The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

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The Roman A rmy
perors after Otho started to pay centurions vacationes munerum to cover this little
unofficial privilege.
Papyrus records show that although some amounts such as those for food
were standard, other deductions varied. This discrepancy would probably arise
because the first deductions for weapons and armor need not be repeated for
s ome con s i dera ble ti m e , unless the soldier had lost or damaged some of h i s
equ i pm en t . A famous papyrus from the do u ble fortress of Ni copolis (Egypt )
i tem i zes the dedu cti ons from the military pay of t wo Roman citi zen soldiers ,
Q u i n tus Ju l ius Proc u lus and Gaius Va l erius Germ a nu s . The record covers all
three installments (stipendia) in January, May, and September of ad 81, but unfortunately
no unit is named. Some scholars consider that the two men were legi
on a ries (see Al s ton , 1 9 9 4 ; F i n k , 1 9 7 1 ; Wa t s on , 1 9 6 9 ) , wh ereas others insist
that they were auxiliaries (Goldsworthy, 2003; Speidel, 1973). It is known that
auxiliary units were present with the legions at Nicopolis, and the fact that the
soldiers were Roman citizens does not preclude the possibility that the papyrus
concerns auxiliary pay, since citizens could and did serve in the auxilia.
The argument wi ll prob a bly never be solved , but taken from a purely administrative
point of view, the information reveals how the records were kept
and how dedu cti ons were taken from each man’s pay, wh i ch in many eastern
provi n ces was issu ed in Greek d ra ch m a e ra t h er than d en a ri i . On each of t h e
three pay days the two soldiers were charged 80 drachmae for food (in victum),
12 drachmae for boots and socks (caligas fascias), and 10 drachmae for hay (faenaria,
interpreted either as bedding or a share in the feed for a pack mule, if the
s o l d i ers were legi on a ri e s , or fod der if t h ey were auxiliary cava l rym en ) . Th ere
were deductions from each installment, the first one in January being 20 drachmae
for the camp Saturnalia; this was possibly a mess bill for the holiday celebrations
held in the previous December. From the second installment, both soldiers
paid out 4 drachmae to the standards (ad signum), which may have been a
con tri buti on to the bu rial fund, and on the third pay day the two men were
charged 145.5 drachmae for clothing. Since there are no comparable records revealing
such minute detail, it is impossible to say whether this was typical of all
units.
Th ere was a savi n gs bank sys tem wh ere the soldiers could deposit mon ey,
though the amounts were probably paper figures rather than actual cash, and
the final totals probably had to be calculated and requested when the men were
due to retire. No one can say how much money there would be in the strongrooms
of a legionary fortress at any one time, but it is known that Domitian set
a limit on the amount of savings in cash that any soldier could keep inside the
fort. This was after the Governor Saturninus attempted to usurp him in ad 89,
gathering together the soldiers from the double legionary fortress of Mogontiacum
(Ma i n z ) , and pre su m a bly with their con s en t , ex tracting all their combined
savings to finance his venture.