ABSTRACT
Literary texts of the imperial period portray the soldier as a bully. In Apuleius’ novel, the soldier assaults a peasant farmer, beating him with a stick and seizing his ass. The peasant turns on the soldier, surprises him, knocks him unconscious and escapes with the ass. The revenge of the soldier, however, brings the full power of the Roman state down on the head of the peasant.1 Juvenal’s Satire XVI starts with a long complaint about the difficulties of gaining redress following an assault by a soldier. Even attempting to bring a case against a soldier was foolhardy, if not suicidal. More examples could be found without difficulty; complaints against the soldiery were common and Campbell wonders whether
the widespread oppression of civilians by soldiers [was] a symptom of the general inability of emperors to control any of their servants …or did it at least in part result from the difficulties of prosecuting soldiers in court and a deliberate reluctance by officials and governors, who took their guidance from the emperors, to proceed against the soldiers on behalf of the civilians, who were not as important to the welfare of the empire and its ruler?2
