Roman Public LifeGreenidge, A. H. J. (Abel Hendy Jones)
History
Roman Public Life
Greenidge, A. H. J. (Abel Hendy Jones)
Constitutional history -- Rome; Rome -- Politics and government
Each of these divisions was subdivided into two with reference to
age, the _juniores_ (from eighteen to forty-five) being the effective
fighting force, the _seniores_ (forty-five to sixty) the home defence.
The final division is into the military unit, the century (_centuria_),
consisting nominally of a hundred men. This was the minimum strength of
the lowest unit, but the census list did not represent the effective
fighting force of the legion organised for battle, but the numbers
qualified for service; consequently the centuries of a particular
class were raised to the quota required to include all the members of
that class. The numerical proportion of the centuries of the different
classes to one another is very striking. The centuries of the first class
(eighty in number) are almost equal to those of the four other classes
put together (collectively ninety in number). If this table exhibits
the real proportion of social classes to one another, it would show a
wonderfully equal distribution of land in the state, one so equal as to
cause most of the landholders to be placed in the same class, for the
list would mainly represent holders of land (the other _res mancipi_
not being usually divorced from its possession). But the proportions of
the classes may only show that the centuries of richer citizens were
still regarded as forming the more permanent force, the other divisions,
not much more numerous though drawn from a larger population, being
merely supplementary. We know that members of the first class were more
perfectly equipped,[285] and the fact of their being the main strength
of the army would be proved if it were true that this class alone was
originally _classis_ (“the line”) and that all the others were _infra
classem_.[286]
As will be seen from the accompanying table of the census, the mass of
citizens whose property fell below that of the lowest class was not
wholly unprovided for. They were organised, according to Livy, into six,
according to Dionysius into five, centuries. Some of these were composed
of professional persons, whose services were indispensable to an army,
and who were, perhaps, members of the trade guilds (_collegia_) which are
said to have existed in the regal period.[287] Such were the carpenters
(_fabri_) who formed two centuries, and the horn-blowers and trumpeters
(_cornicines_ and _tibicines_) who formed one each.
THE SERVIAN CLASSIFICATION
THE CAVALRY
18 centuries, with no fixed property qualification.
THE INFANTRY
_1st Classis_—100,000 asses (Livy and Dionysius),[288] 120,000
asses (Pliny and Festus).[289]
Seniores, 40 cent. } 80
Juniores, 40 cent. }
_2nd Classis_—75,000 asses (Liv. and Dionys.).
Seniores, 10 cent. } 20
Juniores, 10 cent. }
_3rd Classis_—50,000 asses (Liv. and Dionys.).
Seniores, 10 cent. } 20
Juniores, 10 cent. }
_4th Classis_—25,000 asses.
Seniores, 10 cent. } 20
Juniores, 10 cent. }
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