The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
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Veterans 223<br />
and local people. But in the present state of the evidence we cannot say<br />
that veterans by their presence necessarily promoted economic<br />
development or the <strong>Roman</strong>ization of the empire, still less that this was<br />
intended by the government. <strong>The</strong> following passages can merely outline<br />
the role of some veterans in local life (see Brunt 1962; MacMullen<br />
1967:99–118 (mainly using evidence of the third century and later, and<br />
probably exaggerating the veterans’ contribution to local life); Keppie<br />
1983:101–33; 1984b; Mann 1983; also nos 242; 336).<br />
361 Vergil (1st C.BC–1st C.AD), Eclogues 1. 70–8<br />
Is a blasphemous soldier to possess these lands which I have cultivated<br />
so well, is an outsider to reap these corn fields? See to what depths civil<br />
war has reduced our unhappy citizens. We have sown our fields for<br />
men like these! Now, Meliboeus, plant your pears, establish your vines<br />
in rows. Come on my goats, a flock that once was happy; never again<br />
stretched out in a green grotto shall I see you far away, clinging to the<br />
bramble-covered hillside. I shall sing no more songs, and, my goats,<br />
you will not be led my me to feed upon the flowering clover and the<br />
bitter willow.<br />
Cremona was one of the eighteen cities designated to provide land for the<br />
settlement of veterans discharged after the battle of Philippi. <strong>The</strong> land, however,<br />
proved inadequate and more was confiscated from the neighbouring territory<br />
of Mantua, where Vergil’s family property was threatened. <strong>The</strong> reference to<br />
the loss of the goat herd suggests that the settlers took over the animals and<br />
chattels of the dispossessed. Cf. Eclogue 9 (Keppie 1983:190–2).<br />
362 ILS 6753=EJ 338, inscription, Augusta Praetoria<br />
(Aosta), 23/22 BC<br />
To Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of a god, consul for the eleventh<br />
time, acclaimed imperator eight times, with tribunician power, the<br />
Salassi people, residents, who at the outset settled themselves in the<br />
colony, to their patron.<br />
This refers to the foundation of Augusta Praetoria Salassorum in 25 BC (see text<br />
no. 345), in which some of the displaced inhabitants of the surrounding land were<br />
apparently permitted to dwell. Or perhaps they had supported the <strong>Roman</strong> cause.<br />
363 CIL 3. 6825=ILS 2238, inscription, Pisidian Antioch, Lycia, 1st<br />
C.AD<br />
Titus Cissonius, son of Quintus, of the tribe Sergia, veteran of Legion<br />
V Gallica. While I was alive I drank enthusiastically. Drink therefore,