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

72 The Roman Army
127 Josephus (1st C.AD), Jewish War 6. 33
Titus, thinking that the enthusiasm of soldiers involved in warfare is best
stimulated by a confident speech of encouragement, and that inspiring
words and promises often persuade them to forget danger and sometimes
even to despise death, assembled his toughest companions and tested the
spirits of his men. ‘Fellow-soldiers’, he began…
Josephus places this speech during the siege of Jerusalem. The belief that a
commander should encourage his troops in routine tasks (see text no. 17) and
particularly on the eve of battle, was part of Roman tradition. Such speeches
could convey information about the nature of the enemy and the commander’s
intentions, and in this way often had political overtones (see pp. 184–5; 187).
THE EMPEROR AS GENERAL
128 Augustus, Res Gestae 4. 2
The senate decreed on fifty-five occasions that thanksgivings should be
offered to the immortal gods for successful operations conducted on
land and sea by me or by my officers acting under my auspices. The
days on which thanksgivings were offered in accordance with senatorial
decrees amounted to eight hundred and ninety.
129 IRT 301, inscription, Africa, 1st C.AD
Sacred to Mars Augustus. Under the auspices of Emperor Caesar
Augustus, chief priest, father of the fatherland, under the command of
Cossus Lentulus, consul (1 BC), member of the Board of Fifteen for
conducting sacrifices, proconsul, the province of Africa was liberated
from the Gaetulian war. The city of Lepcis (made this).
The provinces for which Augustus was directly responsible, and to which he
was legally empowered to appoint governors and commanders, contained most
of the army. Therefore he was effectively commander-in-chief and military
operations were conducted under his auspices (in the Republic the commander
had the right to take the auspicia), even though others directed individual
campaigns. By the end of his reign Africa remained as the only province
containing legionary troops governed by a proconsul chosen by lot by the senate.
But Lentulus (proconsul AD 5–6) distinguishes between his leadership and the
overall authority of Augustus; possibly the emperor’s maius imperium granted
in 23 BC implied his control of the auspices even in the case of senatorial
proconsuls; or Lentulus may have been directly appointed by Augustus as a
special commander (see Campbell 1984:350–1).
When an emperor went on campaign he was in personal charge of every