The Military Consilium in Republican Rome

170 Pages·2008·0.931 MB·English

by  Pamela Delia Johnston

The Military Consilium in
Republican Rome
Gorgias Studies in Classical and Late Antiquity
5
Gorgias Studies in Classical and Late Antiquity contains monographs
and edited volumes on the Greco-Roman world and its transition
into Late Antiquity, encompassing political and social structures,
knowledge and educational ideals, art, architecture and literature.
The Military Consilium in
Republican Rome
Pamela Delia Johnston
9
34
2013
Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
www.gorgiaspress.com
Copyright © 2 0 1 3 by Gorgias Press LLC
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the
prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC.
2013 ܘ 9
ISBN 978-1-59333-373-7
Second Printing
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data
A Cataloging-in-Publication Record is Available
from the Library of Congress.
Printed in the United States of America
Martiali
[The general] should either choose advisors to take part in all his coun-
sels and share in his decisions, who will accompany him for this pur-
pose, or summon the most estimable commanders to deliberate with,
since whatever someone decides alone, on his own judgment, should
not safely be adopted.
Onasander, The General 3.1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents..................................................................................................vii
Preface......................................................................................................................xi
Acknowledgments.................................................................................................xv
Abbreviations.......................................................................................................xvii
1. The Nature of the Consilium............................................................................1
1.1 The Consilium: an Overview.................................................................1
1.1.1 Summary of the Work..........................................................................2
1.2 Ancient Sources for the Commander’s Consilium.............................3
1.3 The Members of the Commander’s Consilium...................................6
1.3.1 Terminology of membership..............................................................7
1.3.2 The Military Tribunes...........................................................................7
1.3.3 The Quaestor.........................................................................................8
1.3.4 The Prefects.........................................................................................10
1.3.5 The Centurions....................................................................................12
1.3.6 The Legates..........................................................................................13
1.3.7 The Cohors Amicorum...........................................................................17
1.3.8 The Consilium as Training Camp....................................................19
2. The Commander’s Consilium in Action........................................................25
2.1 The Two Basic Types of the Commander’s Consilium...................25
2.2 Location of the Deliberative Consilium.............................................25
2.2.1 Seating in the Deliberative Consilium.............................................27
2.2.2 Outline of the Deliberative Consilium............................................28
2.3 Location of the Ceremonial Consilium..............................................31
2.3.1 Seating in the Ceremonial Consilium...............................................32
2.4 Strategy and Tactics...............................................................................34
2.4.1 The Deliberative Consilium in Action............................................34
2.4.2 The Commander’s Consilium and Military Justice........................42
2.4.3 Reception of Foreign Legates by the Ceremonial Consilium......49
2.4.4 The Ceremonial Consilium as the Commander’s Witness...........57
vii
viii THE MILITARY CONSILIUM IN REPUBLICAN ROME
2.4.5 The “Consilium that Convened Itself”: The Caudine Forks
Disaster.................................................................................................59
2.5 Conclusions.............................................................................................61
3. The Decem Legati as Consilium of the Magistrate Militiae............................63
3.1 Introduction............................................................................................63
3.2 Commissions of Ten in Peace Negotiations.....................................63
3.3 The Commission of Ten Sent to C. Lutatius Catulus in 241..........65
3.4 The Commission of Ten sent to P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus
in 201.....................................................................................................69
3.4.1 Activities of the Commission of 201...............................................72
3.5 The Commission of Ten sent to T. Quinctius Flamininus in
196..........................................................................................................73
3.5.1 Activities of the Commission of 196...............................................80
3.6 The Commission of Ten sent to Cn. Manlius Vulso in 188...........87
3.6.1 Activities of the Commission of 188...............................................90
3.7 The Commission of Ten sent to L. Aemilius Paullus in 167..........92
3.7.1 Activities of the Commission of 167...............................................94
3.8 The Commission of Five sent to L. Anicius in 167.........................96
3.8.1 Activities of the Commission of L. Anicius...................................97
3.9 The Commission of Ten sent to L. Mummius in 146.....................98
3.10 The Commission of Ten sent to Scipio Aemilianus in 146..........99
3.11 The Commission of Ten sent to P. Rupilius in 132.....................101
3.12 The Commission of Ten sent to M’. Aquiliius in 129.................101
3.13 The Commission of Ten sent to T. Didius, cos. 98.......................103
3.14 An Institution in Flux: Decem Legati in the Late Republic...........103
3.14.1 The Eastern Consilia of L. Cornelius Sulla.................................103
3.14.2 The Commission of Ten sent to L. Licinius Lucullus..............107
3.14.3 Julius Caesar and his “Decem Legati”............................................109
3.14.4 The End of an Era: the Legations to Antony in 43..................110
3.15 Conclusions.........................................................................................111
4. The Consilium of the Provincial Governor................................................113
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................113
4.2 The Provincia of the Magistrate Militiae..............................................114
4.3 The Staff of the Provincial Governor...............................................115
4.4 The Consilium of the Magistrate Militiae in Criminal
Proceedings........................................................................................116
4.4.1 The Trial of Philodamus of Lampsacus........................................117
4.4.2 The Sopater Scandal and the Character of the Consilium.........122
4.4.3 Further Responsibilities of the Magistrate Militiae.......................125
4.5 The Consilium in Civil Procedure Militiae.......................................128
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
4.6 Collection of Revenues.......................................................................129
5. The Commander’s Consilium: Conclusions..............................................133
5.1 The Commander’s Consilium in Context........................................133
5.2 Depictions of Foreign Consilia..........................................................134
5.3 The Commander’s Consilium: a Pragmatic Compromise.............136
Selected Bibliography..........................................................................................139
Index......................................................................................................................145