§ 1. Lipsius, book 2 of The Roman Military System, says that military magistrates are of two kinds, common and proper: the common are the commander and the legates; the proper are the tribunes, the centurions, and the prefects of cavalry.
We described the commander previously. Among the Romans, however, he was of two kinds: either he served under his own auspices, when he was king, consul, dictator, or imperator; or under another’s, if he was proconsul, propraetor, a man of consular rank, legate, or praetor. Cicero, book 1 of The Nature of the Gods and book 2 of On Divination, is witness that these men did not possess the auspices. They nevertheless had certain imitations of auspices, since a change is easy in superstition. For after sacrificing and taking the auspices they set out for their provinces; hence Scipio in Livy, book 28, attributes auspices to himself—although perhaps he is speaking of those very auspices which were customary in the legions.
§ 2. Commanders had legates. Their institution was that they should assist the commander by work and counsel; for they were πρεσβευταὶ, envoys, and σύμβουλοι, counsellors.
Sometimes the senate named them, sometimes the consul. The commanders themselves selected them for themselves, but not without a decree of the senate, as is established from Cicero’s speech Against Vatinius.
§ 3. The duty of a legate was to bring forward for consultation everything which he thought pertained to the affair. Caesar, book 3 of The Civil War: “The functions of a legate and of a commander are different. The one must do everything according to prescription; the other must consult freely concerning the whole issue.”
They possessed the insignia of command, Livy, book 29.
There were two for the most part, sometimes more, according as the senate decreed.
In the age of the princes, consular legates commanded entire armies. Men of praetorian rank commanded individual legions; these were also called legates of the legions, ὑποστράτηγοι and ὕπαρχοι, as though subordinate praetors and subordinate prefects. These same men were afterward called commanders.
§ 4. After the legates, the regular dignity was that of the tribunes. There were six in each legion; two at a time commanded in rotation. They administered justice in the headquarters and gave the signal. Livy, book 28: “They permitted the tribunes both to administer justice in the headquarters, and the signal was sought from them.” The care of watches, fortifications of the camp, and exercises rested with them.
They therefore commanded not one cohort or a definite part, but the whole legion. Horace: “The Roman legion which obeyed me as tribune.”
At first they were appointed by the kings, later by the people. Initially this was arranged so that the people should name six and the commander appoint the rest, whom they called Rufuli. In the year 444 from the founding of the city it was established that sixteen for the four legions should be appointed by the people, and the remaining eight by the consuls. Livy, book 9. Hence there were two classes of tribunes, Rufuli and those elected in the assemblies, and the latter were held in especial esteem. Sometimes men of consular rank were made tribunes. Livy, book 42: “Two consular military tribunes were sent with him.” And in a great peril the senate forbade anyone to be made tribune unless he had held a magistracy.
If tribunes discharged their office rightly, they were readily admitted into the senate. Augustus gave the sons of senators a tribunate and a prefecture of cavalry wings, and the right of the broad stripe. From this they were called broad-striped tribunes, just as tribunes taken from the equestrian order were called narrow-striped tribunes.
It must by no means be approved that through canvassing they changed the tribunes every year; for when the emperors’ freedmen afterward created six-month tribunes, it was like madness. Juvenal, Satire 8, ridicules them:
He too grants the honor of military service to many; six months’ service binds the seers’ fingers round with gold.
§ 5. There were also tribunes of cohorts and of cavalry wings. Suetonius, in Claudius: “He so arranged the six-month military offices that after a cohort he gave a wing, and after a wing the tribunate of a legion.”
Tribunes of cohorts are named in Caesar, book 2 of The Civil War. In his life of Probus, Vopiscus assigns six cohorts to one tribune; but Lipsius most correctly understands “tribunate” in these cases as “prefecture.”
Tribunes possessed the right of golden rings, according to Appian in The Punic Wars.
The prefect of the camp began under Augustus.
§ 6. There were sixty centurions in each legion—that is, two in each maniple. They were appointed by two selections; the man chosen first was considered the more worthy. The centurions chose for themselves οὐραγοὺς, or optiones, who were their assistants, deputies, and subordinate centurions. The man chosen first commanded the right-hand century, the other the left.
Thus Polybius speaks of them in the translation of Lipsius: “From each of the aforesaid classes, except the youngest, they choose according to valor ten leaders of ranks. After these, in a second selection, they choose another ten; and they call all these men leaders of ranks. The man who was chosen first also becomes a participant in the council. These in turn choose an equal number of men whom they call uragi, or leaders of the rear. Thereafter, together with the leaders of ranks, they divide each age or class into ten parts, except for the velites, and to each part they assign from the men already selected two leaders and two uragi. They distribute the remaining velites, as numerous as they are, equally among all the parts. Each of these parts they call a rank, a maniple, and a standard; the leaders themselves they call centurions and leaders of ranks. In each maniple they also choose from the rest two standard-bearers outstanding in vigor of body and spirit. They rightly appoint two leaders in each maniple because, since it is uncertain what any man may do or suffer and military affairs admit no excuse, they never wish a maniple to be without a leader. When both, therefore, are present, the man chosen first commands the right part of the maniple, and the second the left. But when one is absent, the man who remains commands all.”
§ 7. Here there are distinguished lessons of true military service and for strengthening spirits.
The first lesson: they choose according to valor, ἀριστίνδην, “by selection of the best,” not, as sometimes now and under a declining empire, through favor, money, or other means. Scaeva in Lucan:
There, promoted through much blood, he bears the Latian vine-staff after long service in the ranks.
Those who had not seen a camp used to demand the vine-staff by a written petition. Centurionates were obtained through friends, when:
Pelopeia makes prefects; Philomela, tribunes.
“The strength of the legions,” Vegetius says in book 1, chapter 3, “has been broken by the negligence of earlier times, when canvassing seized the rewards of valor and soldiers were promoted through favor who had been accustomed to be promoted through labor. Next, when tent-companions whose terms of service were complete had been discharged in the customary manner by letters of testimonial, no others were substituted. Furthermore, it is necessary that some should be weakened by sickness and discharged, some desert military service, and some perish through diverse accidents. Thus, unless a crowd of younger men succeeds every year—indeed, almost every month—in the place of those who depart, even a populous army is exhausted.”
Although it is not foreign to reason that appointments be made according to the census, and it is agreed from the speech of Maecenas that men were sometimes made centurions at the outset, that nevertheless is rare and fitting only in the bravest and most prudent men, who grasped the rudiments without experience of military service. I believe that this happened among those who, having followed the camp as little children, crawled among the standards and learned the entire order and discipline.
The second: the consuls and tribunes assigned the rank. Since there were several of them and the business was conducted in the army, they could not easily place an unworthy man over brave men.
The third lesson: there was a double selection, so that greater regard might be had for valor.
The fourth: the first-rank centurion stood at the highest dignity. For he was first summoned to council with the legates and tribunes; but in alarming affairs the centurions of the chief ranks were also summoned. Thus Caesar, book 1 of The Gallic War, and book 5. Without doubt the prefects of cavalry were then also summoned; their dignity was greater than that of centurions.
The fifth: the tribunes appointed the optiones, but afterward this was granted to the centurions, so that they might choose brave and faithful men.
The sixth: they select two standard-bearers, for the standards were heavy, while each maniple had one standard. The eagle-bearers did not possess the dignity which our standard-bearers now possess. For the first-rank centurion governed the eagle; in Dionysius, book 10, he is also called prefect of the legion. “In another battle,” he says, “in which it happened that the prefect of our legion fell and the eagle came into the enemy’s power, I, fighting at the same time, both preserved the eagle and rescued the prefect. Returning thanks to me for this aid, he yielded the command of the legion to me and gave me the eagle.” Indeed, he himself tore the eagle from the ground and gave it to the standard-bearer.
The seventh: those who had held the first rank attained the equestrian census.
§ 8. There are ten squadrons of cavalry; in each there are three prefects. The man named first commands the entire squadron; when he is absent, the second commands. Thus Polybius: “They likewise divided the cavalry into ten squadrons. From each they take three men who are to be leaders. These three themselves select uragi, or leaders of the rear. The man chosen first, therefore, commands the entire squadron; the remaining two hold the place of decurions, and thus all are called decurions. When the first is absent, the second assumes the place of prefect of the squadron.”
§ 9. The allies had twelve prefects in place of tribunes. Polybius: “When the allies have been joined and assembled together with the Romans, their ordering and government is held by leaders appointed by the consuls. These are called prefects, twelve in number.”
They were appointed by the consuls so that they might choose men who were more faithful and hold them bound by a benefit.
Finally, there were ten men in each tent-party. The man who commanded them was called a dean.