Солдаты Римской империи. Традиции военной службы и воинская ментальность

The contradictory combination of the old-fashion republican traditions and realities of professional military corps comes to light most obviously in dichotomy of citizen’s and soldier’s statuses. From the evidence of ancient literary and legal texts it is possible to draw a conclusion that many traditional attitudes and establishments were preserved in the emperors’ recruiting policy and in the public treatment of the troops. That is concerned, first of all, the orientation to citizen status of legionary soldiers, as well as the complex of moral qualities required from the Roman military. These traditions called forth certain forms of army’s participation in politics and in interrelations with imperial government and individual emperors. One of the institutions that provided participation of the soldiery masses in carrying out specific power functions was a soldiers’ assembly (contio militum) similar to the citizens’ assemblies in Rome. Military contiones, manifesting in many cases a sovereign will of army, held some potesterian functions, and through this institution, thanks to its old customs and precedents, the army was included in the system of acceptation and transition of imperial powers and provided its own corporative interests, becoming one of decisive, and to a certain degree independent, figures in the field of Roman imperial politics of the 1^st—3^rd centuries B.C.

Another specific form of army’s intervention into politics was soldiers’ mutinies and seditions. In spite of commanders’ wide credentials and very strict sanctions, the Roman military law gave against any disobedience and rebellious efforts, in practice all corresponding measures had never been taken in a full volume. The significant cause of such a situation was that the legionaries were considered as Roman citizens-in-arms and displayed themselves as a part of wider civic community, not as a venal mercenary force; they recognized themselves as the partners and supporters of the ruler. In soldiers’ uprisings and mutinies of the Later Republic and Principate one can see certain manifestations of the ancient traditions of legionaries’ self-government and a kind of polis democracy. This striking ability of the Roman soldier to stand strongly upon his rights and to keep out well-organized order may be found in many evidences. Roman generals and emperors had to reckon with these traditions and often made concessions to the troops. To overcome soldiers rebellions commanders used to appeal to soldiers’ sense of honour and duty.

During the Principate, one can see the developent of particular relations and ties connecting the emperor and his army, which had aroused in the last century of the Roman Republic. Such interrelations can be defined as a specific military clientela. Such clientele, being based on various personal bonds and mutual obligations of contractual character, was monopolized by princeps who had become the only patron of the troops. It was the military clientele that became one of the decisive factors of functioning of the Empire political system as a whole. The peculiarity of military clientele lies in that the specific obligations of soldiers, defined by the concept of personal fides and loyalty to the emperor, were in dissolutably interweaving with notions of military ethics. The position of the patron of the army did commit the emperor to many things requiring to take a permanent care of the troops, to display generosity, personal military achievements and proximity to simple soldiers.

To investigate peculiarities of the Roman military mentality, or soldier’s ethos, it is necessary to examine the army as a specific socio-political organism. Such an analysis shows that many of the social elements which drew together people in civic communities, in particular friendly ties within various microgroups, were present in the life of the military community. These elements and traditions made the legion and the camp somewhat similar to civitas. However, in the Early Empire, when the military and the civilian spheres were sharply demarcated, a joining the army meant an almost complete break with the civilian society. The Imperial army was characterised by a new type of soldier with a special social and legal status, as well as specific value orientation based on the soldier’s commitment to his unit, loyalty to the Emperor and solidarity with his closest brotheres-in-arms. These factors conditioned the specific corporativeness of the Imperial army, which, however, did not turn into a «total institution» stricto sensu.