ABSTRACT
The Greek world, the subject of our companion volume, was a complex mosaic of communities, often at war with each other or with outside powers. Here, by contrast, the focus is on a single state. From the earliest days, war was at the heart of the life of the Roman people. They fought wars almost every year. Annual rituals marked the opening and closing of the campaigning season. All Roman citizens were liable for military service, and, apart from the poorest and freedmen (who were ineligible for the legions), most, if not all, Roman citizens under the early and middle Republic served in several years’ campaigns during their youth. The censors’ classification of the people into property classes and centuries served both political and military purposes and reflected the close links between military obligations and political rights (Nicolet 1980); it was no accident that, when the people met to elect their chief magistrates, who commanded the army, they assembled outside the city on the Campus Martius – the field of Mars, the war god. Valour in arms won the highest renown, and members of the élite were under heavy pressure to enhance their family’s glory by distinguishing themselves in war. There were crowns and other military prizes which any soldier could win (Maxfield 1981), while a victorious commander earned the supreme honour of leading his returning troops into the city in a triumph.
