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

Chapter 2
Historical Background
G eopo l i tical Con s i der a ti on s
The city of Rome began as an insignificant collection of thatched huts, situated
at a convenient crossing point of the river Tiber. From these inauspicious beginn
i n gs this small city - s t a te even tu a lly ex p a n ded to rule most of the we s tern
world, not for a short-lived flash of unstable political and military dominance,
but for many centuries, outliving several lesser empires.
The settlers of early Rome were predominantly of Latin stock, and the Romans
and the com mu n i ties of L a tium in cen tral It a ly shared a com m on heritage,
language, and religious customs. Pre-Roman Italy was inhabited by many
different peoples, speaking a variety of languages, observing different customs,
and governed by different political systems. The Etruscans lay to the north of
Rome, and beyond them were the Umbrians; to the south were the Campanians
and the ferocious Samnites. There was a long-standing Greek influence in the
s o uth of It a ly and in the coastal are a s , wh ere co l onies had been establ i s h ed
many years before and where the first language was still Greek (Potter, 1987).
Rome was one state among many, and initi a lly her rise was slow. Con tra ry to
the rel entless adva n ce that loyal historians su ch as Livy prom o ted , Rome did not
s weep thro u gh her advers a ries like a hot knife thro u gh but ter. Her armies were
defe a ted , s om etimes disastro u s ly, but de s p i te many setb ack s , the Romans alw ays
su rvived and even tu a lly em er ged su prem e , thanks to their excell ent po l i tical and
m i l i t a ry or ga n i z a ti on . The Romans were a pra gm a tic and down - to - e a rth race ,
not great ph i l o s oph ers like the Gree k s , but strong in ad m i n i s tra ti on and law,
s t a u n ch ly con s erva tive and proud of h a ll owed trad i ti on , but also apprec i a tive of
n ew con cepts wh en they unders tood their practical wort h , and therefore mu ch
given to plagi a rism of o t h er peop l e’s ide a s . Ci cero en dors ed this du a l i ty wh enhe
said that the Romans alw ays fo ll owed precedent in pe aceti m e , but ex ped i ency in
w a rtime (de Im perio Po m pei i 6 0 ) . Po lybius (Hi s to ri e s 6.25) ad m i red the ad a ptive
qu a l i tiesof the Rom a n s , decl a ring that no people were more re ady to adopt new
i deas wh en they saw that others perform ed bet ter than they did them s elve s .
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