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

302 Appian (2nd C.AD), Civil Wars 5. 17
The army in politics 183
…the soldiers did not serve the interests of the state, but only of those
who had recruited them; and they gave their support to these people
not because of the compulsion of the law, but because of personal
inducements; and they fought not against enemies of Rome but against
private adversaries, not against foreigners, but against fellow-citizens,
men just like themselves. All these factors contributed to a breakdown
of military discipline; the soldiers believed that they were not so much
serving in an army as helping out, through their personal decision and
favour, leaders who found their assistance essential for private ends.
Appian is here describing the consequences of the civil wars of 44–31 BC and
the development of a personal rapport between commanders and soldiers which
in his view had serious implications for future political events.
303 Dio (2nd–3rd C.AD), 53. 11
Immediately he arranged for those men who were to form his bodyguard
to be voted twice the pay granted to the other soldiers, to ensure that
he was efficiently protected. By doing this he showed that his true
intention was to establish a monarchy.
In 27 BC Augustus in a speech to the senate claimed that he wished to give up
his dominant position, but in response to senatorial objections then withdrew
this suggestion and eventually was granted a portion of the provinces to
administer as his direct responsibility. Dio is sarcastic, arguing that the occasion
was set up by Augustus who wanted it to seem that he was reluctantly compelled
by the weight of popular opinion to take on certain responsibilities on behalf
of the state; it was a way of suggesting that his position in the state was
compatible with the institutions of the republic. In Dio’s view the maintenance
of the privileged praetorian guard and the fact that the provinces controlled
directly by Augustus contained most of the troops, demonstrated the dichotomy
between appearance and reality in imperial politics, since real power depended
on control of the army.
304 Tacitus (1st–2nd C.AD), Annals 6. 3
But he (Tiberius) severely rebuked Junius Gallio, who had proposed
that praetorian guardsmen who had been discharged should have the
right of sitting in the first fourteen rows of the theatre reserved for
equestrians, asking him as if he were present in person what business
he had to do with the soldiers, who were entitled to receive their
commands and their rewards from no one but the emperor. He had
certainly discovered something which the divine Augustus had not