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

Introduction 7
wooden shaft. The pilum would now bend more easily on impact and
make it impossible for the enemy to utilize in turn.
From 91 to 87 BC Rome fought her former Italian allies in the
Social War and although victorious conceded Roman citizenship to
most of them, which made available a large number of potential
recruits. By the end of the Republic almost a quarter of a million
Italians were under arms. However, one of the unforeseen
consequences of Marius’ changes was that the army became much
more of a political instrument. Men who served for a long time
virtually as professional soldiers expected a substantial reward in
money or land on their retirement, but since the state did not assume
responsibility for this, individual commanders tended to seek benefits
for their men, whose political support they could therefore
subsequently expect. Moreover, men recruited by a military
commander or his agents often formed a bond of affection and loyalty
with their leader rather than the senate or Roman state, especially
since certain generals held protracted or repeated commands and must
have seemed like a permanent fixture to their troops. And since the
Roman ideal of office-holding made no clear distinction between civil
and military functions, any political leader was potentially an army
commander. After Sulla had used his army to march on Rome in 88
BC and seize power for himself, political life increasingly centred on
a quest for important commands, which then could be used to extort
further political advancement from the senate. In this era of military
dynasts, constitutional politics took second place to contests between
ambitious generals who, while not spurning popular support,
estimated their political strength by the size of their personally loyal
mercenary armies which provided access to wealth and power. During
his ten-year proconsulship of Gaul, Caesar increased his army from
four to twelve legions and in 49 BC doubled his men’s pay in
preparation for war against Pompey and the senate, which led to his
dictatorship. After Caesar’s murder in 44 BC, the empire was split in
a struggle between warring factions which ended only in 31 BC when
Octavian (or Augustus, as he was to be called from 27 BC) defeated
Marcus Antonius, his last rival for supreme power. Although by this
time Rome controlled most of the lands round the Mediterranean, in
many cases there had been no complete pacification and a large-scale,
permanent military presence was required. Furthermore, Augustus
could not dismantle the army which had been the source of his political
triumph. So, the force he reorganized to suit his own purposes was
substantially the army of the Republic – the body of Roman citizens
fighting in legions as heavy infantry, supported by auxiliary troops