11-14-2007, 10:51 PM
In the Republic - at least until the late 2nd century BC - the Roman citizen cavalry was drawn from the elite / wealthy in Roman society, since these were the only people likely to have been able to afford to equip themselves as cavalry. Thus cavalry service is entirely down to wealth.
In the same period, Roman citizen soldiers were required to equip themselves at their own expense and there is unlikely to have been any kind of mass production of equipment. Many of these legionaries are likely only to have worn a bronze pectoral and not been equipped with full armour at all (Polybius 6.23.14). Polybius also claims that anyone with a census rating of over 10,000 drachmas (fairly wealthy) would have worn instead a coat of mail. I suspect that anyone who could have afforded it, or who'd had one donated by an obliging casualty on the battlefield, would have worn mail whatever their census rating, or their height.
In the same period, Roman citizen soldiers were required to equip themselves at their own expense and there is unlikely to have been any kind of mass production of equipment. Many of these legionaries are likely only to have worn a bronze pectoral and not been equipped with full armour at all (Polybius 6.23.14). Polybius also claims that anyone with a census rating of over 10,000 drachmas (fairly wealthy) would have worn instead a coat of mail. I suspect that anyone who could have afforded it, or who'd had one donated by an obliging casualty on the battlefield, would have worn mail whatever their census rating, or their height.
