09-10-2011, 06:34 PM
My edition of Vegetius [P. Milner, Liverpool University Press, 1996 (2nd edition)] comments: "Cato de Re Mil. fr. 14... mentions gladiatorial training,so that P. Rutilius Rufus, cos 105 BC, will not have been the first to introduce gladiatorial methods of training to the army, despite Val. Max. 2.3.2. Cf. also Auct. de Bell. Afr. 71 and Amm. 16.12.49." The footnote pertains to I.11 (training with posts).
The quote you are looking for is Valerius Maximus 2.3.2: "Armorum tractandorum meditatio a P. Rutilio consule Cn. Malli collega militibus est tradita: is enim nullius ante se imperatoris exemplum secutus ex ludo C. Aureli Scauri doctoribus gladiatorum arcessitis vitandi atque inferendi ictus subtiliorem rationem legionibus ingeneravit ..." "The handling practice of weapons was taught to soldiers from P. Rutilius, consul, colleague of Cn. Mallius, onwards: Without following the example of any general before himself, through gladiatorial instructors from the school of M. Aurelius Scaurus he generalised in the legions a more subtle method of avoiding hits and of hitting... "
Cato's comment in his de Re Mil. has been recorded by Nonius: "disciplinosus etiam de re pessima arte potest dici. Cato de Re Militari (14): 'quam gladiator disciplinosus' (Nonius, s.v. disciplinosus, W.M. Lindsay, de compendiose doctrina libros XX). If my translation works: "one can also say 'disciplinosus' (=well-trained) of a very bad art. Cato, on Military Matters: 'well-trained as a gladiator'. The context here does not seem to necessarily suggest to me that soldiers (whose role Milner seems to infer from the presence of the sentence in a book on soldiery) were trained by gladiators, but rather that they were trained to the same degree, possibly in the same art.
The African War simply mentions that "Caesar... was necessitated to instruct his soldiers, not like a general of a veteran army which had been victorious in so many battles, but like a fencing master training up his gladiators"; Ammianus speaks of a fight "in modum mirmillonis": these do not mention actual gladiators, but merely their methods.
Which leaves, as far as I can see, Valerius Maximus as the only source - of those referred to by Milner - which directly mentions gladiatorial trainers as being used in the army.
Best,
Max C.
The quote you are looking for is Valerius Maximus 2.3.2: "Armorum tractandorum meditatio a P. Rutilio consule Cn. Malli collega militibus est tradita: is enim nullius ante se imperatoris exemplum secutus ex ludo C. Aureli Scauri doctoribus gladiatorum arcessitis vitandi atque inferendi ictus subtiliorem rationem legionibus ingeneravit ..." "The handling practice of weapons was taught to soldiers from P. Rutilius, consul, colleague of Cn. Mallius, onwards: Without following the example of any general before himself, through gladiatorial instructors from the school of M. Aurelius Scaurus he generalised in the legions a more subtle method of avoiding hits and of hitting... "
Cato's comment in his de Re Mil. has been recorded by Nonius: "disciplinosus etiam de re pessima arte potest dici. Cato de Re Militari (14): 'quam gladiator disciplinosus' (Nonius, s.v. disciplinosus, W.M. Lindsay, de compendiose doctrina libros XX). If my translation works: "one can also say 'disciplinosus' (=well-trained) of a very bad art. Cato, on Military Matters: 'well-trained as a gladiator'. The context here does not seem to necessarily suggest to me that soldiers (whose role Milner seems to infer from the presence of the sentence in a book on soldiery) were trained by gladiators, but rather that they were trained to the same degree, possibly in the same art.
The African War simply mentions that "Caesar... was necessitated to instruct his soldiers, not like a general of a veteran army which had been victorious in so many battles, but like a fencing master training up his gladiators"; Ammianus speaks of a fight "in modum mirmillonis": these do not mention actual gladiators, but merely their methods.
Which leaves, as far as I can see, Valerius Maximus as the only source - of those referred to by Milner - which directly mentions gladiatorial trainers as being used in the army.
Best,
Max C.
M. Caecilius M.f. Maxentius - Max C.
Qui vincit non est victor nisi victus fatetur
- Q. Ennius, Annales, Frag. XXXI, 493
Secretary of the Ricciacus Frënn (http://www.ricciacus.lu/)
Qui vincit non est victor nisi victus fatetur
- Q. Ennius, Annales, Frag. XXXI, 493
Secretary of the Ricciacus Frënn (http://www.ricciacus.lu/)
