Roman Army before and after the Marius' Reforms

[Paullus Scipio]

Bryan wrote:
"Siege of Veii is often quoted as first instance of formal stipendum. What form of currency were they paid in?"


The short answer is they weren't paid in any form of monetary currency, because money didn't exist in 405-395 BC ! (see above)

Livy[V.3-5] describes how the soldiers were content to be paid, but angered by the corollary that now they were expected to serve all year round, through the winter. He does not however describe how they were paid. In fact, the siege of Veii is not the first time we hear of pay for Roman soldiers, but from another passage [IV.36] we learn that in the year 421 B.C. the tribunes had proposed that the occupiers of the public land should pay their 'Vectigal' (a tithe) regularly, and that it should be devoted to the payment of the troops.

We can however, make a fair deduction on how they were paid. The word 'stipendum' itself comes from  stips (“alms, small payment”) and pendere (“pay, weigh”). So something that could be weighed, and was the produce of a tithe, which can only mean grain/corn ( and perhaps, judging by later practise, clothing too). This is somewhat confirmed by the fact that even after the introduction of coinage, the legionary continued to be paid in grain ( and a clothing allowance) etc, the value of which was deducted from his nominal 'salary', so that in fact he continued to be paid 'in kind' (topped up with money) right down through Imperial times, generally paid three times a year......