ABSTRACT
Modern historians often argue that Gaius Marius introduced the most important change in late Republican military organization by reportedly dropping the minimum property qualification for military service and thus creating a professional army relying on volunteers from the lower social classes. However, there is little evidence for wide-ranging “Marian reforms.” Instead, another trend in the first century BC had far greater consequences for the evolution of the army: the increasing reliance on non-Italians as soldiers (auxilia). This was brought about first by the Social War, which put Rome in a difficult military and financial situation. Before the Social War, a large portion of Roman armies comprised Italian allies (socii), whose service was paid by their own communities. After the Social war, these former socii received Roman citizenship and so had to be paid by the Roman state for military service, significantly increasing the cost of fielding large armies. Auxiliaries were an expedient solution. Subsequently, the civil wars created enormous demand for military manpower. Competing dynasts operating often far from Italy tapped local manpower to bolster their armies, leading to widespread recruitment of non-Romans into the legions. This trend was ultimately institutionalized under the Augustus.
