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

The army, the local community, the law 171
The population of Rome can hardly have escaped unscathed from the
presence of the praetorians. Juvenal vividly depicts how the unfortunate
pedestrian might have his foot squashed by a soldier’s hobnailed boot in
the crush of the streets. But he also spoke of beatings and intimidation
for which redress was difficult (text no. 275). Hostile relations between
plebs and soldiers were exacerbated by the fights and disturbances at
games and chariot races where soldiers were detailed to keep order
(provincial maladministration—Brunt 1961; role of soldiers—Mac-
Mullen 1967; Campbell 1984:246–54; Isaac 1992:269–310).
284 ILS 6099=EJ 354, inscription, near Brixia, probably AD 28
In the consulship of Lucius Silanus, priest of Mars and Gaius Vellaeus
Tutor, on 5 December, the senate and people of Siagu made a guestfriendship
agreement with Gaius Silius Aviola, son of Gaius, of the
tribe Fabia, military tribune of Legion III Augusta, prefect of engineers,
and have chosen both him and his descendants as patron to them and
their descendants. Gaius Silius Aviola, son of Gaius, of the tribe Fabia,
has received them and their descendants into his good faith and
clientship. Arranged by Celer, son of Imilcho Gulalsa, suffete.
Aviola contracted patronage agrements with two other small towns in Africa—
Apisa Maius and Themetra (Chott Mariem) (ILS 6099a; 6100). Aviola, who
apparently lived near Brixia in northern Italy, must have made these
arrangements through his service with the III Augusta in Africa.
285 ILS 5950, inscription, Dalmatia, AD 37–41
Lucius Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus, legate with propraetorian
power of Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, appointed Marcus
Coelius, centurion of the seventh legion, as ajudicator between the
Sapuates and the [La]matini, in order to establish boundaries and set
up markers.
Cf. text no. 206. Senior officers could delegate the resolution of minor disputes
among soldiers to experienced centurions, who in turn sought advice from
other centurions or decurions acting as a consilium (FIRA 3. 64—a disputed
inheritance). From this limited beginning it was doubtless convenient on occasion
to employ centurions to deal with specific problems outside the military sphere.
Gradually they acquired more general responsibilities of a quasi-legal kind.
Since the soldiers under a centurion’s command often had to arrest suspected
law-breakers, the centurion was left to sort things out among civilian litigants
and on a formal level refer the matter to a responsible official for further action;
informally, however, the centurion’s decision often brought an effective legal