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

Recruitment
Ot h er Ra n k s
The Roman A rmy 131
During the Republic, the Romans were able to recruit enough citizens to raise
several armies in times of war, provided that the crisis did not last many years.
The second Punic War stretch ed re s o u rces almost to breaking poi n t , and rec
ru i tm ent re ach ed unpreceden ted levels as the Sen a te com m i t ted more and
more troops to foreign campaigns even while Italy was threatened. There were
about twelve or fourteen legions on active service in 215 bc, rising to eighteen
in 214 and about twenty-five in 212–211 bc, each accompanied by an equally
h i gh nu m ber of a ll i ed troop s . Roman and all i ed manpower was not inexhaustible,
as demonstrated by the refusal of some of the Latin colonies to provide
any recruits for the Alae Sociorum in 209 bc, and there were no levies at all
in the following year. The Romans were forced to enroll younger and older men
than normal, and more of the poorer element as needs pressed; manpower remained
problematical, since Gaius Gracchus introduced a bill in 123 bc, making
it illegal to recruit men younger than seventeen.
With the growth of E m p i re , rec ru i tm ent patterns inevi t a bly ch a n ged . Th e
en f ra n ch i s em ent of the allies after the Social War made more men ava i l a ble for
s ervi ce as legi on a ries but redu ced the nu m ber of a ll i ed troop s , wh i ch from then
onw a rd were rec ru i ted from the non c i ti zen provi n c i a l s . The anarchy of the civi l
w a rs at the end of the Rep u blic interru pted the pattern , wh en more or less anyone
who could use a we a pon was rec ru i ted into the legi ons rega rdless of s t a tu s .
Au g u s tus ree s t a bl i s h ed Roman citi zenship as a requ i rem ent for legi on a ry servi
ce . Rec ruits had to state on oath that they were freeborn Roman citi zen s , but it
s eems that there was no re ad i ly ava i l a ble doc u m en t a ry proof that cancel ed all
do u bt as to wh et h er a man was freeborn and a Roman citi zen , or not. G o l d s wort
hy (2003) qu o tes the case of an opti o who was den o u n ced as a non c i ti zen and
h ad to produ ce wi tnesses to vo u ch for him. Sl aves and criminals were exclu ded
f rom the arm i e s , and su s p i c i ons abo ut the legal standing of rec ruits were cl o s ely
ex a m i n ed . P l i ny wro te to Tra jan asking what to do abo ut two rec ruits who were
t h o u ght to be slaves (Let ters 10.29–30) and received the answer that it was important
to find out wh et h er they were con s c ri pts or vo lu n teers . Tra jan ex p l a i n ed
that if the rec ru i ting of f i cer had not noti ced that the men were slave s , t h en he
was at fault. If the slaves had vo lu n teered and lied abo ut their statu s , t h en they
should be exec uted , but if t h ey were su b s ti tutes (vi c a ri i) , t h en the men who sen t
t h em to the rec ru i ting of f i cer in their place were to bl a m e .
In the legions, Italians predominated until the second century when citizens
f rom the we s tern provi n ces su ch as Gallia Na rbon ensis (sout h ern Fra n ce ) ,
Baetica (southern Spain), Africa, and Macedonia began to serve as legionaries.