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Milites Gregarii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Extract

The Romans were oriented toward warfare and their highest honour was the iustus triumphus of the successful general. For the commanders glory, but the soldiers in the legions were subject to severe discipline and rarely received mention in the literary sources. This was natural because of the numbers involved, but the aristocratic nature of the Roman Republic made even more striking the difference between the treatment of aristocratic officers and the men in the line. After Cannae, Varro, the general responsible for the disaster, and Cornelius Scipio, tribune of the soldiers, both escaped death. Varro was publicly thanked quod de re publica non desperasset (Liv. xxii. 61.14). He was not given an army command again, but Scipio was given the highest commands and lived to gain the cognomen ex virtute Africanus. The fate of the common soldiers who survived was very different: various penalties, including service to the end of the war (xxiii. 25. 7), and service without pay in 215 (xxiii. 31. 2), Later their plea for remission of punishment was met with chill haughtiness by the Senate (xxv. 5. 10–7. 4).

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1970

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