources and who might in turn require the support of
Roman troops not only against brigands, but against internal
dissension. In certain respects the Roman army was like an army of
occupation, most notably in Judaea where religious and nationalist
feelings against Roman rule were strong. Government operations like