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

176 The Roman Army
The reference to the soldier’s vine-wood staff suggests that Apuleius had a
centurion in mind (though see Millar 1981:67, n. 25). In this scene set in Thessaly,
Apuleius imagines how ordinary people went in fear of approaching soldiers,
who were likely to be brutal and arrogant, inadequately supervised, using the
name of the provincial governor or emperor to cover their wrongdoing, and
difficult to bring to a fair trial; in Apuleius’ novel it is a joke on the theme of a
reversal of fortune that the soldier gets beaten up, but for the gardener, with no
hope of legal redress, this was probably the only way out. In the end the soldier
profits from what was an act of open robbery. The dividing line between what
soldiers could legally demand for transport and accommodation (note that the
soldier is able to stay in the house of a town-councillor), and the unjust exploitation
of this, was probably often blurred. Cf. New Testament, Matthew 5. 41 for
compulsion on people to provide services (angareuein); see also text no. 298.
292 D 1. 18. 6. 5–7
(Ulpian (3rd C.AD), Book I Opinions)
The governor of the province must ensure that persons of humble means
are not subjected to injustice by having their solitary light or meagre
furniture taken away for the use of others, under the pretext of the
arrival of officials or soldiers. The governor of the province should
ensure that nothing is done in the name of the soldiers by certain
individuals unjustly claiming advantage for themselves, which does not
relate to the communal benefit of the army as a whole.
It is important that this formal judgment of a governor’s responsibilities by an
experienced Roman offical assumes not only that Roman administration might
be inequitable but also that soldiers were frequently to blame.
293 P.S.I. 446=SP 221, papyrus, Egypt, AD 133–7
Marcus Petronius Mamertinus, prefect of Egypt, declares: I have been
informed that many of the soldiers, while travelling through the country,
without a certificate requisition boats, animals, and persons beyond
what is proper, on some occasions appropriating them by force, on
others getting them from the strategoi by exercise of favour or deference.
Because of this private persons are subjected to arrogance and abuse
and the army has come to be censored for greed and injustice. I therefore
order the strategoi and royal secretaries to furnish to absolutely no one
any travel facilities at all without a certificate, whether he is travelling
by river or by land, on the understanding that I shall punish severely