The history of the Romans is in many ways the history of their army, whose consistent success allowed them to maintain a huge territorial empire. Few scholars are more suited to explain the workings of this army than B., not only because of his depth of knowledge, but also because he has always tried to make the ancient world comprehensible to a wide audience, most recently in The Frontiers of Imperial Rome (2011). It is a considerable challenge to confront the Roman army in a short book, but B. deals with it admirably. Expertly judged chapters deal with the background of the Republic, the development of the army under the emperors, life on campaign and battle tactics; these are supported by chapters on the army's role in peacetime, the importance of army building work and the late Roman army. There is a brief but excellent section on ancient source material.
The writing is brisk and clear, and although there are no footnotes, B. has embedded in the text material directly based on the ideas of ancient writers. Given its overall length, the book is packed with detail. Furthermore, although it is relatively cheap, it is well illustrated. B. emphasises particularly important themes such as changes in fighting technique (the adoption of the maniple formation instead of the Greek phalanx, and later the cohort), the increasing size of the army, and in all eras its resilience and adaptability. He also describes significant battles, but this does not interrupt the impetus of his narrative. Here and there a battle plan would have helped the reader.
There are many interesting and stimulating ideas, for example new coins sent to Britain to pay the troops (p. 77), the military diet (p. 84), the rather unhygienic conditions in some military camps (p. 87), cavalry with longer swords because, being mounted, they had further to stretch to reach the enemy (p. 104). Anyone reading the short section on family life will certainly be tempted to find out more (p. 92).
However, this is no panegyric, and B. is aware of the army's failures; it was not invincible and did lose battles, and in its relations with the civilian population it was often abusive. Naval warfare gets short shrift because Rome controlled the Mediterranean by her legions stationed round the periphery, though it is worth mentioning military supply by ship along the Rhine and Danube.
The reader might want to hear more about the enormous regular cost of military pay, and also the discharge bonus (praemium) – a valuable addition to the attractions of military service and a stimulus to recruiting. Among other things the praemium serves to mark out the special place of soldiers in Roman society.
This is an excellent book, immensely valuable to students and general readers, and well worth careful scrutiny by scholars.
