The army of the Second Punic is sometimes called the manipular army or the Polybian army. The word legion comes from the Latin word for a gathering or a levy. This was a reference to the method of forming the army. When the two consuls were appointed, they called for a levy of available manpower. For male citizens of the city and countryside, this meant showing up on the Campus Martius (the “Field of Mars,” an open space that was used for military exercises). All males from 16-46 (known as the iuniores) were eligible for service provided they owned more than 400 drachmae of property. At age 16, all male citizens were required to give their names for the levy. Failure to do so meant you were considered a traitor and you were sold into slavery. That was a pretty good incentive to enroll. This group, which did not include the equites who could afford a horse and thus became the cavalry, was known as the proletarii. The citizens who possessed less than 400 drachmae of property were exempt from service in the army, but might be conscripted as oarsmen for the navy if needed. Groups that were not allowed to serve included vagrants, paupers, debtors, convicts, freedmen, and slaves. The levy reeled in enough men to fill four legions (two per consul), which meant about 36,000 men.
The gathering of eligible citizens on the Campus Martius was called the “dilectus.” Each legion had a tribune that would pick men for his legion. This meant the four tribunes were picking sides, so to speak. The men would be organized into groups of four based on height, age, and experience. Each group was brought before the four tribunes and each picked one for his legion. Country boys were preferred for obvious reasons. They were more physically fit and they were used to hard conditions and manual labor. Vegetius, in his manual on the Roman army, entitled De Re Militari, described what the legion was looking for during the Empire.
“Let therefore, the youth who is to be chosen for martial tasks have observant eyes, hold his head up, have a broad chest, muscular shoulders, sinewy arms, long fingers, not too extended a waist measure, lean hams, and calves and feet not distended with superfluous flesh but hard and knotted with muscles. Whenever you find these marks in the recruit do not be troubled about his height. It is more useful for soldiers to be strong and brave than big.”
The process was to ensure the four legions were similar in quality. (This same procedure was used by the allies to create the legions they owed the Romans as tribute.)
The recruits were given a physical mainly to check for marks proving the man had not been a slave or was a freedman. After this vetting, all the men had to take the oath called “sacrementum dicere.” Originally, this oath was voluntary, but after defeats at the River Trebia and Lake Trasimene in the early Second Punic War, it became mandatory. According to Livy, the oath was: “I will never leave the ranks because of fear to run away, but only to retrieve a weapon, to kill an enemy, or to rescue a comrade.” Sometimes one man would say the oath and the rest of the recruits would all answer with: “idem in me” which meant “the same in my case.” At this point, the recruit was now a “probatio” and was given a token to be turned in when he reached his unit. The probatios were given some days to report to their legion. They could go home and say goodbye and pack up their things. In the early days of the Roman Republic, they could expect to be back home after a year at most, so they could keep their farm going. However, the advent of paying them a salary made it possible for the men to stay away from home for longer periods. Roman male citizens who were eligible for the army could be made to leave their job or farm for up to six years in a row, but they could not be asked to serve more than 16 years (it could be upped to 20 in an emergency) by age 46. An evocatus was a soldier who was a veteran, but had not served 16 years yet. They were liable to be enlisted again. During the Second Punic War, when Rome was in an emergency created by Hannibal, the levy process was adjusted. The annual levy continued, but now a rota (rotation) system was created. This was used to replace veterans who needed a break and to bring a legion back to full manpower after losses. The recruits were now replacements.
How did the annual levy produce such a great army seemingly from scratch? It went beyond favoring farmers. Roman men inherently possessed the personalities that made them good soldiers once they were trained. Keep in mind, many of the annual recruits would have been veterans who had already been trained and had the basics of Roman military life down pat. More than most ancient societies, Roman males showed substantial will power and perseverance. To duty to the family and the state was added duty to your military unit. The needs of the group eclipsed the needs of the individual. Legionaries could be expected to sacrifice themselves for the good of their comrades. There was an implicit moral code that included loyalty to the legion and their fellow legionaries. The men easily adapted to that code. There are examples of them mutinying because they had been pushed past the point of tolerance of bad conditions. But these incidents were rare because a legionary had a high hardship threshold. Plus, they were typically conservative, like civilians, and did not demand reforms. The recruits from the farms were already inured to hard work and the city slickers quickly blended in. From a society that allowed a father to execute his sons, recruits did not need to be taught respect for authority. The training went one step further by transforming the men into cogs in a machine. One of the first things they were trained in was how to march in sync. They easily adjusted from the shield-to-shield phalanx to the more flexible maniple. But in each, every legionary had to be in step. This shift in tactics that occurred before the Punic Wars exemplified the compromise between traditional soldiering and the adapting of it to confront new enemies.
When the probatio reported to his legion, he turned in the token to prove he had not deserted. The vast majority of recruits showed up because even though it was not voluntary, there were several reasons why the enlistees did not mind serving. Most felt it was their duty. Maintaining their family honor was another factor. And there were financial benefits to being called up. And I am not talking about the pay. Polybius wrote that they were paid 2 obols per day (120 denarii a year), which was not that much. A laborer in Rome made more, but the legionaries employment was steady. Those blue-bloods on horseback were paid one drachma a day. The pay was a big improvement over the army of the early Republic. Originally, the soldiers were not paid anything. It was your civic duty to serve. And the campaigns were short, so you were not away from your farm too long. As Rome began to send armies further away to conquer, the campaigns were longer and a farmer/soldier might be kept for a period of time that might ruin him. Recognition of this problem led the Roman government to start paying the stipendium. This was basically to reimburse the legionary for being away from his farm or job. Unfortunately, it was usually not enough to cover his losses from neglected farming. Two obols a day was a decent salary, however some money was deducted for food and clothing. A legionary probably kept less than half his salary. More of an incentive was the possibility of sharing the booty that came with a successful battle or siege. Some legionaries became rich off the spoils from capturing an enemy camp or city. And there also was the adventure that appealed to young men.
- from The Scipios in Spain
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