§1. The Romans gave no pay to their soldiers for nearly three hundred years, for they sent the wealthy into battle, and these sustained military service at their own expense. Nor is it surprising that this was so, for while their kings were at home they wore them down like slaves in various works—in constructing sewers, roads, walls, and temples—so much so that many voluntarily met death. For those living so wretchedly, it was desirable to perish in war and to obtain a noble death through wounds.
Justus Lipsius, in book 5 of On the Roman Army, thinks that something was paid to the soldier even before this. He proves it from Dionysius, book 5, and Livy, book 9. But he thinks that it was a public contribution toward the costs of war. I add that these things were sometimes required as a reward for the soldiers, or were customarily contributed by the citizens in a necessity.
§2. Afterward, when military service was too burdensome if each man served at his own expense, pay was established in the Veientine War. It is called ὀψώνια, because it was given for buying provisions. Polybius says that foot soldiers receive two obols in pay each day, commanders of formations twice that, and cavalrymen a drachma. According to the calculation of Justus Lipsius, this was ten denarii a month, that is, one philippus. It is a small payment now; at that time it was large, and, because it was new, also very welcome to the people. For that reason it also remained for a long time. But if we consider the cheapness of goods, we shall find that payment to have been by no means slight.
§3. Pay among the Greeks was generally of this kind. The Spartans promised one daric to a soldier, twice that to a centurion, and four times that to a commander, στρατηγῷ. Xenophon, book 7 of the ἀναβάσεως. The Athenians paid a drachma a day, which was more generous, for a daric is worth twenty drachmas.
§4. Every effort must be made that, just as grain was formerly given, so bread should now be given. Formerly, indeed, it was disgraceful to sell grain and to buy bread. But now, since neither grain nor bread is given, money is easily consumed, and then soldiers turn to plunder.
Four modii a month were given to a Roman soldier. This was the ration of slaves, although they sometimes received even five modii. Seneca, Epistle 71. Three times that amount was given to cavalrymen, that is, twelve modii, so that they could feed two servants. The cavalrymen of the allies received eight modii, because they were content with fewer servants.
§5. Meanwhile it was a golden custom to deposit money at the standards, so that the soldiers would not easily consume it and would not easily desert the standards. Vegetius discusses it in book 2, chapter 20:
“This, moreover, was divinely instituted by the ancients: from the donative which the soldiers receive, half should be sequestered at the standards and preserved there for the soldiers themselves, lest it be consumed by their comrades through luxury or the purchase of vain things. For most men, and especially the poor, spend as much as they have been able to possess. This setting aside of money is shown to be advantageous, first, to the comrades themselves; for, since they are sustained by the public ration, their camp property is increased by half from all donatives.
“Then the soldier who knows that his resources have been deposited at the standards thinks nothing of deserting; he loves the standards more and fights more bravely for them in the battle-line, in accordance with the custom of the human disposition, by which a man has the greatest care for those things in which he sees his substance to have been placed.
“Finally, ten purses—that is, ten sacks—were set up for each cohort, and this account was stored in them. An eleventh sack was also added, into which the whole legion contributed some small part, namely for burial, so that, if anyone among the comrades died, the expense of his burial might be provided from that eleventh sack. This account was preserved in a basket in the keeping of the standard-bearers, as they are now called. Therefore, standard-bearers were chosen as men not only trustworthy but also literate, who both knew how to preserve deposits and knew how to render an account to each man.”
There was often an enormous sum of money at the standards. Suetonius, in Domitian: “He prohibited the camps of two legions from being joined, and prohibited anyone from depositing more than one thousand sesterces at the standards, because Lucius Antonius, who was attempting a revolution in the winter quarters of two legions, seemed to have gained confidence from the sum of the deposits.”
§6. Besides these things they gave legumes, peas, lentils, and salt. Plutarch, in Crassus, regards it as an omen of every evil that, at the beginning, when necessities were being measured out, lentils and salt were given, because these things were regarded as funereal.
Of Carinus the emperor, Synesius says: τὸ δεῖπνον ἦν πίσινον ἕωλον ἔτνος, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τεμάχια ἄττα ταρίχη κρεῶν ὑείων. His dinner was a pea porridge from the previous day, and in it were several pieces of salted pork. Spartianus counts among camp foods bacon, cheese, and sour wine.
Metellus prohibited the sale of cooked meat; the soldiers themselves roasted or boiled it. Hence a soldier’s spit and pot were among his equipment. The soldiers themselves baked bread—useless labor, since it can readily be baked by bakers for a great multitude.
§7. These things were therefore given in such a way that something was nevertheless deducted from the pay, namely a fixed price. But they were given freely to the allies; I believe that the allies received less pay from their cities.
§8. Paymasters made agreements with the soldiers and gave money and rations as loans. For each solidus they could receive half a solidus, and nothing more for the entire period of deferred payment: law Quicumque, Code, On Public Receipts; law Iubemus, Code, On Disbursement.
§9. Great mutinies have frequently arisen in armies because pay was not rendered. Many devices have also been discovered for pacifying the soldier. Sometimes men employed a wicked art. When the soldiers sought an assembly from Iphicrates on account of their pay, he secretly instructed men skilled in the Persian language and dressed in Persian garb to say that the pay was approaching and that they themselves had been sent ahead. Thus the assembly was broken off.
When Demetrius lacked pay, he enrolled twice the number of soldiers so that, once the enemy had been defeated more quickly, he might compel them to pay the soldiers. When Antigonus, after becoming victor, had previously promised that he would give one gold coin to each Gaul, the Gauls demanded payment also for their boys and women, because he had said “to each Gaul,” and threatened death to the hostages. Antigonus said that he would give it and ordered those who would receive it to come; but he detained them until the hostages were returned. Polyaenus, book 4.
§10. When the credit of the state is intact, the best course in a necessity is to strike coins from readily available material. Perdiccas struck a tin coin and gave the grain of his region in exchange for it. The Venetians at Tyre employed leather money, the senate afterward making good the public credit. When the soldier is foreign and the prince’s credit suspect, this method exasperates the army more than it pacifies it.