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

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The Roman A rmy
po s i ti on . Th ro u gh the po ten tial coerc ive force of the army, the em peror controlled
everything else, but Republican traditions were respected in order to remain
within the law and to soften the harsh reality of rule by an individual.
Du ring the Rep u bl i c , the po l i tical mach i n ery that con ferred the nece s s a ry
military powers on the consuls and other magistrates was the formal grant of
i m peri u m , ra ti f i ed by a law passed by the curi a te assem bly (l ex curi a t a) . Th e
concept of imperium embraced, but was not confined to, command of the army.
The word is related to the Latin imperare, meaning to command or give orders,
and to the title Im pera to r, an hon orific salut a ti on spon t a n eo u s ly given by the
soldiers to their commanders. The title Imperator was eventually adopted perm
a n en t ly by the em perors , who also fo s tered and en co u ra ged these military
s a lut a ti ons and assidu o u s ly kept a count of t h em , ex pressing the nu m ber of
such occasions as part of their titles on inscriptions, usually in the abbreviated
form IMP III, or IMP IX, or however many times it had occurred.
A decree of the Senate was necessary to bestow power on new emperors, a
formality that was more than ever necessary if there was no family connection
with the previous emperor. The only text that has survived for this procedure
concerns the powers of Vespasian (CIL VI 930) who was declared emperor by
the troops in Alexandria in July ad 69. His accession took place during the civil
war that followed the death of Nero, known as the Year of Four Emperors, and
he had no con n ecti on at all with the dy n a s ty that had just ex p i red . O n ce installed
in Rome, it was necessary to establish himself as undoubted emperor, so
his powers were con f i rm ed by law (l ex de imperio Ve s pa s i a n i) . Th ere was a
clause in this law that ratified all his acts from his proclamation in summer ad
69 until the law was passed in January ad 70.
A predominant concern of all emperors was the succession. Augustus’s efforts
to secure the transfer of power to a member of his family were thwarted by
the early deaths of all his designated heirs, so his step-son Tiberius succeeded
him, and after Tiberius the infamous Caligula became emperor. When Caligula
was mu rdered , the Im perial German bodyg u a rd fo ll owed by the Praetori a n s
chose another family member as emperor: Claudius. This set the precedent that
the soldiers, especially the Praetorian Guard, could make or break emperors.
The problems of the succession were never satisfactorily solved, except perhaps
for the relatively brief period when the so-called adoptive emperors designated
their successors in advance to preempt a general scramble for power as
soon as they were dead. Even this declaration of intent did not ensure a smooth
tra n s fer of power. Had rian was faced with the harsh nece s s i ty of exec uting a
handful of rebellious senators after the death of Trajan. He began his reign under
a cloud that was never dispers ed , and An ton i nus Pius had to remind a
vengeful Senate that if he allowed them to abolish all of Hadrian’s acts as they
wi s h ed to do, t h en the adopti on of h i m s el f as su cce s s or would be ren dered
invalid.