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

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The Roman A rmy
Citizenship gradually spread over much of the Empire during the first two centu
ries ad, producing more el i gi ble candidates for the legi on s , with the re su l t
that provincial rec ru i tm ent broaden ed and Italian rec ru i tm ent decl i n ed . New
legions were normally raised in Italy, but replacements for the existing legions
were increasingly found in the provinces, especially after expansion slowed and
legionary fortresses became more permanent establishments. Le Bohec (1994)
envi s a ges a progre s s ive rec ru i tm ent pattern , f i rst from a wi de area coveri n g
more than one province, then in the surrounding region, and eventually in the
immediate locality of the legionary fortress, when men from the canabae were
brought into the legions. These may have been sons of soldiers, who were listed
in the records origo castris, indicating that they came from the camp. It has been
su gge s ted that this ph rase was also app l i ed to soldiers from the vi c i n i ty wh o
were not strictly eligible, but the fictional description satisfied the regulations.
There is some debate as to whether there were always enough volunteers to
preempt the need to fill up the ranks by conscription (dilectus). Some authors
su ggest that con s c ri pti on was on ly used in em er gen c i e s , wh en prep a ra ti on s
were being made for wars (Goldsworthy, 2003; Watson, 1969). Other authors,
h owever, con s i der that som etimes vo lu n teers were in short su pp ly and that
compulsory service, or at least Rome’s right to enforce it, remained the norm
throughout the Empire (Brunt, 1974). High-ranking officers were put in charge
of conscription; they were called dilectatores in the Imperial provinces and legati
ad dilectum in senatorial provinces (Le Bohec, 1994). As demonstrated by Trajan’s
response to Pliny about the slaves, conscription and voluntary entry were
both fe a s i bl e , and the fact that men who did not want to serve in the arm i e s
were en ti t l ed to produ ce wi lling rep l acem ents pre su pposes that con s c ri pti on
was in force in some provinces at certain times, since eager volunteers were not
likely to send substitutes. An inscription from Africa, dated to the first century
ad, refers to a soldier of legio III Augusta, Lucius Flaminius, who was “chosen in
a levy by Marcus Silanus” (Campbell, 1994).
It is estimated that about 18,000 replacements were needed over the whole
Empire in peacetime during the first two centuries, but although this is not an
impossibly high number for such a vast expanse of territory, the Romans were
scrupulous about the standard of their legionary recruits, and therefore many
men would probably have been rejected. Vegetius (Epitoma Rei Militaris 1.4–5)
o utlines the qu a l i ties that were sought in rec ru i t s . Ca n d i d a tes for the legi on s
had to be of regulation height, between 5’ 10” and 6’ Roman measure (5’8” and
5’10” modern measure). The recruits were expected to be in good health, with
good eyesight, and ideally able to understand Latin, and in some cases recruiting
officers looked for men who could read and write so that they could fulfill
the several clerical roles. The Roman army was a bureaucratic organization, and
some men may have spent their entire military careers in offices keeping records
up to date, the ancient equivalent of pen-pushing or more recently, keyboard-