11-21-2017, 12:14 PM
Flighty wrote:
My dissertation is discussing the reforms of Marius and how much he actually contributed to them, was hoping you could point me in the direction of some sources you used for the comment here.
Sources are: Julius Exsuperantius (1–9), Plutarch (Marius 9), Sallust (The War with Jugurtha 86), Valerius Maximus (2 3)
Valerius Maximus writes that Marius wanted to abolish the military levy by property class because Marius believed it was an arrogant form of selection. Julius Exsuperantius accredits Marius with conscripting the capite censi as soldiers, who had no property, and further writes that Marius, being a lowborn, his sole purpose was to destroy the nobles, and proclaimed himself as the enemy of their power.
I have a tendency to follow Julius Exsuperantius, that Marius conscripted the capite censi and nothing else. As for entry into the legion being governed by property class, I believe this was abolished as part of the reforms of one of the Gracchian brothers, either Tiberius Gracchus or Gaius Gracchus. Cassius Dio (24 83 7) has Gracchus proposing “certain laws for the benefit of those serving in the army, and further disturbing and overturning all established customs.”
Tiberius Gracchus, via his agrarian legislation, advocated the transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor, because many of the male population was suffering from acute poverty. According to Plutarch (Tiberius Gracchus 9) made this speech:
“The wild beasts that roam over Italy, he would say, have every one of them a cave or lair to lurk in; but the men who fight and die for Italy enjoy the common air and light, indeed, but nothing else; houseless and homeless they wander about with their wives and children. And it is with lying lips that their imperators exhort the soldiers in their battles to defend sepulchres and shrines from the enemy; for not a man of them has an hereditary altar, not one of all these many Romans an ancestral tomb, but they fight and die to support others in wealth and luxury, and though they are styled masters of the world, they have not a single clod of earth that is their own.” (5)
Plutarch (Gaius Gracchus 1 4), (5 1) writes that “Gaius Gracchus was fond of war and was quite well trained for military service, his only reported military reform (the lex militaris) mentioned was he ordained the state to provide the soldier’s clothing at public cost without deducting anything from the soldier’s pay and prohibited the enrolment of iuniores below the age of seventeen years.”
So the reforms that began with Tiberius Gracchus were undertaken by his brother Gaius Gracchus, which I believe was the abolition of the property class for entry into the legion. However, I think the capite censi were still exempt from entry into the legion, but were then incorporated into the levy system by Marius, an action which met the approval of the senate. Without the senate’s approval Marius as consul could not have done it by himself, as he did not have the necessary legislative powers to do so.
My dissertation is discussing the reforms of Marius and how much he actually contributed to them, was hoping you could point me in the direction of some sources you used for the comment here.
Sources are: Julius Exsuperantius (1–9), Plutarch (Marius 9), Sallust (The War with Jugurtha 86), Valerius Maximus (2 3)
Valerius Maximus writes that Marius wanted to abolish the military levy by property class because Marius believed it was an arrogant form of selection. Julius Exsuperantius accredits Marius with conscripting the capite censi as soldiers, who had no property, and further writes that Marius, being a lowborn, his sole purpose was to destroy the nobles, and proclaimed himself as the enemy of their power.
I have a tendency to follow Julius Exsuperantius, that Marius conscripted the capite censi and nothing else. As for entry into the legion being governed by property class, I believe this was abolished as part of the reforms of one of the Gracchian brothers, either Tiberius Gracchus or Gaius Gracchus. Cassius Dio (24 83 7) has Gracchus proposing “certain laws for the benefit of those serving in the army, and further disturbing and overturning all established customs.”
Tiberius Gracchus, via his agrarian legislation, advocated the transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor, because many of the male population was suffering from acute poverty. According to Plutarch (Tiberius Gracchus 9) made this speech:
“The wild beasts that roam over Italy, he would say, have every one of them a cave or lair to lurk in; but the men who fight and die for Italy enjoy the common air and light, indeed, but nothing else; houseless and homeless they wander about with their wives and children. And it is with lying lips that their imperators exhort the soldiers in their battles to defend sepulchres and shrines from the enemy; for not a man of them has an hereditary altar, not one of all these many Romans an ancestral tomb, but they fight and die to support others in wealth and luxury, and though they are styled masters of the world, they have not a single clod of earth that is their own.” (5)
Plutarch (Gaius Gracchus 1 4), (5 1) writes that “Gaius Gracchus was fond of war and was quite well trained for military service, his only reported military reform (the lex militaris) mentioned was he ordained the state to provide the soldier’s clothing at public cost without deducting anything from the soldier’s pay and prohibited the enrolment of iuniores below the age of seventeen years.”
So the reforms that began with Tiberius Gracchus were undertaken by his brother Gaius Gracchus, which I believe was the abolition of the property class for entry into the legion. However, I think the capite censi were still exempt from entry into the legion, but were then incorporated into the levy system by Marius, an action which met the approval of the senate. Without the senate’s approval Marius as consul could not have done it by himself, as he did not have the necessary legislative powers to do so.
