Republican Army

[drsrob]

[Rob, could you elaborate on who is challenging this? I keep hearing about it (I'm even pretty much sold on it), but I'm not clear who are the main proponents of either side of the argument.

Thanks

Matthew James Stanham

Well, answering this question is not as easy as I though. I had to search real hard to (re)find my sources.
Basically I got it from Lawrence Keppie, The Making of the Roman Army (London 1984) pp. 61-63. Keppie nevertheless still thinks that the property qualification ceased to function after Marius. J.B. McCall, The Cavalry of the Roman Republic (London, New York 2002) p. 104 gives the notion that Marius's ploy with the capite censeo was a one off as an example to prove a point, suggesting this is excepted wisdom. However most other books I have seam to adhere to the opposite view.
McCall quotes E. Gabba, Republican Rome, the Army and the Allies (Oxford 1976)) p. 15 and P.A. Brunt, Italian Manpower (London 1971) pp. 438-9. The first of these two sources was also used by Keppie.
Unfortunately I have read neither Gabba, nor Brunt.
By the way. The book of Gabba is a translation of two articles in Italian, published in 1949 and 1951.