Dobson - The Significance of The Centurion and Primipilaris in The Roman (1974)

The Significance of the Centurion and 'Primipilaris'
in the Roman Army and Administration
by B R I A N DOBSON, Durham
Table of Contents
I. The development of the centuiion-primipilaris career 393

1. The Republic 393
2. The Augustan experiments 395
3. The establishment of a distinctive career 399
4. Later developments 402
II. The centurionate 403
1. Entry into the centurionate 403
2. Promotion and pay 407
3. Centurions from the castra peregrina and the fleet 409
III. The primipilate and beyond 411
1. The post of primuspilus 411
2. The post of praefectus castrorum 413
a) The ordinary prefecture 413
b) praefectus castrorum Aegypti 415
3. The Rome tribunates 417
4. The primuspilus iterum 420
5. The procuratorial career for primipilares 421
IV. The centurion and primipilaris in society 426
V. The working of the career — a possible reconstruction 427
VI. The disappearance of the career 429
VII. Conclusions 432
Abbreviations and Bibliography 433
Although a number of important articles have appeared concerning

the centurionate since the first publication of 'Die Rangordnung des römi-
schen Heeres5 in 1908, and some attempt was made to summarise their
most important conclusions when the text was re-issued in 1967, there has
been no attempt to survey the whole of the development of the career of
Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Authenticated
Download Date | 1/2/17 11:49 PM
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CENTURION AND 'PRIMIPILARIS' 393
the legionary and Rome centurions since then1. This article seeks to do
that. For the detailed arguments that lie behind it reference may be made
to the articles cited and to my forthcoming book, 'Die Primipilaren des
römischen Heeres', Epigraphische Studien 10 (Düsseldorf 1975). By no
means every aspect is touched upon. It is the evolution of the career of the
centurion, providing the emperor with officers and administrators of proven
military experience, reliability and efficiency, and the Roman citizen sol-
dier with glittering prospects of social advancement that made long years
of soldiering worthwhile, and attracted some of the best equestrians and
municipal aristocrats to seek direct commissions, that is considered here.
The emphasis is on the route to the primipilate and beyond, and if much
of the article is devoted to the career of the primipilaris rather than to the
many useful additional tasks performed by centurions and primipilares, the
special interests of the author and the lack of discussion of these points in
English must be held to account for it. It is in any case the central theme
of the article that the hope of becoming primuspilus was the main stimulus
to men seeking the centurionate and staying in it long beyond the normal
terms of service of men below the centurionate, and that promotion beyond
the primipilate while important for the filling of certain key posts was only
for a minority and therefore of secondary importance in considering moti-
vation.
I. The development of the cewiMnow-primipilaris career
1. The Republic
The difficulty of drawing firm conclusions from the evidence for cen-
turions under the Republic is well known. The careful and exhaustive
enquiries of HARMAND, for instance, are still balked by the lack of cer-
tainty 2 . Something may nevertheless be said. The indication are that the
Republican centurion had for the most part risen from the ranks. Within
the legionary centurionate there was a clear distinction between the primi
ordines on the one hand and the rest of the centurions3. Whether there were
further distinctions based on the cohort in which a centurion was serving
seems doubtful; the few phrases known may simply denote the cohort a
References in the form X I 695 etc. are to the 'Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'.
Articles and books are cited for the most part simply in the form DOMASZEWSKI-DOBSON
1967 etc.; full details are given in a bibliography at the end of the article.
1 DOMASZEWSKI-DOBSON 1967, 80—122 and X X — X X X I V .

2 HARMAND 1967, 324ff.
3 For example, Caesar bell. gall. 1, 41 deinde reliquae legiones cum tribunis militum et primorum
ordinum centurionibus egerunt, uti per eos Caesari satis facerent; bell. gall. 5, 44 erant in
ea legione fortissimi viri, centuriones, qui iam primis ordinibus adpropinquarent.

Authenticated
394 B R I A N DOBSON
man was serving in (Caesar, bell. civ. 3, 54: Caesar ab octavis ordinibus ad
primipilum se traducere pronuntiavit) rather than that this cohort must
represent an eighth rank in the hierarchy or (Caesar, bell. gall. 6, 40: cen-
turiones quorum nonnulli ex inferioribus ordinibus reliquarum legionum vir-
tutis causa in superiores erant ordines huius legionis traducti) imply possibly
that certain centurions in addition to the primi ordines were regarded as
senior without conclusively linking this to a hierarchy of cohorts4. Among
the primi ordines ranked first the primus pilus&. This post seems to have
continued to be held for one year's campaigning only, as originally had all
the centurionates, as tenure of it in the previous year is twice explicitly
mentioned®. It is not clear what happened to these centurions who had
been primipili and were not reappointed. HARMAND suggests that men in
this position referred to by Caesar were in fact military tribunes though
Caesar tactfully does not say so7. This is uncertain, and all the evidence
suggests that there was a gulf between tribunes and primi ordines, even
though they often act together8. The first certain example known of pro-
motion from primuspilus to tribunus militum comes from the time of the
Triumvirate9. The ex-primipili under Caesar seem rather to anticipate the
primipilares of the Empire attached to a general's staff.
What is important about the Republic, in fact, is what it did not
possess. There was no permanent framework in army or administration into
which a true career for a centurion might be fitted. The well-known 'career'
of Spurnius Ligustinus in 171 B.C. consisted of a series of enlistments under
and appointments by different imperatores10. In fact a centurion's links
4
For inferiores ordines cf. bell. civ. 1, 46 Q. Fulginius ex primo hastato legionis XIIII,
qui propter eximiam virtutem ex inferioribus ordinibus in eum locum pervenerat.
6
Centurio primi pili is t h e cpmmon form in Caesar; primipilus appears in bell. gall. 1, 25
and bell. civ. 3, 53.
β
bell. gall. 5, 35 Tito Balventio, qui superiore anno primum pilum duxerat; bell. gall. 6, 38
Publius Sextius Baculus, qui primum pilum apud Caesarem duxerat, cuius mentionem supe-
rioribus proeliis fecimus (53 B.C.; t h e previous references are b o t h in 57 B.C., bell. gall. 2,
25 and 3, 5); bell. civ. 3, 91 erat C. Crastinus evocatus in exercitu Caesaris, qui superiore
anno apud eum primum pilum in legione X duxerat.
7
HARMAND 1967, 358.
8
bell. gall. 1, 41 (quoted in note 3); 3, 5 primi pili centurio et item tribunus militum
ad Galbam adcurrunt atque unam esse spem salutis docent\ 5, 28 Lucius Aurunculeius
compluresque tribuni militum et primorum ordinum centuriones nihil temere agendum
neque ex hibernis iniussu Caesaris discedendum existimabant; 5, 37 Sabinus, quos in praesentia
tribunos militum circa se habebat, et primorum ordinum centuriones se sequi iubet; 6, 7
Labienus node tribunis militum primisque ordinibus convocatis quid sui sit consilii proponit.
9
X 5715 = DESSAU 2226 L. Firmio L. f., prim, pil., tr. mil., Illlvir i. d., colonia deducta
prim, pontifici, legio 11II Sorana honoris et virtutis caussa (Sora).
10
Livy 42, 32—35 miles sum factus P. Sulpicio C. Aurelio consulibus. in eo exercitu, qui in
Macedoniam est transportatus, biennium miles gregarius fui adversus Philippum regem;
tertio anno virtutis causa mihi Τ. Quinctius Flamininus decumum ordinem hastatum ad-
signavit. devicto Philippo Macedonibusque cum in Italiam reportati ac dimissi essemus,
continue miles voluntarius cum M. Porcio consule in Hispaniam sum profectus hie me
imperator dignum iudicavit, cui primum hastatum prioris centuriae adsignaret. tertio iterum
voluntarius miles factus sum in eum exercitum qui adver sus Aetolos et Antiochum regem est
missus, a M' Acilio mihi primus princeps prioris centuriae est adsignatus. expulso rege

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE O F T H E CENTURION AND ' P R I M I P I L A R I S ' 395
tended to be with a particular general, on whom his hopes for discharge

with fitting rewards would have to be placed. No doubt a centurion, par-
ticularly a former primuspilus, could hope for much, but he was assured
of nothing as far as the res publica was concerned. Significantly the rank of
primipilaris is not attested for the Republic11, nor is the post of praefectus
castrorum12. Those and much more, tribunates at Rome, legionary com-
mands, procuratorships and the great prefectures, were to come with the
Principate.
It is no part of my design to examine the part played by the cen-
turions during the troubled years from the crossing of the Rubicon to the
establishment of the power of Augustus. It is self-evident that Octavian
emerged from that period well aware how much his power depended on the
loyalty of his army, and how great a part in maintaining control over that
army the centurions played. He also needed in placing his army on a per-
manent footing to provide for it an effective officer corps, loyal and
efficient.
2. The Augustan experiments
The measures adopted cannot be described in the order of their

implementation, and indeed such a description would be misleading, imply-
ing rigid planning. The strength of the Augustan system lay in its flexi-
bility. Expedients evolved under the Republic or in the stresses of civil
war were used on a wider basis, but in an atmosphere of experiment.
Tiberius himself grimly followed Augustan precedent, and the sheer long-
evity of these two emperors gave the new experiments an extended trial.
It is unlikely that Gaius had the time or the temperament to make changes.
It seems clear that it was Claudius who made the next major changes after
Augustus, and the system till his reign can now briefly be surveyed.
The establishment of a large number of legions with continuing exis-
tence and identities meant that a centurion's career did not begin with
a legion's creation or end with its discharge. The establishment of a fixed
Antiocho, subactis Aetolis, reportati sumus in Italiam, et deinceps bis, quae annua merebant
legiones, stipendia feci, bis deinde in Hispania militavi, semel Q. Fulvio Flacco, iterum Ti.
Sempronio Graccho praetore. a Flacco inter ceteros, quos virtutis causa secum ex provincia
ad triumphum deducebat, deductus sum; a Ti. Graccho rogatus in provinciam ii. quater
intra paucos annos primum pilum duxi viginti duo stipendia annua in exercitu sti-
pendia emerita habeo, et maior annis sum quinquaginta tribunique militares in legione
prima primum pilum virtutis causa ei adsignarent.
11
Primipilaris is used by Orosius alone in reference to the Republican period; 5, 21 tunc
Sylla auctore L. Fursidio primipilari infamen illam tabulam proscriptionis induxit', 6, 8
Pacuvii primipilaris et Voluseni tribuni consilio; cf. bell. gall. 3, 5 quoted in note 8 above.
Both usages are presumably anachronistic.
12
bell. hisp. 32 P. Caucilius, qui castris antea Pompei praepositus esset is clearly not a man
holding the post of praefectus castrorum, b u t is temporarily in charge of the camp, and this
instance cannot outweigh the silence of Caesar.

Authenticated
term of service and a gratuity in land or money made long service the
norm and made the emperor the guarantor of a secure retirement. As these
gratuities were linked to pay this meant that the centurions and particu-
larly the primuspilus received very large sums13, in the case of the latter
qualifying him for a rise in social status to equestrian rank.
With this very large grant to the primuspilus at the end of his year
of office went the new honorary title of primipilarisli. The men who
received this constituted a continuing body as notable at their level of
society as the consulares were at theirs. A primipilaris preferred that title,
won after perhaps forty years' service, and shared with no more than 600
living persons to the title eques Romanus, to which he was also entitled
but which conveyed less16. The prospect of gaining this title with the solid
rewards and prestige that went with it kept men serving as centurions long
beyond the fixed term for ordinary soldiers, and the great age to which
a man might have to serve to become primuspilus was a literary theme
from early in the Principate16.
The primipilate and then retirement with a guaranteed financial
reward of considerable dimensions and a continuing title would be a suf-
ficient goal in itself, a natural and fitting end to the career. But the
possibility of continuing service was also now open for those men who
reached the primipilate still in their prime. In this the primipilate resembled
the consulate; it could be a long delayed reward for service or a stepping
stone to higher things for the gifted. One new post available to the primi-
pilaris, and from an early period reserved exclusively for him, was that of
praefectus castrorum,11. This prefect first attested under Augustus and with
no convincing Republican precedents18, was to be the most senior officer
19 Suetonius, Caligula 44 plerisque centurionum maturis iam, et nonnullis antea paucissimos

quam consummaturi essent dies, primos pilos ademit, causatus senium cuiusque et imbecil-
litatem; ceterorum increpita cupiditate, commoda emeritae militiae ad sescentorum milium
summam recidit.
14 The term first appears epigraphically on X 3757 = DESSAU 137 L. Aurelius L. f. Pal.
Rufu[s] primopilaris l[ ] XVI militans st[ ] imp. Caesaris. The dedication to
Caius and Lucius Caesar in their lifetime cannot be later than A.D. 2.
15 For the equation of primipilaris with eques Romanus cf. Tacitus, annals 12, 7 nec tamen
repertus est nisi unus talis matrimonii cupitor, Alledius Severus, eques Romanus·, Suetonius,
Divus Claudius 26 non repertis qui sequerentur exemplum, excepto libertino quodam, et altero
primipilari.
16 Pliny, nat. hist. 14, 9 quid quod inserta castris summa rerum imperiumque continet centurio-
num in manu vitis et opimo praemio tardos ordines ad lentas perducit aquilas; Juvenal 14,
193 aut vitem posce libello dime Maurorum attegias, castella Brigantum, ut locupletam
aquilam tibi sexagesimus annus adferat\ Suetonius, Caligula 44 (note 13).
17 Non -primipilaris prefects of the camp may be Vespasius Pollio (Suetonius, Divus Vespa-
sianus 1 Polla, Nursiae honesto genere orta patrem habuit Vespasium Pollionem ter tribu-
num praefectumque castrorum) and X 6101 = DESSAU 6285 L. Arrio Salano, praef. quinq.
Ti. Caesaris, praef. quinq. Neronis et Drus[i] Caesarum designato, tub. sac. p. R., aed. Ill,
auguri, interreg[i], trib. milit. legion. Ill August., leg. X Geminae, praef. equit., praef.
castror., praef. fahr.
18 The earliest prefects of the camp attested are Vespasius Pollio, Vespasian's maternal
grandfather (note 17), and Hostilius Rufus in 11 Β C., Obsequens c. 72, Paulo Fabio Q.

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CENTURION AND "PRIMIPILARIS' 397
in the legion after the senatorial commander and the tribunus laticlavius,
mainly concerned with the day-to-day running of the legion, and the only
senior officer with more than a few years' experience of the military life.
It was natural that such an officer should be a primipilaris rather than an
equestrian. From the first there was probably a praefectus castrorum in each
legion, even when legions camped together, though the legion is omitted in
the early careers, as was often the case with other posts19.
The other newly-created post which was to be reserved for primipilares
was that of tribune of the praetorian guard20. It is probable that the other
tribunes of military or para-military units in Rome, the urban cohorts and
the vigiles, were also recruited from the primipilares, though there are few
or none of their careers from the pre-Claudian period21. The logic is
unquestionable: not only were the primipilares the most experienced sol-
diers; they owed everything to the emperor.
These two posts then were reserved for primipilares. But there were
other posts which primipilares could help to fill. These experienced and
trustworthy officers were now allowed to serve regularly in the post of
tribunus militum. This broke down an old barrier and the fact that the prefect
of the camp had normally served previously as a tribunus militum may have
helped equestrian legionary tribunes reconcile themselves to obeying him.
Aelio coss., in Germania, in castris Drusi examen apium in tabernaculo Hostilii Ruft, prae-
fecti castrorum consedit.
19 See SYME 1932 for the case for each of Varus's legions having a praefectus castrorum.
ESPERANDIEU 558 L. Aponio [ ] praefect. equit., tribuno militum leg. VII et leg. XXII,
praefect. castrorum, flamini Aug. primo urbi Iuliae Baeter., praefecto pro Ilviro C. Caesaris
Aug. f. and I X 798 M. Oppius [ ] centur. leg. VI, p. [p.], trib. leg. II praef. castror.
mention the legions in which other posts were held but not that to which the prefecture
of the camp refers, but I I I 381 prim, pil., [trijb. milit., praef. castr. under Gaius omits
the legion for all three posts held. In literature no legion is given for the prefecture of the
camp at even later dates, so it would appear that such omission is not an indication that
prefects of the camp were originally appointed to a camp, not a legion, contra DOMA-
SZEWSKI-DOBSON 1967, 119 f., but simply reflects an epigraphic practice of not giving the
names of units, attested for other types of post also, cf. X I 5213 = DESSAU 1338 [pJrae-
[ f. coh Jortis, trib. milit [um, p ]raef. equit. on an inscription set up under Hadrian
20 The earliest career is X 4862 = DESSAU 2690 prim. pil. leg. XI, praef. cohort. Ubiorum
peditum et equitum, donato hastis puris duabus et coronis aureis ab divo A ug. et Ti. Caesare-
Aug., praef. fabr. Ill, trib. mil. cohort, primae, idio [lo]go ad Aegyptum.
21 X 4872 = DESSAU 2021 prim, ordo cohortium praet. divi Augusti, prim. pil. leg. XI II I
Gem., trib. mil. cohort. XI urb., trib. mil. coh. [.] Ill praet., praef. fabr. is the only example
of the urban tribunate in a primipilaris career till X 7863 [P]ol. Pollio [ trib. c]oh.
XV urb., trib. coh. IIII pr. cf. X 7952 and Tacitus, annals 13, 15 Pollione Iulio praetoriae
cohortis tribuno (A.D. 55). The vigiles tribunate first appears in X I 395 = DESSAU 2648
add. mil. coh. VIII pr., benef. praef. pr., donis donato bello Britan. torquibus armillis pha-
leris, evoc. Aug., corona aurea donat., 7 coh. VI vig., 7 stat., 7 coh. XVI urb., 7 cho. II pr.,
exercitatori equit. speculatorum, princip. praetori leg. XIII Gem., ex tree. [p. p.] leg. VI
Victr., donis dmato ob res prosper, gest, contra Astures torq. phaler. arm., trib. coh. V vig.,
trib. coh. XII urb., trib. coh. Ill pr., [p. p. II] leg. XIIII Gem. Mart. Victr., proc. imp.
Caes. Aug. prov. Lusitan. (A.D. 66); V 7003 = DESSAU 2701 [pjrimipilari leg. VIII Aug.,
[tjribuno coh. II vigilum, [tjribuno coh. XIII urban., [trjibuno coh. XII praetor., who
committed suicide as praetorian tribune in A.D. 65 (ann. 15, 50.71).

Authenticated
398 BRIAN DOBSON
As the legion now had a continuing number and identity so the cavalry
regiment began to have the same. Commanders for these regiments were
found from various sources, as under the late Republic, and the primi-
pilares were called on to serve as praefecti equitum, as apparently centu-
rions had under Caesar22. It is part of the same flexible, ad hoc approach
which would appoint laticlave tribunes, singly or jointly, to the same type
of command23.
What emerges from all this is a pattern, or rather two patterns.
Primipilares who eventually became prefects of the camp normally had
been previously tribuni militum, and sometimes also had been praefecti
equihim24. The latter post also sometimes followed that of tribunus militum
when the prefecture of the camp was not held25. In other words, the
primipilaris is holding the same two basic posts in the same usual order
as an equestrian officer of the period26. The post of praefectus cohortis occasio-
nally appears, but as this post had not reached the same stage of development
as the prefecture of cavalry it does not have a regular place in careers27.
22 CHEESMAN 1 9 1 4 , 2 4 .
23 Suetonius, Divus Aug. 38 Liberis senatorum, quo celerius rei p. assuescerent, protinus a
virili toga latum clavum induere et curiae interesse permisit, militiamque auspicantibus non
tribunatum modo legionum sed et praefecturas alarum dedit; ac ne qui expers castrorum esset,
binos plerumque laticlavios praeposuit singulis alis.
24 primus pilus, tribunus militum, praefectus castrorum: Suetonius, Divus Vesp. 1 ter tribunum
militum praefectumque castrorum·, X 1262 prim, pil., trib. milit. II, praef. castr., praef.
fabr.·, AE 1954, 163 primopilo bis, tr. mil., praefecto stratopedarci; I X 798 centur. leg. VI,
p. [p.], trib. leg. II, pr[aef.] castror.; X I 1056 prim[ip]ilus, tribu[n. mil.], praefe[c]tus
castrorfum]; I X 3672 [primus p]ilu[s], tr. mil., praef. castr.
primus pilus, tribunus militum, praefectus equitum, praefectus castrorum: X I 711 [p.p.,
trib.] mil. IIII pr[aef. equit.] Ill, praef. cfastr. imp. Caesjaris Augufsti, praef. cjlassis;
AE 1954, 104 [prim]opilo bis, [tribu]no militum bis, [pr]aefacto [e]quitum bis, [pr]ae-
fecto castrorum, [pr]aefecto fabrum, praef ecto navium; X 6101 = DESSAU 6285 trib. milit.
legion. Ill August., leg. X Geminae, praef. equitum, praef. castror., praef. fabr. (cf. note
17); X 4868 = DESSAU 2688 primopil. II, tr. mil., praef. levis armat., praef. castr. imp.
Caesar. A ug. et Ti. Caesaris A ugusti, praef. classis, praef. fabr. (here praef. levis armaturae
appears in the position normally taken by praef. equitum).
25 primuspilus, tribunus militum, praefectus equitum: X 5583 [pr Jim. pil. leg. VI, praef. chortis.,
tr. mil., praef. equit., praef. [f Jabr.; I X 996 prim, pil., trib. mil., praef. eq. The second man on
X I 712 add. [prim.] pil., trib. mil., praef. [ pr]aef. fabrum may belong here if
equit. is to be restored, or if castr. is to be restored to the careers in note 24.
26 DEVIJVER 1970, 74. DOMASZEWSKI-DOBSON 1967, 123 ,,die 'praefectura equitum' ganz fehlt"
(in the equestrian career before Claudius) is quite mistaken e.g. X I 969 praef. fabr. IIII,
trib. milit. leg. X Gemin., praef. equitum, praef. Germanici Caesaris.
27 praefectus cohortis before primuspilus; X I 3801 = DESSAU 2692 praef. cohort, scutatae,
primo pilo leg. XXII, trib. milit. leg. III, leg. XXII·, X I I 4371 [tribunujs militum,
primipilus, pr[aef. coh.?]
praefectus cohortis after primuspilus·. X 5583 [pr]im. pil. leg. VI, praef. chortis. etc. (see
note 25)
praefectus cohortis equitatae as an alternative to praefectus equitum: X 4862 = DESSAU
2690 prim. pil. leg. XI, praef. cohort. Ubiorum peditum et equitum, donate hastis puris
duabus et coronis aureis ab divo Aug. et Ti. Caesare Aug., praef. fabr. Ill, trib. mil. cohort,
primae, idio[lo]go ad Aegyptum.

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE O F T H E C E N T U R I O N AND " P R I M I P I L A R I S " 399
Other posts, senior ones, those of praefectus fabrum28 and praefectus

classis29, tended to be held after praefectus equitum and/or praefectus
castrorum by equestrians and primipilares alike. Those who eventually
became tribunes in the guard normally had served as praefectus equitum
but not as tribunus militum?0, suggesting perhaps that the post of tribunus
militum was felt to be necessary only for a future praefectus castrorum.
These are patterns which evolved as a result of experience, not fixed careers,
and there are a number of exceptions, which demonstrate that there was
no fixed hierarchy of posts31.
Many of these 'careers' no doubt arose from the Augustan creation of a
numerus primipilarium32,, some of whom were stationed at Rome while
others were attached to army commanders, an idea which it is suggested
above existed in embryo in Caesar's use of men who had been centurio
primi pili. The men in the numerus could take command as required, and
so embark on a career, as may be the case with P. Aemilius33.
3. The establishment of a distinctive career
It was left to Claudius to take the next step, in this as in so many

other respects turning an Augustan expedient into a system. The eques-
praefectus cohortium as an alternative to praefectus equitum: I I 1477 trib. cohortis praet.,

praefect. cohortium.
praefectus cohortium after praefectus equitum and praefectus classis: X I 6344 = DESSAU
2693 prim. pil. bis, praefect. equitum, praef. clas., praef. cohortium civium Romanor. quattuor
in Hispan., trib. mil.
2' praefectus fabrum after praefectus castrorum: X 4868 = DESSAU 2688 (see note 24); A E
1954, 104 (see note 24).
praefectus fabrum after praefectus equitum: X 5583 (see note 25).
praefectus fabrum after praefectus cohortis equitatae; X 4862 = DESSAU 2690 (see note 27).
praefectus fabrum after tribunus cohortis praetoriae: X 4872 = DESSAU 2021 (see note 21).
For the tenure of the post of praefectus fabrum immediately after the primipilate and a
general discussion of its development see DOBSON 1966 contra SANDER 1962.
28 praefectus classis i) after praefectus castrorum X I 711 (see note 24); ii) after praefectus
castrorum and praefectus fabrum A E 1954, 104 (see note 24); iii) after praefectus equitum
X I 6344 = DESSAU 2693 (see note 27); iv) in comparable equestrian careers X I 6964 =
DESSAU 2674 tr. mil. Ill, praef. eq. et classis; X I V 2105 tr. mil., praef. eq. et classis.
3 0 X 3881 = DESSAU 2686 primo pilo bis, praefecto equit., tribuno chort. I III praetor.; XI
4368 primopil. leg. V Maced., [praef.] eq., trib. chor. V pfraet.]; X I 6344 = DESSAU 2693
(see note 27) if the final trib. mil. is of a praetorian cohort, cf. X 4862 = DESSAU 2690
(note 27). In the case of X 4862 = DESSAU 2690 (note 27) praefectus cohortis equitatae
appears instead of praefectus equitum; in the case of I I 4177 praefectus cohortium appears
as an alternative to praefectus equitum (note 27).
31 praefectus equitum before tribunus militum: ESPERANDIEU 558 [p. p.], praef. equit., tribuno
militum [leg.] VII et leg. XXII, praef. castrorum; praefectus cohortium and tribunus
militum (cohortis praetoriae?) after praefectus classis: X I 6344 = DESSAU 2693 (note 27)
and other exceptions or variations noted above.
3 2 First attested A.D. 16, Tac. annals 2, 11 equitum vado tramittit. praefuere Stertinius et
e numero primipilarium Aemilius, but almost certainly the creation of Augustus.
3 3 X 3881 = DESSAU 2686 (see note 30) and annals 2, 11 (note 32).

Authenticated
trian militiae had taken shape; they could now be precisely formulated,
though with antiquarian zeal the post of tribunus militum, the more ancient
and a command of Roman citizens, was to be made senior to that of
praefectus equitum3i. The attempt proved that the system was not as yet
rigid; its failure, that standard practice and military logic are difficult to
combat. But the failure must not obscure the achievement. The primi-
pilares were no longer to be given legionary tribunates and cavalry prefec-
tures as a matter of general practice, though there are still a few examples
under Nero of it happening from time to time36. These are presumably cases
of primipilares attached to the commander in the field being given such
commands as the best or only men available. The post of prefect of the
camp remained the monopoly of the primipilares, but they held it now
directly after the primipilate, without intervening posts. This does not
demonstrate a drop in rank, simply a realisation that the post as tribunus
militum was not necessary and could be left to the equestrians. By now
no doubt the new post had become established and needed no artificial
props36. The post of praefectus fabrum to a senior military commander
disappears after Claudius, and it is permissible to wonder if the new post
of praefectus castrorum had helped to make it redundant37. By a similar
34
Suetonius, Div. Claud. 25 Equestris militias ita ordinavit, ut post cohortem alam, post alam
tribunatum legionis daret. For detailed discussion and analysis see DEVIJVER 1970.
35
Tac. annals 13, 9 (Corbulo) ire praefectum cohortis Arrium Varum et reciperare obsides
iubet cf. histories 3, 6 comes (Antonio Primo) fuit Arrius Varus, strenuus hello, quam gloriam
et dux Corbulo et prosperae in A rmenia res addiderant. idem secretis apud Neronem sermoni-
bus ferebatur Corbulonis virtutes criminatus; unde infami gratia primum pilum adepto;
V 7007 = DESSAU 2544 primipilari decuriones alae Gaetulorum, quibus praefuit bello
Iudaico sub divo Vespasiano Aug. patre. For aprimipilaris in acting command of a combined
force of auxiliaries cf. ann. 13, 36 curam praesidiorum (Corbulo) Paccio Orfito primi pili
honore perfuncto mandat quod graviter Corbulo accepit iwcrepitumque Paccium et prae-
fectos militesque tendere extra vallum iussit cf. Frontinus, strat. 4, 1 Domitius Corbulo in
Armenia duas alas et tres cohortes, quae ad castellum Initia hostibus cesserant, extra vallum
iussit tendere. All three examples come from the East during a period of active warfare,
when the use of centurions (assuming Varus was a centurion and not an equestrian) and
primipilares as commanders of auxiliaries would be justified b y recent precedent and the
exigencies of war.
36
There are two late tribuni militum legionis who had been primipili, ILGS VI 2781 = DES-
SAU 9199 and AE 1923, 40. ILGS VI 2781 [7 lejg. Ill Cyrenaicae, [7 le]g. XIII Geminae,
[honoratjo albata decursione ab imp., [praefecto] civitatis Colaphianorum, [primo]pilo
leg. XIII Gem., trib. leg. I Italic., [trib. coh.] IUI vigilum, trib. coh. XV urbafn., trib. coh.]
XI urban., trib. coh. IX prae[t., donato] ab imperator[e Nerone co] ron. [valla]ri, corona
aufrea], vexillis [duobjus ha[stis puris] duobus, [praep. ad i]m[p. Othone lejg. XIV Gem.,
[trib. coh.] I praet. et pra[ep]osito supra [veterajnos Romae m[o]rantium [pluriujm
exercituum, proc. Aug. [Po]nto et Bfithyni]ae. This inscription could plausibly be regarded
as referring to a special training assignment with the nova legio I Italica. AE 1923, 40
prim. pil. leg. IX Hisp., praef. castror. leg. IV Scythic., trib. milit. leg. eiusdem, auguri,
flamini Neronis Claudii Caesaris Aug. Germanici. This inscription is an oddity, being a
unique example of praefectus castrorum preceding tribunus militum. I t must either reflect
some emergency appointment in the East, or just possibly some failed a t t e m p t b y
Claudius to subordinate the prefecture of t h e camp to the legionary tribunate.
37
See DOBSON 1966 for a description of the changes.

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE OF T H E CENTURION AND ' P R I M I P I L A R I S ' 401
development the post of praefectus equitum before the praetorian tribunate

was dropped, and the tribunates of the urban cohorts and the vigiles begin
to appear regularly as the approach to the praetorian tribunate38. It is
entirely appropriate that in the reign of the emperor who decisively recog-
nised procurators as state officials, Claudius39, regular promotion of primi-
pilares to procuratorships first appears40, before in fact the regular tenure
of more than the praetorian tribunate. Apparently in order to facilitate
the process of promotion to such posts and to those of commanders of legions
in Egypt, an extra responsibility confined to primipilares, a new post was
created, apparently by Claudius, that of primuspilus iterum*1, again earlier
than the regular tenure of more than the praetorian tribunate. The nature
of this is discussed below; in careers it seems to be a stepping-stone to the
procuratorships, a formal qualification almost rather than a post sought
after for its own sake. Iteration of the ordinary primipilate, i. e. holding
the post for more than one year, occasionally found in the early Principate
in imitation of Republican practice, had disappeared42. It meant a blocking
of promotion for others and belonged to a period when posts were envisaged
as a succession of appointments, not as a fixed order of progression with
no turning back.
38 X I 395 = D E S S A U 2648 add. and V 7003 = D E S S A U 2701, cf. annals 15, 50. 71, all quoted
in note 21, both have the service in the Rome tribunates under Nero, but it seems logical
to connect the change with Claudius, particularly as the sequence of centurionates in the
Rome units clearly exists under him, X I 395 = D E S S A U 2648 (note 21) and X I 6224
7 coh. —] et Stator, et co[h]. VI [praet.].
39 Tac., ann. 12, 60 eodem anno saepius audita vox principis, parent vim rerutn habendam a
procuratoribus suis iudicatarum ac si ipse statuisset, cf. Suetonius, Div. Claud. 12 utque rata
essent quae procuratores sui in iudicando statuerent. For discussion of the role of Claudius
see S H E R W I N - W H I T E 1 9 3 7 a n d PFLAUM 1 9 5 0 , 3 ff.
40 V 1 8 3 8 = D E S S A U 1 3 4 9 primopil. leg. V Macedonic., praef. civitatium Moesiae et Trebal-
lia[e, pra]ef. [cijvitat. in Alpib. maritumis, t[r.] mil. coh. VIII pr., primopil. iter., procu-
rator. Ti. Claudi Caesaris Aug. Germanici in Norico; X 1 7 1 1 = D E S S A U 2 6 9 5 [7] leg.
VII Macedonic., prfimopilo] leg. II 11 Scythic., trib. coh. [ praet.], primipilo iter.
leg. XVI Gafll.], proc. Ti. Claudi Caesaris Aufg.J ; AE 1914, 27 [t]ri[b. c]oh. II prae-
toriafe], pri[m]opilo bis, proc[u]r. T[i.] Claudi Caesaris Augustfi] Germanici, prae[f.
]s, bis iam [ ]; X 7 9 5 2 [trib. coh.] XV u[r]b„ [trib. co]h. Ill pr., [proc. p]ro-
vin[c. Sar]din[iae] (if correctly restored); X I 395 = D E S S A U 2648 (see note 21). Note
that the first two examples definitely show only the praetorian tribunate between
primuspilus and the new post of primuspilus iterum.
41 The earliest example is probably I X 5748 = D E S S A U 2687 pri. pil. iter., praef. leg. XXII
(Claudian at latest, see below, 415). V 1838 = D E S S A U 1349 (note 40), X 1711 = D E S S A U
2695 (note 40) and AE 1914, 27 (note 40) are all definitely Claudian at latest, and two
certainly and one possibly show only one Rome tribunate, the praetorian, held.
42 Iteration of the ordinary primipilate: X 4868 = D E S S A U 2688 (note 24); AE 1954, 163
(note 24); X 3881 = D E S S A U 2686 (note 30); X I 6344 = D E S S A U 2693 (note 27). pp ter:
X 5063 = D E S S A U 2640 primipilari III·, I X 1630 [pri]m. pil. ter. pp bis meaning pp
and pp iterum appears early under Claudius, X I 6244 primipili II leg. [ ], trib. coh.
VII pr. [ ] et Claudi Caesaris Augusti quinquenn. praefecto, cf. AE 1914, 27 (note 40)
where pp bis equals pp iterum for the first time on record, suggesting the disappearance
of the earlier use of pp bis to signify iteration of the ordinary primipilate.
26 Rom. Welt II, 1
Authenticated
402 BRIAN DOBSON
4. Later developments
Claudius thus had created two distinct careers. The principle of reserv-
ing the post of praefectus castrorum and the Rome tribunates for the primi-
pilares had already been established. Now the posts of praefectus cohortis,
tribunus militum and praefectus equitum were to be reserved for equestrians.
The primuspilus could proceed now direct to the prefecture of the camp,
or to the Rome tribunates followed by the new post of primus iterum,
while the equestrian made his way through the militiae. The career thus
established for the primuspilus, distinct from the equestrian till the duce-
narian procuratorships were reached, was to endure in its essentials till the
middle of the third century. Men who reached the primipilate retired there
and then, or went on to be prefects of the camp and then retired, or went
to the Rome tribunates, whence a favoured few might reach the procurator-
ships and one or two primipilares in each generation perhaps the great
prefectures. The story of the development of the primipilaris career there-
after, the changes in the late first and second centuries, mainly concern the
procuratorships i. e. the possibility of a career embracing more than one
procuratorship 43 , not infrequent promotions of primipilares to the procurator-
governorships44 and/or the fleet commands 46 some men reaching the great pre-
fectures by a regular path4®, and the possibility of promotion to a centenarian
procuratorship from the ordinary primipilate or the prefecture of the camp47.
These though fascinating in themselves do not alter the basic picture.
43
First example ILGS VI 2796 = DESSAU 9200 p. p. leg. XII Fulm., praef. vexillariorum
leg. Villi, I Adiut., II Adiut., II Aug., VIII Aug., Villi Hisp., XIIII Gem., XX
Vic., XXI Rapac., trib. coh. XIII urb. proc. imp. Caesaris Aug. Germanici provin-
ciae Pannottiae et Dalmatiae, item proc. provinciae Raetiae ius gla[d]i, a p a r t from the
mysterious unknown of X I 5744 [proc. p]rov. [Belgic. et duar. GJermafniar., proc pro
leg.] provin[c. Mauret. Caesar.] item Maur[etan. Tingitan.], proc. provfinc. Hispaniae]
ulteriofr. Baeticae] p. p. [bis] praef. ala[e ] item or[ae maritum.] in Mauret[an.
Caesariens. (see PFLAUM 1 9 6 0 , 5 4 — 5 8 , 9 6 0 ) .
44
Early examples are V 1838 = DESSAU 1349 (note 40), X 7952 (doubtful, see note 40),
I I I 14207.34 = DESSAU 231 add. T. [IJulium Ustum proc. provinciae Thrac. (A.D. 61),
cf. XV 7167 T. Iuli Usti, tr. coh. Villi pr.; ILGS VI 2796 = DESSAU 9200 (note 43).
45
V 533 = DESSAU 2702 P. Palpellius P. f . Maec. Clodius Quirinalis p. p. leg. XX, trib.
milit. leg. VII C. p. f., proc. Aug., praef. classis cf. Tacitus, annals 13, 30 Clodius Quiri-
nalis, quod praefectus remigum qui Ravennae haberentur, velut infimam nationum Itali am
luxuria saevitiaque adflictavisset, veneno damnationem anteiit (A.D. 56). The objection of
A. DEGRASSI to the identification, 'Epigraphica II', Atti della Accademia nazionale dei
Lincei, Memorie, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, Ser. 8, vol. XI, 1962—
1965 (Rome 1965), 233—258 is on insufficient evidence and ignores the early nature of
the career. The first primipilaris to be attested as prefect of the praetorian fleets after
their integration into the procuratorial career (PFLAUM 1950, 47) is Marcius Turbo,
XVI 60 [in] classe praetor[ia Misenensi ] sub Q. Marcio Tu[rbone] (A.D. 113), cf.
AE 1955, 225 [Q. Marcio] C. fil. Tro. Frontoni Publicio Severo, domo Epidauro, p. p. bis,
praef. vehic., trib. coh. VII vigil., trib. equ. sin[g.] Aug., trib. pr[ae]t., proc. ludi magni,
praef. class[is] pr. Misenensis.
48
Turbo is the first of whom the career is known, note 45 and PFLAUM 1960, 199 ff.
47
I I I 5328 p. p., praef. leg. X[ ], proc. Aug., dedicated to Gavius Maximus, praetorian
prefect of Pius (procuratorship late Hadrian or Pius) or AE 1960, 28 p. p. leg. XX V. V.,

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE OF T H E CENTURION AND 'PRIMIPILARIS' 403
From the beginning of the third century changes do appear, the out-
working of which cannot be followed in detail but which undoubtedly
presage the far-reaching changes evident by mid-century. These foreshad-
owings include the increase in transfer from one arm of the service to
another, as the old distinctions between citizen and non-citizen units lost
their validity, the new demands for recruits to the equestrian military
service from centurions and senior veterans below the centurionate, and
changes in the role of the primuspilus, as he became concerned with
administrative duties relating to the feeding of the troops48. The decisive
change was however delayed till the mid-third century, when the increas-
ing distaste of senators for military service led to the transfer of the
remaining legions to prefect-commanders, a practice employed in Egypt
from the first and adopted by Severus for his three new Parthian legions,
rather because of the inability of the senatorial order to produce three
extra legionary legates from its annual intake than distrust by Severus of
that body49. At this time, when the stage was apparently set for the primi-
pilaris to become the general of the future, the primipilaris career itself
disappears, as will be outlined later in the article.
II. The centurionate
The career then changes little from Claudius to Severus Alexander,

and indeed retains certain characteristics into the reign of Gallienus. It
therefore now may best be examined in terms of its constituent elements,
and at the end an attempt be made to summarise developments, estimate
their significance, and there also say something about the end of this career
and the fate of the primipilaris in particular.
1. Entry into the centurionate
How first of all were centurions recruited ? This clearly raises a major
question about the accessibility of the glittering prizes offered by the
primipilate, and the extent to which the emperors were drawing on all the
potential resources of the citizen units. Six normal channels of recruitment
have been distinguished:
1. from the ranks of the legions, to legionary centurionates alone, after

13 to 20 years service;
misso cum exer. in exp. Maur. ab imp. Antonino Aug., praef. classis Brit. (Pius) may be
the first.
48 On Severus's army reforms in general of. BIRLEY 1969.
49 For the difficulties in relying on the senatorial body alone cf. ALFÖLDY 1969.
26·
Authenticated
2. from the ranks of the guard, from the cornicularii of the great prefects,
particularly the cornicularius praefecti praetorio, before completing 16
years service, to legionary centurionates alone;
3. from the ranks of the guard, after evocatio i. e. 16 years service at least,
to legionary centurionates alone;
4. from the ranks of the guard, after evocatio as above, to centurionates
in Rome;
5. from directly-commissioned men, to legionary centurionates alone;
6. from directly-commissioned men, to legionary centurionates followed by
transfer to the urban and praetorian centurionates.
A number of points may be made about these groups60. The legionary

had the advantage that he was in the legions already, under consideration
for the centurionate, and so might in theory reach it much earlier than the
man from the guard who had to fulfil his 16 years or in the case of the
cornicularii mentioned almost 16 years, before he was eligible for such
promotion. On the other hand he was likely to be worse off in education
and patronage. The men from the guard, even those who received evocatio,
were not assured of centurionates, apart from the cornicularii, though the
latter would make a very small contribution in numbers, perhaps one
centurion a year51. Evocati were retained for various reasons, and an appre-
ciable number of men died with that rank52. The centurionates at Rome,
particularly those of the vigiles, to which directly commissioned men did
not go, had to be filled by evocati. These centurionates do not seem to give
those who were sent to them any automatic advantage over those who went
to legionary centurionates, or men who came to legionary centurionates
from other sources, not even apparently in pay, or in length of service63.
It is clear that given the number of men discharged from the guard who
did not receive evocatio it would be difficult to suppose that the legionary
centurionate could be supplied from the available evocati alone. The point
is further discussed below.
The number of directly-commissioned men entering the centurionate is
difficult to calculate. It was a feature at all periods, as far as can be
judged. Commissions as centurion were normally sought from provincial
50 See DOBSON—BREEZE 1969 for detailed comment.

51 On the career through the posts below the centurionate see the article in this volume b y
D. J . BREEZE below and the works quoted there. The statement in the t e x t does not
imply t h a t the legionary did not have to qualify for the centurionate by holding junior
posts over a period of years, only t h a t he did not have to fulfil a set number of years'
service and effect a transfer to a different unit to become a centurion, as the man from
the guard must do.
52 E . BIRLEY has a list of 86 evocati who died with t h a t rank, DOBSON—BREEZE 1969, note 17.
53 Note among the long-serving centurions cited in BIRLEY 1965, 33 the number from the
guard including two who had served as Rome centurions.

Authenticated
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF T H E CENTURION AND 'PRIMIPILARIS' 405
governors, and not always obtainable, as Pertinax discovered54. The reasons

for their being apparently preferred to appointments in the militiae have
been discussed elsewhere68. Suffice it to say that the centurion who was
not discharged dishonourably or cashiered was assured of lifelong employ-
ment, and the directly-commissioned man in particular considering his
superior education and backing had a very good chance of reaching the
primipilate, with its opportunity of making or mending the family fortunes.
As noted above there is nothing to show that the Rome centurionates
conferred advantage apart from those inseparable from serving in Rome,
comfort, lack of danger, and nearness to the emperor and those who sur-
rounded him. The exclusion of ex-legionaries from the Rome centurionates
is a natural piece of corps-snobbery; the fact that cornicularii did not
obtain Rome centurionates is probably related to the fact that they did
not complete 16 years service. What is clear is that service in the legionary
centurionate was an essential requisite of progress to the primipilate, apart
from a few exceptions under the later Antonines the significance of which
will be noted later 66 . There was no praetorian primipilate, though there
appear to have been praetorian primi ordines i. e. the trecenarius and the
princeps castrorum, to remedy an otherwise glaring deficiency of the Rome
centurionate67. In brief, there is no evidence for the systematic use of the
guard as a training-ground for future centurions or for spreading a unified
system of training through the legions. It was rather necessary through the
system adopted to ensure that the man from the guard had a route by
which he could reach the primipilate, a route which was always available
to the legionary provided that the system was operated fairly.
It is extraordinarily difficult to determine if the system did work
fairly i. e. if, bearing in mind that the guard ought to do better in propor-
tion to their numbers because of their superior education and patronage,
and the directly-commissioned men best of all, the legionaries still obtained
a reasonable proportion of the primipilates. The word 'fairly' is used delib-
erately; the whole concept of the citizen troops of the Empire straining
every nerve to reach the centurionate, and having reached it to remain as
centurions in the army far longer than the emperor would ever dare to
compel them to, in order to reach the primipilate, would be destroyed by
excessive favour of praetorians and/or directly commissioned men. If such
excessive favour made its appearance under the later Antonines it would
have produced a simmering discontent which might have been used by
Septimius Severus and account for the proper incorporation of the prae-
torian guard into the army which his system sought to bring about. A pro-
jection of what might be thought a 'fair' division of primipilates between
54 Scriptores Historiae Augustae Vit. Pertinac. 1 grammaticen professus est. sed cum in ea
minus quaestus proficeret, per Lollianum Avitum, consularem virum, patris patronum,
ducendi ordinis dignitatem petit, dein praefectus cohortis in Syriam profectus.
55 DOBSON 1 9 7 2 .
56 DOBSON—BREEZE 1 9 6 9 , 1 1 0 f.
57 DOBSON—BREEZE 1 9 6 9 , 1 1 8 — 1 2 2 .

Authenticated
406 BRIAN DOBSON
the three main sources of supply of centurions is given below, to show what
would have been a possibility rather than to demonstrate actuality — the
evidence is insufficient for that.
There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate what proportion of primi-
pilates went to each group because the majority of primipilares do not
give details of their career below the primipilate. The fact that of those
that do there are many more ex-praetorians and directly-commissioned
men can be stood on its head. The statement centurio legionis or primus-
pilus legionis clearly summarised all that a legionary need say; it was the
man from the guard or the directly commissioned man who had held home
magistracies or militiae who had more to say because of their different
background.
In the face of this lack of evidence some have sought to draw con-
clusions from the stated or inferred origines of centurions and primipilares.
But clearly this is effective only if done with closely-dated groups, not as
DOMASZEWSKI did, putting them all together in one list 68 . The reason for
this is that the legions were recruited from Italians in considerable num-
bers for a fair period of time, and that when one is dealing with cen-
turions, even more with primipilares, their origines will reflect the recruit-
ing conditions prevailing twenty, even forty years previously. This means
that a preponderance of Italian primipilares can only become significant
under Trajan and Hadrian, as they will be based on the recruiting pattern
after say 6959.
The only examination of closely-dated groups is that by E . B I R L E Y ,
who found that the origines of legionary centurions tended to follow those
of their legions' rank-and-file60. My own examination of those for primi-
pilares, while tending to show that such men came from Italy or colonies
in the provinces, i. e. that they had some military tradition and education
behind them, and from their nomina belonged to families that had been
citizens for some generations®1, suggests that there was no preference for
Italians till the last three Antonines. Trajan and Hadrian, both with con-
siderable military experience behind them, distributed their favours equally
between Italians and provincials.
There is clearly much more work to be done on origines. Nothing less
than a full survey will suffice. In the meantime be it remarked that Italian
origines in themselves will tell us nothing about whether men were from
the guard or directly-commissioned, even in periods when legionary origin
can safely be excluded. An origo in the provinces may point to a man
starting in the ranks of a legion, or to a directly commissioned man. It is
also clear that any survey will be inadequate which does not take into
account where in a province a man comes from, an old-established colonia
or municipium, or from the less civilised parts.
68 DOMASZEWSKI—DOBSON 1 9 6 7 , 8 3 — 9 0 .
« Based on FORNI 1953, 159—212.
BIRLEY 1953. 61 DOBSON 1 9 7 0 , 1 0 7 .

Authenticated
Entry into the centurionate was then from the ranks of the legions,
of the guard or by direct commission. There were a few additional routes,
from the decurions of the equites singulares imperatoris or from the decurions
and centurions of the auxilia in general, but even where it is clear that the
latter are not in fact ex-legionaries who have been temporarily seconded
as junior officers in the auxilia this route is not a major one. Entry into
the legionary centurionate was by appointment by the governor, into the
Rome centurionates presumably by appointment by the prefect responsible.
Most men would be in their thirties, the men from the guard of necessity,
the legionaries in practice in the majority of cases, the directly commis-
sioned if they had first fulfilled their basic responsibilities in the munici-
palities®2. They could look forward to an average of twenty years' further
service. Comparatively few men seem to have retired before they reached
the primipilate, unless driven to it by wounds, failing health, or despair
of ever reaching the coveted goal63. Some were discharged honesta mis-
sioned·, presumably once twenty-five years had elapsed from their original
enlistment legionaries could claim discharge. We do not know if evocati
volunteered or were compelled to stay on, probably the former. They could
presumably apply for discharge any time. The directly-commissioned may
have found it easy to withdraw, or not. The powerful incentive to stay on
was the primipilate, which as has been shown elsewhere a man had a one
in three chance of receiving if he lived long enough86.
2. Promotion and pay
Promotion within the legionary centurionate seems to have been pri-

marily a matter of getting into the primi ordines and then working up to
the primipilate through the two junior centurionates, and then hastatus,
princeps, primuspilus, though it does not seem that all had to be held.
Attempts to establish patterns of promotion within cohorts I I — X have
not been successful66. Although the terms successit, promotus, successione
promotus remain to be explained they cannot be related convincingly to the
titles of the centuries. The other sign of promotion for D O M A S Z E W S K I ,
transfer from legion to legion, as E. B I R L E Y has shown, is rather related
to the movement of vexillations in some cases, or simply of experienced
officers87. Many centurions, and no doubt a few primipili, served out their
lives in the same legion. In the Rome cohorts, of course, with a number of
units differing in esteem, movement was a promotion, but only a few special
62 DOBSON 1 9 7 2 , 1 9 4 .
63 DOBSON 1 9 7 0 , 1 0 1 ff.
64 DOMASZEWSKI—DOBSON 1 9 6 7 , 8 0 .
65 DOBSON 1 9 7 0 , 1 0 2 f . ; cf. also below.
66 WEGELEBEN 1 9 1 3 .
97 BIRLEY 1 9 6 5 .

Authenticated
centurionates ranked with the primi ordines. It should of course be noted

that the term centurio of such and such a legion or cohort in itself gives
no indication of the length of time spent in that post, nor even excludes
the possibility of more than one centurionate being held in that unit, so
the number of centurionates held gives no indication of the length of a
career nor can different centurionates be identified as princeps, hastatus
etc.
There is little direct evidence on the pay of centurions. There do how-
ever exist various relationships with other officers: 1) the praefectus alae
quingenariae was normally promoted to a sexagenarian procuratorship, a
primuspilus to a centenarian: 2) a tribunus legionis angusticlavius could be
and was transferred to the legionary centurionate: 3) the legionary cen-
turion must be paid higher than the highest paid soldier normally promoted
to that rank, the cornicularius praefecti praetorio, who received a minimum
of twice the pay of an ordinary praetorian. On the basis of this I have
concluded that the pay of a legionary centurion was the same as that for
a centurion in Rome, and five times that of the ordinary praetorian, that
the primi ordines received double that amount, and the primuspilus received
double the pay of the primi ordines. It seems reasonable to suppose that
the primuspilus and the other two grades of centurion received pay increases
when legionaries and praetorians did, under Domitian, Severus and Cara-
calla, and to make sense of the relationship to the salaries of procurators
it must be assumed with B R U N T that these scales rose with those of the
centurions and equestrian officers, and that the titles sexagenarius etc.
were therefore literally true for a limited period only. The table arrived
at is reprinted here, but the detailed discussion must be sought for in
DOBSON 1 9 7 2 .
Augustus Domitian Severus Caracalla

Scales in thousands of sesterces
to to to onwards
A 7 leg.
7 vig. praef. coh. 15 20 30 50
7 urb.
7 praet.
Β primus ordo trib. mil. 30 40 60 100

trecenarius trib. coh. Μ
princeps castr.
C praef. alae D 45 60 100 150

proc. LX
D pp praef. alae Μ
praef. castr. proc. C 60 100 150 225
As far as dona are concerned, the normal award was torques armillae
phalerae and a crown, and senior centurions received a crown and a hasta.
There are subtle distinctions, examined by Dr. M A X F I E L D in her thesis, the
publication of which in part or whole is most desirable.

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE O F T H E C E N T U R I O N AND ' P R I M I P I L A R I S ' 409
It is not my intention here to discuss in detail the other employment

of centurions, significant though these are in estimating the part played by
the centurion in the army and administration. The reason for this is that
a new survey is called for, which I hope to do at some future date 68 . In
the meantime it will be sufficient here to note that the princeps carried
heavy responsibilities in the legionary administration, that the princeps
praetorii headed the staff of a senatorial governor of an imperial province
containing legions, and that centurions had wide employment in charge of
vexillations and operating as agents of the emperor.
3. Centurions from the castra peregrina and the fleet
Two groups of centurions which stand apart from both the legions and
the Rome centurionates deserve particular attention.
The development of the castra peregrina is still obscure. As early as
the reign of Trajan or earlier a primuspilus held the post of princeps pere-
grinorum69. However after that isolated example primipilares with recorded
service in the castra peregrina only appear in the early third century, when
such service appears to have become a positive recommendation 70 . Such
men had sometimes been frumentarii and then been promoted to centurio
frumentarius, others had been centurio legionis and then centurio frumen-
68
D O M A S Z E W S K I — D O B S O N 1967, 106—109 is useful b u t inadequate.
69
Inscriptions de Tunisie 779 7 leg. VII Gem., 7 leg. VI Ferr., 7 leg. XIV Marc. Gem.
Victr., 7 leg. X Gem. p. f., 7 leg. Ill Aug., 7 leg. VII Gem., hast, priori leg. I Adiutr.,
p.p. et principi peregrinorum, d. d. ab imp. Caes. Traiano Aug. Germ, corona vallari tor-
quibus et armillis et phaleris hello Germ., praef. leg. X Fretensis.
70
X 6 6 5 7 = D E S S A U 1 3 8 7 a census equit. Roman., praef. cl. pr. Ravennat., proc. patrim. bis,
proc. hered. patrim. privat., proc. oper. pub., praep. vexillat., p. p. leg. XI Cl., 7 fr.;
VI 1 6 3 6 = D E S S A U 1 3 6 1 proc. et praesidi prov. Sardiniae, p. p. bis, trib. cohh. X pr.,
XI urb., IUI vig., praef. leg. II Ital., p. p. leg. Ill Gall., 7 frument.·, I I 4 8 4 = D E S S A U
1372 proc. prov. Lusitaniae et Vettoniae et curatori reipublicae Emerit., proc. prov. M[y]siae
inferioris, eiusdem provinciae ius gladii, praeposito vexill. efxpeditionis pe]r Asiam L[y]-
ciam Pamph[y]liam et Phrfyjgiam, primipilo leg. Ill Aug. piae vindicis, principi per-
egrin., centurioni frumentar., centurioni legion X[ ]; VI 3 6 8 5 3 Tib. Cl. Demetrius
quod mil. fr. leg. XV Apol. vovit, 7 fecit cf. V 7870 = D E S S A U 6762 add. Tib. Cl.
Demetrius dom. Nicomed. v. e., proc. Augg. nn. item CC episcepseos chorae inferioris·,
Cassius Dio 78, 14 τόυ "Αδουεντον Ιν τοις διότπαις τε καΐ έρευνηταϊζ μεμισθοφορη-
κότα, καΐ τήν Ιν αύτοϊ; τάξιν λελοπτότα ε; τε τους γραμματοφόρους τελέσαντα καΐ
ττρόκριτον άττοδειχθέντα Kai μετά τοΰτο Is έτπτρόπευσιν ττροαχθέντα; Cassius Dio 78, 15
καΐ δτι έπαρχους τόν τε 'Ιουλιανού τόν Οϋλπιον καΐ Ίουλιανόν Νέστορα άπέδειξε
Ιν τ η τ ο ϋ Καρακάλλου άρχη γενομένου? . . . . τ ω ν αγγελιαφόρων . . . . ηγουμένους;
VI 423 = D E S S A U 4287 L. Trebonius Fab. Sossianus — 7 frum. leg. IUI Fl. Gordianae,
p.p.", X I 5215 = D E S S A U 2650 cent, frum., subprincipi peregrinorum, adstato et principi
et primipilo leg. VII Gem. pie fei., adlecto ad munera praef f . legg. VII Clau. et primae
Adiutricis; E S P E R A N D I E U 107 = D E S S A U 9074 p.p., v. e., 7 frumentario, canaliculario,
ostiario praeff. praett. ee. mm. vv., primiscrinio castrorum praett.', V I I I 14854 = D E S S A U
2764 (below, note 75).

Authenticated
410 BRIAN DOBSON
tarius71, the possibility of course being open that the latter had served as
frumentarii in their legion. The post of princeps peregrinorum was often
held72. Their sudden prominence may be partly due to their services as
gatherers of intelligence, but is also due no doubt to a general breaking
down of the rigid separation of careers in the centurionate which is charac-
teristic it would seem of Severus. Similarly centuriones deputati make their
first appearance in primipilaris careers, and they also appear to be con-
nected with the castra peregrina13. This certainly applies to the centurions
from the fleet. Whatever the meaning of Χ 334074, it seems clear that none
of the fleet centurions were finding their way to the top regularly enough
in the second century76 to make an impression in our records. The two
third-century examples of men doing this suggest that Severus as well as
breaking down the old exclusiveness of the guard was determined that
there should be freer movement between the various branches of the army,
a determination reflected not only in the new types of centurions reaching
the primipilate, but in the way that careers show men being transferred
from one branch to another on the way to the primipilate76. This is not
a sign „daß das alte Römertum erloschen war"11, but that the new reality
was appreciated of an army in which the majority now were citizens, all
with claims to consideration for the highest prize of the citizen soldier, the
primipilate.
71 frumentarius, centurio: VI 36853 (note 70); centurio legionis, centurio frumentarius II 484
= DESSAU 1 3 7 2 (note 7 0 ) .
72 Cassius Dio 78, 14. 15 (note 70).
73 X I 1836 = DESSAU 1332 v. cos. ordinario, praef. praet., em. v., praef. vigul., p. v., trib·
coh. primae praet. protect. Augg. nn. item trib. coh. IIII praet., trib. coh. XI urb., trib.
coh. III vig., leg. X et XII11 Gem prov. Pannoniae superiori itim leg. Daciae, praeposito
equitum singulariorum Augg. nn., p. p. leg. XXX Ulpiae, centurioni deputato, eq. pub. ex
V dec.; I G R R I I I 28 = DESSAU 8871 έκατόνταρχον SE[TTOU]TCTTOV, πρειμ[ο]πειλάριον,
χειλίαρχον ούρβανικιανόν. For the link with the castra peregrina see VI 1110 (dedication
to Cornelia Salonina, wife of Gallienus) [centuriones] deputati et supernumefrarii et f]ru-
mentari cum [ ] et Iusto trib. et A urelio [ principe peJregrinorum et A urelio
[ subprincipe] peregrinorum.
74 X 3340 = DESSAU 2841 add. (to Marcus and Veras) [nauarchi et trier]archi classis praetor-
Misen. [quod ad duos (?) ceJnturionatus, quibus divus Pius [classem suam honoJraverat,
adiecto tertio ordine [optimum princijpem aequaverint. DOMASZEWSKI—DOBSON 1967, 105f.,
cf. X X V I I I and refs.
75 VIII 14854 = DESSAU 2764 praef. leg. III Cyrenaicae, p. p. leg. XX Valeriae Victricis,
praeposito reliquationi classis praetoriae Misenatium piae vindicis et thensauris domini[cis
e]t bastagis copiarum devehendar., 7 leg. Ill Aug. et septimae Geminae et primae Parthicae
et XVI Fl. f. et XIII G. in provincia Dada, navarch. classis praetoriae Mise[n]atium piae
vindicis, opt[i]oni peregrinorum et ex[erciJtatori mil[i]tum frumentarior.; X 3348 = DES-
SAU 2847 p. p. leg. I Adiutri. ex n. princ. cl. Cassius Dio 80, 3 shows a future praetorian
prefect transferred to the fleet as a punishment.
76 VIII 14854 = DESSAU 2 7 6 4 (note 75) a n d ESP£RANDIEU 1 0 7 = DESSAU 9 0 7 4 ( n o t e 70)
show this in particular, but other examples have been mentioned, and there is also the
effect of transfer of legionaries to the guard.
77 DOMASZEWSKI—DOBSON 1 9 6 7 , 105.

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE OF T H E CENTURION AND 'PRIMIPII.ARIS' 411
III. The primipilate and beyond
1. The post of primuspilus
This body of some 1800 legionary centurions and some 150 centurions
at Rome78 then represented the cream of the legions and the praetorian
guard (including some men transferred into the guard from the urban
cohorts) with the additional ingredient of some directly-commissioned cen-
turions. After some twenty years as centurion they might look forward to
promotion to the primipilate. It seems doubtful if there was any set age for
the primipilate; the satirical references to the sixty year old primuspilus
while borne out by fact for some79 do not need to be taken as the norm,
for some primipili successfully completed careers that took them fifteen
to twenty years beyond their primipilates80. The youngest primuspilus
known is Blossius Pudens, who died at 49 as primuspilus-designate81. It
seems that like the consulate the primipilate could be reached soon or late
according to ability and patronage. That it was a sufficient goal in itself
is however undoubted.
How long was the primipilate held ? The cumulation of evidence from
the Republic and Principate suggests that it was for one year, though it
cannot be formally demonstrated. The pp bis and pp terSi of the early
'8 DOBSON—BREEZE 1969, 1 1 6 note 42.

79 Juvenal 14, 197 Ut locupletam aquilam tibi sexagesimus annus adferat cf. I l l 11031 =
A E 1944, 116 q. p. p. leg. I Α., qui vix. ann. LXXVIII, stip. LVIII; X I I I 6728 [f]actus
mfiles in cohorte VJII pr., pfrobatus Imp. Antonjino II [I cos] (A.D. 140), dedicates as
primuspilus in A.D. 192; X 5064 = DESSAU 2667 evoc. Augg. divor. M. Antonini et
Commodi (176—180), 7 leg. XX Vol. Vict, ex CCC coh. IUI pr. p. v. (A.D. 208), may be
the same as X I I I 6762, p. p. in A.D. 213, but minimum of 44 years' service without
the primipilate being reached in any case; X I I I 8269 prej. leg. Ill Aug. militavit an.
XLV.
80 See below on procurators and cf. A E 1951, 184 sub Bafio] Pudente trib. (equitum singu-
larium Aug.) dated to A.D. 153 with VIII 20834 = DESSAU 6885 Baio [PJudente pro-
curatore Augustorum (Mauretaniae Caesariensis), dated between 167 and 169, for a
minimum of 14 years from the primipilate to procurator-governorship; VI 221 = DES-
SAU 2160 L. Numerio Albano tr. (cohortis quintae vigilum), dated to A.D. 113, with
X V I 72 in classe praetoria Ravennate quae est sub Numerio Albano (A.D. 127), a minimum
of 14 years from the primipilate to a praetorian fleet prefecture; VI 31150 Tattio Maximo
trib. (equitum singularium Augusti), dated to A.D. 142, with VI 222 = DESSAU 2161
C. Tattio Maximo pr. (vigilum) dated to A.D. 156 and Script. Hist. Aug. Vit. Pii 8, 7
nam Gavius Maximus, praefectus praetorii, usque ad vicesimum annum sub eo pervenit,
vir severissimus, cui Tattius Maximus successit, in cuius demortui locum, a minimum of
18 years' service to death in office in A.D. 160 (PFLAUM 1960, 326); X I V 4378 Rustio
Rfufi]no trib. coh. VI vie., dated to A.D. 190 with X I V 4381 = DESSAU 2155 M. Rustio
Rufino pr. vig., dated to A.D. 207, for a 17 year minimum period of service from the
primipilate, with further service, perhaps to 210 or 212 (PFLAUM 1960, 629).
81 VI 3580 = DESSAU 2641 7 leg. V Macedonic. vix. an. XLIX sanctissime et prope
diem consummations primi pili sui debitum naturae persolvit.
82 See note 42.

Authenticated
412 BRIAN DOBSON
Principate would certainly be difficult to explain otherwise, as being

primuspilus in two or three different legions under the Principate is
unknown. Was there only one primuspilus in each legion, leaving out of
account the primuspilus iterum? The short answer is that the evidence
available, two primipili on the inscription of A.D. 162 and two primipili
commanding centuries mentioned in a letter of A.D. 150, is indecisive83.
Such a move to increase the number of primipili would have been popular
and possibly useful, but there is no certain trace of it. The inscription AE
1969/70, 633 has no trace of a second primuspilus commanding a century
in A.D. 157, which must cast doubt on the interpretation of the two other
examples, close in date, to demonstrate this. At Inchtuthil in the 80s A.D.
there is only one primuspilus commanding a century84.
What did the primuspilus do ? His responsibilities were partly purely
honorific, partly the important one of acting as the voice of the legionary
centurionate to the commander. He seems to have had no responsibility
for paper work, in contrast to the princeps, which fits with the assumption
that he held office only for one year. What the nature of the duties were
that appear in the third century and presumably lead on to his divorce
from the fighting troops is an obscure subject that can only be referred to
in general terms. His most important official act appears to have been the
laying up of his vitis at the end of his term of office, and setting up a
commemorative altar, varying in its phraseology according to the practice
of the legion85.
After his one year of office the primuspilus more often than not
retired, to play an important and distinguished part in his municipality.
If he continued he had the choice of two careers, that through the prefec-
83 VIII 18065 = DESSAU 2452 Satrius Crescens p.p., Gigennaus Valens p.p. (A.D. 161);
XVI app. 13 7 Pontieni (?) Magni p. p., 7 . . hi. e . . . p. p. (A.D. 150). AE 1969/70, 633
coh. I, 7 Iuli Crescentis p. p. 7 Mart Quadrati 7 Vibi Veri 7 Flavi
Aviani 7 Arreni Apollinaris (A.D. 157). In the light of this I should have been more
cautious over the possibility of two ordinary primipili in a legion in DOMASZEWSKI—
DOBSON 1 9 6 7 , X X X I I , cf. X X I V .
84 'Roman Britain in 1957', Journ. Rom. Stud. 48 (1958), 132, cf. 'Roman Britain in I960',
ibid. 51 (1961), 158. 160.
85 VIII 2634 = DESSAU 2296 p. p. qui primus leg. renovata aput aquilam vitem posuit; for
the III Augusta type see VIII 2533 (Hadrian's titles for A.D. 129) dedicante leg.
Aug. pro pr. [ ]s C. f. Camil. Memo[r Al]ba Pompeia [p.p. leg. III Aug.]\ VIII
2535 (Pius's titles for A.D. 144) dedica[nte] leg. Aug. pro pr. p. p. leg. Ill
Aug.; AE 1898, 11 (Pius's titles for A.D. 145) dedi[c]ante leg. Aug. pr. pr. p. p.
[leg.] Ill Aug. VIII 2543 (Pius's titles for A.D. 152) dedicante leg. Aug. pr. pr. L.
Sempronius Ingenuus primipilaris. For the XXII Primigenia type see XIII 6762 [h]ono[ri
aquilae I]eg. XXII (A.D. 213); X I I I 6752 pietati leg. XXII Pr. p. f. et honori
aquilae L. ? Domitiu [ DJomiti Iuliani quondam p. p. fil. d. d. ob merita dedicante etc.
(A.D. 229); X I I I 6749 [ ]i et nu[minibus] Castro[rum honjoriq. leg. [XXII Alejxandr.
[ Js Du[ ] p.p. leg. s. [s. d. d.] dedican[te] etc. (A.D. 231—35); XIII 6679
Fortunam superam honori aquilae leg. XXII Pr. p. f. — p. p. leg. ei[usdem ];
XIII 6690 Genium legioni (sic) XXII Pr. p. f. honori aquilae leg. s. s. Aurelius; XIII
6708 I. Ο. M. Sabasio conservatori honori aquilae leg. XXII Pr. p. f. [ Jianae M. Aur.
Germanus d. Emon(a)e (222—35?).

Authenticated
ture of camp to retirement, or through the Rome tribunates. Men from all
sources of recruitment go to both careers, even brothers take different
routes, as is shown below. At any stage after being primuspilus between
posts he might simply be a primipilaris, attached to the numerus at Rome
or in the field with a commander, generally available for such duties as
leading vexillations.
2. The post of praefectus castrorum
a) The ordinary prefecture
The post of praefectus castrorum seems to have been an Augustan

creation, one in each legion, even though legions often camped together.
The special title praefectus castrorum imp. Caesar. Aug. presents difficulties
which cannot be discussed adequately here88. The qualifying experience for
this post, a preceding one of tribunus militum, was dropped after Claudius,
and promotion was direct from primuspilus. From Claudius onwards the
name of the legion is given on inscriptions, although in literature the old
unqualified title praefectus castrorum lingers on87.
By the beginning of the second century the habit of shortening the
title praefectus castrorum legionis to praefectus legionis had appeared88. They
are shown to be identical by the two inscriptions of M. Porcius Iustus89.
The two titles were used side by side till by the early third century the
new title finally ousted the old; there was no official ban by Severus, for
a M. Aurelius Alexander who died in Britain at the age of 72 used the
title on his tombstone, and his citizenship if given by an emperor cannot
predate Marcus Aurelius in 161, and if it was given to him in time for
him to enlist in a legion in his twenties we must place his death not earlier
than 211, and more likely later 90 .
One final variation in title may be mentioned. Where full career details
are given the phrase p.p., praef. castr. leg. seems to imply that the primus-
pilus went on to be praefectus castrorum in the same legion91.
86 X 4868 = DESSAU 2688 primo pilo II, tr. mil., praef. levis armat., praef. castr. imp.
Caesar. Aug. et Ti. Caesaris Augusti, praef. classis, praef. fabr.; X I 711 [p.p., trib.] mil.
IIII, pr[aef. equit.] Ill, praef. cfastr. imp. or Ti. Caesjaris Augufsti, praef. cjlassis;
AE 1964, 107 [praefe]ctus castrorum a[ ] Caesare Augusti [f. Cajesare Augusti
f. if Jllurico Armfenia ] Agrippa; cf. X 3757 = DESSAU 137 primopilaris
l[ ] XVI militans st[ ] imp. Caesaris.
87 See note 19.
88 Inscr. de Tunisie 779 p. p. et prirtcipi peregrinorum d.d. ab imp. Caes. Traiano Aug.
Germ, corona vallari torquibus et armillis et phaleris hello Germ., praef. leg. X Fretensis.
89 V I I I 2587 M. Porcius Iustus praef. cas. leg. Ill Aug. (Nov. 181), cf. AE 1942—3, 37
M. Porcius Iustus praef. leg. Ill Aug. (Jan. 180).
90 R I B 490 M. Aurelius Alexand., praef. cast. leg. XX [vi]x. an. LXXII.
91 X I 5696 benef. pr. pr„ evoc. Aug., 7 leg. II Aug., leg. IUI F. [f.], leg. III Gall., leg. VI
Ferr., leg. XXX U. v., p.p., praef. castror. leg. IUI F. [f.]·, I I I 5328 p.p., praef. leg.

Authenticated
The rank of the praefectus castrorum seems to be third in the legionary

hierarchy on the evidence of VIII 18078, where the first named appears
to be the tribunus laticlavius (cf. AE 1898, 12) and the second the prefect
of the legion (cf. VIII 2666).
To supply the prefects, assuming a three-year tenure of office on
average, perhaps ten of each year's supply of primipili might be required,
fewer if tenure was for longer than three years and some vacancies were
being filled by primipili iterum. All the three main sources of primipilares
supplied prefects of the camp, as has been noted, and the post was not the
mark of failure but an extra distinction for a man who had reached the
primipilate and in so doing had already done all that he had hoped and
striven for, cf. the proud boast of Gavius Fronto, first and only man from
his native city to become prefect of the camp92.
Promotion from the post of prefect of the camp was unusual at first.
Anicius Maximus held the post to give him experience for the more demand-
ing post of praefectus castrorum in Egypt, but a different career pattern for
that post was evolved either after Claudius93, or more probably later in his
reign. What did emerge in the second century was the possibility for men
who had held the prefecture of the camp to go to centenarian procurator-
ships. This may be regarded, along with cases of men going to such pro-
curatorships direct from the first primipilate, as a second sifting of the
primipilares for likely procurator material94. Not surprisingly such second
chance men rarely reached the ducenarian procuratorships; they helped to
fill the increasing numbers of centenarian posts.
Promotion of prefects of the camp to the Rome tribunates and beyond
appears in two cases, put down by DOMASZEWSKI to Severan distrust of
the senatorial commanders96. There seems no logical connection in thought,
and neither inscription is definitely dated to Severus. Again reassessment
comes into the picture, presumably of men who had reached their primi-
pilates relatively early, with a longer period than normal of useful service
before them.
X[ 7. Proc- AuS-'> Ι Χ 4678 p. p., praef. le[g. ] XIIII urb., trib. c[oh.; VIII 2624
ex 7 praet. p.p., praef. [leg. Ill] Aug. Severi.
92 Revue des Etudes Grecques 61 (1948) 201 πρειμοπειλάριον λεγ. γ ' Κυρηναική; καΐ
στρατοπεδάρχην λεγ. ιε' Άπολλιυαρίας, πρώτον καΐ μόνον έκ της πατρίδος.
93 I I I 6809 = DESSAU 2696 p. p. leg. XII Fulm., praef. castror. leg. II Aug. in Britannia,
praef. ex[er]citu qui est in Aegypto.
94 I I I 5328 (see note 91), dedicated to Gavius Maximus, prefect of Pius; V I 31871 proc.
XXXX] Galliar., praeposit. ν[exillationum per ] et Raet. et Noric. [hello Gertnanico,
praef.] kastr. leg. II Tr.; ILL 1919 = DESSAU 2770 add. 7 leg. Ill Gallicae item [7 le]g.
VI Ferratae item 7 leg. II Adifutricis i]tem 7 leg. V M. C. item p. p. eiusdem [legionis],
praeposito classis Misenatium, [item prjaeff. leg. VI Victricis, duci legg.[ ]m
Britanicimiarum adversus Arm[oricano]s, proc. centenario provinciae Lib [um. iure]
gladi.
95 DOMASZEWSKI—DOBSON 1 9 6 7 , 1 2 0 t o I X 4 6 7 8 ( n o t e 91) a n d t o V I 1 6 3 6 = DESSAU 1 3 6 1
proc. et praesidi prov. Sardiniae, p.p. bis, trib. cohh. X pr., XI urb., IIII vig., praef. leg.
II Ital., p. p. leg. Ill Gall., 7 frument.

Authenticated
T H E S I G N I F I C A N C E O F T H E C E N T U R I O N AND ' P R I M I P I L A R I S ' 415
The tenure of two legionary prefectures in succession is found in the

third century96. There is at present no evidence to explain this phenomenon,
but it may point to an increasing importance of the post.
The last clearly attested prefect of the camp is under Elagabalus or
Severus Alexander97. The transformation of the post later is discussed
below.
The activities of the praefectus castrorum are not for detailed discus-
sion here. The importance of his position and the significance of the fact
that it was held exclusively by primipilares needs no further emphasis.
b) praefectus castrorum Aegypti
The problem of the prefect of the camp in Egypt is no new one. The
earliest relevant career seems to be that of Musanus, stratopedarces after
an early type of career, the Greek title for a Roman military post according
with the habit of using composite forms such as archistator and archistrator
in Egypt, unattested elsewhere98. There is nothing clearly different about
this post save its title, but the next inscription that is relevant shows a
primuspilus iterum, praef. leg. XXII". On the parallels available this can-
not be dated earlier than Caligula and is most probably Claudian. This
man must clearly be the type of prefect-commander we encounter later
for II Traiana in Egypt, where the title in careers runs praefectus legionis
II Traianae. Anicius Maximus under the early years of Claudius after
being an ordinary prefect of the camp in Britain went on to be praef.
ex(er)citu in Aegypto, which is presumably the same post as that of
Musanus, though it cannot be demonstrated100.
The next man to use the title praefectus castrorum in Egypt whose
previous career is known is Suedius Clemens, a praetorian tribune under
Vespasian, praefectus castrorum in Egypt in 79—80101. Aeternius Fronto
earlier had led a vexillation as prefect of the camp in Egypt to the Jewish
M I I I 4393 = 1 1 0 8 6 praef. leg. IUI Scy. et leg. XIIII G. Ant.·. I l l 1201 praefecto legionum
IIII FlaviafeJ et XIII Gem.] X I 5215 = DESSAU 2650 cent, frum., subprincipi peregri-
norum, adstato et principi et primipilo leg. VII Gem. pie fel., adlecto ad munera praeff.
legg. VII Clau. et primae Adiutricis cf. I l l 1181 v. e. ex praef. legion. VII Claud, et
I Adiut.; and possibly X 3 3 4 2 a [pra]ef. leg. Ill Gallic., pra[ef. ].
9 7 V I I I 1 4 3 8 4 = DESSAU 2764 C. Sulgio L. f. Pap. Caeciliano, praef. leg. Ill Cyrenaicae,
p. p. leg. XX Valeriae Victricis, praeposito reliquationi classis praetoriae Misenatium piae
vindicis et thensauris dominifcis e]t bastagis copiarum devehendar.; cf. X 3342 [d]ivi
Magni Pit Afntonini f. Invicjtus Felix et supefr omnes principes] [cur]ante
Sulgio Cafeciliano] (Misenum).
9 8 A E 1954, 163 primopilo bis, tr. mil., praefecto stratopedarci·, A E 1958, 156 archistatofri
praef. Aeg.]; A E 1929, 125 άρχιστάτο[ρ]α ΙπΙ Οϋαλερίου Ε0δσ(μονο$ Ιπάρχου Αιγύπτου.
Β» I X 5478 = DESSAU 2687 pri. pil. iter., praef. leg. XXII.
1 0 0 I I I 6809 = DESSAU 2696 praef. castror. leg. II Aug. in Britannia, praef. ex[er]citu qui
est in Aegypto.
1 0 1 X 1018 = DESSAU 5942 ex auctoritate imp. Caesaris Vespasiani Aug. T. Suedius
Clemens tribunus, cf. I l l 33 [T.] Suedius Clemens praef. castror. audi Memnone. (dated
to A.D. 79).

Authenticated
war and at the council of war in 70 he outranked the centenarian pro-

curator of Judaea 102 . This post of praefectus castrorum Aegypti is clearly-
linked with the legion, II Traiana, in 157103, and though the authority of
this post apparently stretches over auxiliary units104 he is clearly an officer
of the legion or legions of Egypt. Inscriptions outside Egypt from the later
years of Hadrian mention a post as praefectus legionis II Traianae, clearly
held after the Rome tribunates and the post of primuspilus iterum, linking
in those details to what is known of the careers of Cirpinius and Suedius
Clemens105. An inscription of a praef. kastr. leg. II Tr. operating outside
Egypt has that post in the normal position for the ordinary prefecture of
the camp106.
The simplest way of reconciling the evidence is to suppose that from
early times there was an officer in Egypt who bore the title prefect of the
camp but whose post had features peculiar to that province. This would
be connected with the fact that senators were barred from Egypt, depriv-
ing the legion there of a legate and a tribunus laticlavius so that it lacked
not only a commander but a deputy commander. When there was only
one legion in Egypt it seems clear that this meant that the legion was
commanded by a man who had been tribune in Rome and primuspilus
iterum, was called praefectus castrorum in Egypt, but known on inscriptions
set up outside Egypt as praefectus legionis II Traianae. The inscription of
an ordinary praefectus castrorum refers to a period when the legion was
outside Egypt when it would have a normal establishment of officers107.
It seems unlikely that the legion in Egypt retained an ordinary prefect of
the camp in addition to its prefect-commander; the complications would
be too great.
There is one other objection, a major one, putting the whole inter-
pretation of this post and of that of primuspilus iterum in jeopardy. On
the inscription of A.D. 157 the praefectus castrorum appears as L. Iulius
Crescens; there is a centuria Iul. Crescentis pp. There have been attempts
to show this meant that an ordinary primuspilus had been promoted to
praefectus castrorum Aegypti, in conflict with all known evidence; it has
also been suggested that the primuspilus was a primuspilus iterum in com-
mand of a century108. It seems more likely bearing in mind that Iulius
102 Josephus, bell. iud. 6, 3 ττρόζ οίς Φρόντων ήν Άτέριος στρατοπεδάρχης των άττό 'Αλεξ-
ανδρείας δύο ταγμάτων, καΐ Μάρκος 'Αντώνιος 'Ιουλιανός ό της 'Ιουδαίας έπίτροπος, cf.
Α Ε 1937, 236 (improved reading) ία' Αυτοκράτορος Καίσαρος Οϋεσπασιάνου Σεβαστού
έττΐ Γαίου Αίτερνίου Φ[ρό]ντωνος έπάρχου ΑίγΟπτου (AD 78—79) cf. Ο. W. R E I N M U T H ,
A Working List of the Prefects of Egypt, 30 B.C. to 299 A.D., Bull. Amer. Soc. Papyrol-
ogists I V no. 4 (Dec. 1967), 85 f.
103 A E 1955, 238 veterani leg. II Traian. fortis missi honesta missione sub M. Sempronio
Liberale praef. Aegypti et L. Iulio Crescente praef. castror.
1 0 1 D O M A S Z E W S K I — D O B S O N 1967, 121 with the wrong conclusions, cf. X X X I I I .
105 V 8 6 7 = D E S S A U 1 3 3 9 p. p. leg. IUI F. f., trib. coh. prim, vig., trib. coh. XI urban., trib.
coh. Villi pr., p.p. iterum, praef. leg. II Tra. [f.].
108 V I 31871 (see note 94). 1 0 7 P F L A U M 1960, 983.
108 G I L L I A M 1956, 374f., repeated A E 1969—70, 633.

Authenticated
Crescens cannot both be prefect and command a century, to take the

inscription as it stands to say that at the same time a L. Iulius Crescens
was prefect of the camp, and another man, Iulius Crescens, primuspilus.
If the century had been that vacated by Iulius Crescens, it should have
been called Crescentiana109 or simply centuria p.p. The names are in fact
very common110.
What happened in the earlier period, when there was more than one
legion stationed in Egypt, is difficult to decide. The titles praef. exercitu
and stratopedarces suggest that there was a post in Egypt distinct from the
post outside Egypt. The theory has been advanced that originally prefects
of the Cirpinius type commanded each legion, but that when they were
united in one camp they were overshadowed by a prefect of the combined
camp whose power grew till he supplanted them completely111. But the
Musanus inscription hints at a special prefect of the camp before Cirpinius,
and it is difficult to see how one prefect of the camp could effectively
replace two legates, two tribuni laticlavii, and two ordinary prefects of the
camp. The question must remain unsolved, unless a prefect-commander of
one of the legions from the two-legion camp period appears.
What does seem clear is that the idea of using primipilares, not
equestrians, as legion commanders where senators were not available,
worked, and this formed a valuable contribution by the primipilares, which
was to form a pattern for the commanders of the three Parthian legions,
and for the eventual replacement of all senatorial legionary commanders
by men drawn from the primipilares, in the first instance at least.
3. The Rome tribunates
The Rome tribunates next require study. The motive for appointing
primipilares rather than equestrians to these responsible posts is easy to
comprehend. The practice of appointing primipilares exclusively began
early, as with the prefects of the camp, and it is difficult to find exceptions
to this rule. Pompeius Longinus was an exception, but for that very reason
treated differently from his fellows, and he is the exception that proves
the rule, for he was appointed exceptionally because an emperor thrown up
by civil war had not the trust in primipilaris tribunes that an emperor
had who rested on loyalty to an established dynasty 112 .
10
» BIRLEY 1 9 5 3 , 1 2 8 f .
110
GILLIAM 1956, 373 cites four examples from L. R. DEAN, A Study of the Cognomina of
Soldiers in the Roman Legions (Princeton 1916), of Iulius Crescens for centurions. There
are 16 other Iulii on the inscription, seven of them centurions, and two other Crescens.
Cf. the well-known case of two men called C. Iulius Longus in the same century, R. O.
FINK, Roman Military Records on Papyrus, Philol. Monographs of the American Philol.
Association, 26 (Cleveland 1971), no. 9, p. 108.
111
LOPUSZANSKI 1 4 9 .
118
Tacitus, hist. 1, 31 non ordine militiae sed e Galbae amicis.
27 Röm. Welt II, 1 Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas
Authenticated
418 BRIAN DOBSON
There is little firm evidence for the length of tenure of the tribunates
of the units in Rome. Tribunates in all three, vigiles, urban and praetorian
cohorts, were normally held, but there are cases of omission of the vigiles
and/or urban tribunates113. As there were seven tribunates in the vigiles,
four Rome tribunates in the urban cohorts, and ten praetorian tribunates,
some adjustment must have been necessary to allow the men chosen as
suitable for an extended career in the procuratorships and/or the great
prefectures to pass through with a tenture of each tribunate for no more
than one year. My impression is that a year was the norm, but some of those
who were unlikely to be promoted beyond the Rome tribunates may have
held their tribunates for longer than a year, awaiting a vacancy, or more
probably rejoined the numerus primipilarium while waiting, much as the
senatorial career might involve waiting between posts. Again it must be
emphasised that the primary reason for men being promoted to the Rome
tribunates was to provide for the tenure of these posts by reliable men, not
to provide future procurators. Nevertheless there is a curious lack of
examples of men who died or retired as praetorian tribunes114. Some might
113 There are fifteen examples of all three Rome tribunates being held; X I 395 = DESSAU
2648 add. (note 21); V 7003 = DESSAU 2701 (note 21); I L G S V I 2781 = DESSAU 9199
(note 36); V I 1626 = DESSAU 1385 (note 143); V 534 = DESSAU 1379 (note 126); X 5829
= DESSAU 2 7 2 6 (note 1 2 4 ) ; V 8 6 7 = DESSAU 1 3 3 9 (note 1 0 5 ) ; V I 3 1 8 2 8 = DESSAU 1 3 2 6
(note 142); X I V 3626 = DESSAU 2742 (note 135); I X 1582 = DESSAU 1343 (note 142);
J . M. REYNOLDS, Q. Cerellius Apollinaris, Praefectus vigilum in A.D. 212, Pap. Brit.
School Rome 30 = n. s. 17 (1962), 31f. (note 141); V I 1636 = DESSAU 1361 (note 70);
X I 1836 = DESSAU 1332 (note 73); V 930 p. p., trib. cohor. I vig., trib. cohor. XII urb.,
trib. coh. VI praet.; X I 2698 p. p., trib. coh. V vi[g.], XII urb.. Ill pr., proc. provinciae
Dalmatiae et Histriae.
The tribunates of the vigiles and the urban cohorts are omitted in V 6513 p. p. bis, trib.
coh. Villi pr., proc. Aug. provinc. Britanniae·, V I 1645 = DESSAU 2773 (note 123, a very
late career); the tribunate in the vigiles is omitted in V I I I 20996 = DESSAU 1356 (note
123); I G R R I I I 28 = DESSAU 8871 (note 114); X I 6503 p. p., trib. coh. XII urb. et
X praet.\ the urban tribunate is omitted in E E V I I I 478 [ trib. c]oh. I vigil., tr.
cohortiuf m et pr.]·
114 Omitting deaths by violence of conspirators or in civil war there are only in the period
from Claudius X 1202 = DESSAU 2660 quaest., II vir., 7 leg. VII Gemin., 7 leg. XVI Fl.
firm,., donis donato a divo Traian. bello Parthic. corona murali torquib. armillis phaleris,
7 leg. II (sic) Gall., 7 leg. XIIII Gem. Mart. Victr., 7 leg. VII CI. p. f., 7 leg. I Adi. p. f.,
p.p. leg. eiusd., praeposit. numeror. tendentium in Ponte Absaro, trib. coh. Ill vig.; I I
2424 praef. coh. VI Britto., 7 leg. I M. p. f., don. don. ab imp. Traiano bel[l ]. Dac., p.p. leg.
XV Apolfl.], trib. coh. II vig, both directly-commissioned men who apparently retired
as tribunes of vigiles·, X I 6057 trib. coh. XIII urb., p.p. leg. I Adiutricis p. f., 7 leg.
VIII Aug. ex trecenario, 7 coh. VIII pr., 7 coh. Villi urb., 7 leg. II Adiutric. pia. fid. et
leg. VII Claud, p. f., donis donat. ab imp. Antonino Aug. hasta pura, who retired appar-
ently as tribune of an urban cohort outside Italy, who if given a further post would have
received a procuratorship; X I 6503 p. p., trib. coh. XII urb. et X praet., apparently retiring
as a praetorian tribune, and in the third century V I 2861 p. p. fratri piissimo, tribuno
coh. I urbanae Antoninianae (dead); I L A 271 p.p. ex tribuno praetor, (possibly retired);
V I I I 9045 = DESSAU 2 7 6 6 trib. coh. IIII Syngb., a mil., primop., trib. coh. IUI vig., ex
dec. al. Thrac., prp. vex. eqq. Mauror. (A.D. 255, possibly dead); I I I 3126 trib.] coh. XI
urb., trib. coh. VI praet. et protector Augg. nnn.\ I G R R I I I 28 = DESSAU 8871 έκατόν-
ταρχον δε[·π·ου]τδτον, πρειμ[ο]·ιτειλάριον, χειλίαρχον ούρβανΝαανόν.

Authenticated
expect to hold a first-echelon ducenarian procuratorship as a reward for

faithful service, without thought or expectation of going higher, but as
there were only fourteen ducenarian procuratorships in the first echelon
during the last three Antonines115, only four or five of which might fall
vacant each year, for the equestrian centenarian procurators to contest
with the primipili iterum, only a small proportion of ex-tribunes might
reach one. Some apparently got to primuspilus iterum only to find no
vacancies arose before retirement became necessary116, others perhaps in
the inscriptions that survive are content to describe themselves as primi-
pilares without referring to their tribunates, though this seems doubtful117.
There is an unsolved problem here.
There is no difference in the pattern of origines and corps of origin for
the Rome tribunes from the mass of the primipilares. There is thus no
evidence that this career was reserved for praetorians and directly com-
missioned centurions, that leading to the prefecture of the camp for men
from the ranks118.
There are some special tribunates. First of all the tribunate of the
equites singulares in Rome seems to have had an unique importance, in the
second century at least. It could be held for some time, as Tattius Maximus
shows119, but its holder seems to have benefited by exemption from holding
the other Rome tribunates apart from the vigiles120. Its holders in the
115 H.-G. PFLAUM, R E 23 (1957), 1275 s. v. procurator.

118 X I 6224 L. Ruffellio - - ] Pol. Se[vero (centurioni)7 et stator. et co[h.J VI [pr.J
primipili II leg. trib. coh. VII pr., bis ab [imperato]ribus donato coronis aureis
II et coron. vallaribus kasta pura cf. X I 6225 = DESSAU 5679 balineum a L. Rufellio Severo
p. p. tr. factum and V 698 = DESSAU 5889 restituit iussu Ti. Claudi Caesaris Aug. Germ.
Imperatoris L. Rufellius Severus primipilaris; I G R R I I I 472 έττάρχου σπειρών, χειλιάρχου,
λεγιώνων β ' ττρειμιπείλου; X I V 4002 = DESSAU 3815 p.p. bis (apparently retired).
117 For specific reference to the tenure of a Rome tribunate b y a primipilaris, cf. X I 6225 =
DESSAU 5679 (note 226) and I L A 271 (note 114).
118 X I V 2523 = DESSAU 2 6 6 2 7 leg. XV Apollinar., 7 coh. I l l pr., primop. leg. I l l Cyren.,
praef. castr. leg. XX Victr. (directly-commissioned, see DOBSON—BREEZE 1969, 110);
I I I 13648 = DESSAU 2663 trfejcenario, primipilari, praef. kastror. leg. XIII Gem., more
likely to be directly-commissioned than a man from the ranks of the guard as his origo
clearly was Amastris; A E 1913, 215 praef. fabrum, 7 leg. II Aug. et VII Gemin. bis et XXII
Deiotaran., p. p. legion, eiusdem, praef. castr. leg. Villi Hispa. (directly-commissioned);
X I 5696 benef. pr. pr., evoc. Aug., 7 leg. II Aug., leg. IIII F. [f.], leg. III Gall., leg. VI
Ferr., leg. XXX U.V., p. p., praef. castror. leg. IIII F. [ f ] . (from the ranks of the guard);
A E 1935, 12 = A E 1926, 88 praef. symmachiariorum Asturum belli Dacici, 7 leg. I Mi-
nerviae p. f., 7 coh. XII urbanae, 7 coh. IIII praetoriae, p. p. leg. XIIX (sic.), praef. leg.
I l l Aug. (directly-commissioned); V I I I 2624 ex 7praet.p.p.,praef. [leg. Ill] Aug. Severi.
(praetorian centurion i.e. directly-commissioned or from the ranks of the guard). The
converse, t h a t men from the legions received Rome tribunates, is difficult to demonstrate
as details of service below the centurionate are so rarely given b y men from the ranks of the
legions, but it seems reasonably clear for instance t h a t I L G S V I 2781 = DESSAU 9199
(note 36) and I L G S V I 2796 = DESSAU 9200, (note 43) both came from Heliopolis and
are likely to have started in the ranks of the Eastern legions.
"» VI 3 1 1 5 0 (A.D. 142), V I 31152 = DESSAU 2183 (A.D. 145).
i 2 0 A E 1955, 225 p. p. bis, praef. vehic., trib. coh. VII vigil., trib. equ. sin[g.] Aug., trib. pr[ae]t.y
proc. ludi magni, praef. class[is] pr. Misenensis.
27·
Authenticated
420 BRIAN DOBSON
second century certainly did not lose ground in their future careers through
holding the post, rather the reverse121.
The tribunates of the urban cohorts outside Italy, being virtually
independent commands under the governor, required exceptional men, who
held the post immediately after the primipilate and proceeded from it to
the procuratorships i. e. they held no tribunates in the vigiles or the guard
and did not become primuspilus iterum. They were thus able to hold the
post for three or four years without losing ground, a period corresponding
to the average tenure of a command in the auxilia122.
4. The primuspilus iterum
The post of primuspilus iterum seems to have been established by

Claudius. From the beginning it provided a bridge to the major procurator-
ships from the praetorian tribunate, even before the regular appearance of
the other Rome tribunates in the career. It does not seem to have had any
other purpose, although some men do retire with this rank, presumably
because in the event no vacancies were available. It is rarely omitted,
apart from the special case of the urban tribunates outside Italy, until
careers of the Philips or later, by which time the post may have dis-
appeared123. In some cases the post appears without a legion being men-
tioned, and in these cases it is probable that the post was held at Rome124.
121
Marcius Turbo, praetorian prefect; Tattius Maximus, praetorian prefect (note 80); Baius
Pudens, IX 4964 = DESSAU 1363 Sex. Ba[io Pudenti, p. p. bis], proc. Aug.
item [regni] Norici, Raetiae Vindelicfiae, MaurJetaniae Caesar, (cf. note 80), procurator-
governor of three successive provinces.
122
DOMASZEWSKI-DOBSON 1 9 6 7 , X X X cf. E . BIRLEY 1 9 5 3 , 137 f.
123 VIN 20996 = DESSAU 1356 viro egregio, proc. Augusti n., [prjaesidi provincial Maure-
taniae Caesariensis (A.D. 227 cf. VIII 9354/5 = DESSAU 486), praesidi provinciae Sardiniae,
praefecto legionis secundae Parthicae Severianae A lexandrianae vice legati, proc. hereditatium,
tribune cohortis octavae praetoriae piae vindiciis (sic) Severianae Alexandrianae, praeposito
equitum itemque peditum iuniorum Maurorum iure gladii, tribune cohortis undecimae urba-
nae Severianae Alexandrianae, primi pilum bis (primus pilus iterum included); VI 1645=
DESSAU 2773 [praef.] vehficul., proc.] ludi mafgni, proc.] Lusit., trib. pfraet.] Philipporum
Afugg.], p. p., duci legg. Dac., 7, corn, praeff. pr. (pp iterum omitted); XI 1836 = DESSAU
1332 (note 73, p. p. iterum omitted); III 8571 v. e. proc. due. prov. Dalmat., trib. protec[t.
Aug.] n. {p. p. iterum omitted).
124
IX 5478 = DESSAU 2687 (note 99); V 1838 = DESSAU 1349 (note 40); X 5829 = DESSAU
2726 praef. coh. I Pann. et Dalmat. eq. c. if., trib. mil. leg. VI Ferrat., donis donatus expe-
ditions Parthica a divo Traiano hasta pur a vexillo corona murali, 7 leg. XXII Primig.,
7 leg. XIII Gemin., primus pilus leg. Ill Aug., praepositus vexillationibus milliaris tribus
expeditione Britannica, leg. VII Gemin., VIII Aug., XXII Primig., trib. coh. Ill vig.,
coh. XIIII urb., coh. II praet., p. p. II, proc. provinc. Narbonens.) V 867 = DESSAU 1339
p. p. leg. IUI F. f., trib. coh. prim, vig., trib. coh. XI urban., trib. coh. Villi pr., p. p. iterum,
praef. leg. II Tra. [f.], proc. XX her., proc. provinfe.] Lugdunens. et Aquitanficae], a
rationib. Aug., praef. an[non.]·, VI 1636 = DESSAU 1361 e.m.v., proc. et praesidi prov.
Sardiniae, p. p. bis, trib. cohh. X pr., XI urb., IUI vig., praef. leg. II Ital., p. p. leg. Ill
Gall., 7 frument. AE 1914, 27 (note 40) may also be an example.

Authenticated
When the post is held in a legion it seems that the holder is fulfilling
the duties of prefect of the camp, but with superior rank and pay. The
parallel in the British army would be the adjutant, who could equally well
be a captain or a major, but fulfils in each case the same function. This
conclusion is arrived at by a consideration of the possibilities. An ex-prae-
torian tribune could hardly return to commanding a century as an ordinary
primuspilus, rank below an ordinary prefect of the camp and tribuni
angusticlavii, and then go to a ducenarian procuratorship. He should rank
directly below the tribunus laticlavius, which is precisely the position occu-
pied by the prefect of the camp. There is only one example of a primus-
pilus iterum legionis carrying out duties, and this was a boundary com-
missioner, when he might prefer to use his rank rather than the title of
his post126. In the legion when he acted he acted as prefect of the camp
and was not distinguished as primuspilus iterum — there was no need.
The only real problem is the fact that the phrases used to describe the
tenure of both primipilates do not distinguish clearly in which legion the
post of primuspilus iterum was held126, which might suggest that the two
posts were not widely different in status. On the other hand the difference
in status between primuspilus and praefectus castrorum is only apparently
that the latter outranks the angusticlave tribunes, and once a career begins
to be summarised such subtleties are inevitably lost.
The argument stated also implies that there was not a primuspilus
iterum in each legion — otherwise there would be no vacancies for primi-
pili proceeding to the prefecture of the camp after the first primipilate.
This is however what one would expect. Ten praetorian tribunes, even if
they all proceed to primuspilus iterum legionis, could hardly supply twenty-
eight legions without an intolerably long stay in the rank of primuspilus
iterum.
5. The procuratorial career for primipilares
The primipilaris as procurator, still more as praetorian prefect, has

caught the eye and imagination of scholars127. Caution is necessary. As has
already been emphasised, the first role of the primipilaris career was to
provide a route to primuspilus open to the deserving; the second, to
produce certain essential people, camp prefects, Rome tribunes. Beyond
126 X p. 676 ex auctoritate imp. T. Aeli Hadriani Antonini Aug. Pit p. p. sententia dicta per
Tuscenium Felicem p. p. II determinants Blesio Taurino mil. coh. VI pr. mesore agrario.
Μ» X I 6224 (note 116); VI 1626 = DESSAU 1385 (note 143); V 534 = DESSAU 1379 p. p. bis
leg. XII Fulm. et leg. I Adiu[t]ric., trib. mil. coh. V trig., tr. coh. XII urb., tr. coh. V pr.,
pr[oc ] divi Nervae et imp. Caes. Nervae Traiani Aug. Germ, provinfc. Hijspaniae citer.
Asturiae et Callaeciarum; X I 2704 [p. p. leg. —] et leg. VI Ferrat., trib. c[ ], trib.
coh. V pr., praef. leg. d[ucenarius? ]; I X 1582 = DESSAU 1343 (note 142).
187 DURRY 1938, 3, 141 f., but cf. M. DURRY, Sur l'armie imperiale. Revue des Etudes Latines
46 (1968), 63.

Authenticated
422 BRIAN DOBSON
these only the prefects who commanded legions must be produced from
primipilares. For the procuratorships in general they must compete with
the equestrians. That the primipilares occasionally produced men of great
quality is undoubted and not surprising, seeing that they drew on the great
reservoir of the citizen body in arms; that they swamped the equestrian
procurators in numbers is less likely128.
The early period can be ignored, when as S H E R W I N - W H I T E has pointed
out there were before Claudius largely unrelated groups of posts in the
imperial civil service129. Even later a hierarchy was slow to develop, and
not till Velius Rufus under Domitian do we find a primipilaris who had
held more than one procuratorship, apart from the mysterious XI 5744130.
Nevertheless primipilares had already been tried out as first-echelon
financial procurators of provinces, as procurator-governors, and even as
prefects131.
Under Trajan and Hadrian who in primipilaris terms are to be
bracketed together as soldier emperors, with experience of the worth of
the legionary centurionate from service before becoming emperor, there are
notable developments. The praetorian fleet prefectures emerge clearly
alongside the procurator-governorships as posts for which primipilares were
exceptionally suitable, and the great prefectures themselves132.
Pius continued to promote the men he was left with, and under him
or Hadrian fall the first attested examples of centenarian procuratorships
for ordinary primipilares, a second sifting of primipilaris material, although
the Rome tribunates remained the favoured way to the great procurator-
ships and prefectures 133 . The men given the primipilate by Pius and his two
12» BIRLEY 1 9 5 3 , 1 2 2 .
129
SHERWIN-WHITE 1 9 3 9 , 1 1 f f .
130
PFLAUM 1960, 960 regarding XI 5744 (for text see note 43); for Velius Rufus see ILGS
V I 2796 (note 43).
131
Pre-69 procurators X 4862 = DESSAU 2690 (idiologus, note 27); Tacitus, annals 1, 69 oranti-
bus rursum idem L. Blaesus et L. Aponius, eques Romanus e cohorte Drusi, Iustusque Cato-
nius, primi ordinis centurio, ad Tiberium mittuntur (A.D. 14) cf. Cassius Dio, 60,18 Κατώνιου
Ίοϋστον τοϋ τε δορυφορικού άρχοντα (A.D. 43); V1838 = DESSAU 1349 (Noricum, note 40);
Χ 1711 = DESSAU 2695 (unnamed procuratorship, note 40); AE 1914, 27 (unnamed
procuratorship, note 40), X 7952 (Sardinia?, see note 40); V 533, cf. Tacitus, annals 13,
30 (Ravenna fleet, see note 45); XV 7167, cf. I l l 14207. 34 = DESSAU 231 (Thrace,
note 44); XI 395 = DESSAU 2648 (Lusitania, note 21); Tac., hist. 3, 4 procurator Valerius
Paulinus patria Forum Iulii et honos apud praetorianos, quorum quondam tribunus
fuerat (Narbonensis).
132
Praetorian prefects: Sulpicius Similis (below, note 145) and Marcius Turbo (below, note
145); fleet prefects: Marcius Turbo (note 45); VI 221 = DESSAU 2160, cf. XVI 72 (note 80,
Numerius Albanus); II 1178 = DESSAU 2736 praef. classis Misenensis, praef. classis prae-
toriae Ravennatis, proc. provinciae Lusitaniae et Vettoniae, p. p. leg. I Adiutricis (praef.
classis Misen. A.D. 134, XVI 79).
133
III 5328 (note 47, one unnamed procuratorship); AE 1960, 28 (note 47) one procurator-
ship); V 8660 = DESSAU 1364 p. p. leg. X Gem., subpraef. vigil., proc. Aug, prov. Daciae
superior., proc. provinc. Cappadoc., item Ponti mediterran, et Ar[meni]ae minor, et Lycaon.
Anftiochjian., proc. prov. Raetiae (to a ducenarian procurator-governorship), cf. XVI 121,
proc. Raetiae in A.D. 166. AE 1955, 225 (note 141) is in a different category.

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE O F T H E C E N T U R I O N AND ' P R I M I P I L A R I S ' 423
successors show the swing to Italians already noted for these emperors, in
contrast with Trajan and Hadrian.
The third century shows in the recruitment to the procurators and
particularly to the prefects the influence of the castra peregrina13i, but
otherwise the career remains orthodox till the changes of the middle of the
century. The careers of VI 1645 = DESSAU 2773, of the period of the
Philips, and even of Taurus Volusianus, X I 1836 = DESSAU 1132, retain
much of the old patterns.
Four possibilities may be seen in the procuratorial career for primi-
pilares. First, a first-echelon financial procuratorship in a province might
be held as the end to a deserving career. Secondly, the post of prefect of
the legion in Egypt, and at a later date those of the Parthian legions,
had to be filled. Thirdly, a procurator-governorship or fleet command might
be reached, generally after a first-echelon post of type one. Fourthly, there
might be promotion to a great prefecture, in which case the career was
generally distinctive, ad hominem.
In the first echelon primipilares did not hold the posts of bihliothecae,
ab epistulis Graecis, archiereus Aegypti or tractus Karthaginiensis for obvious
reasons in each case. The second echelon, made up mainly of posts in
Rome, appears rarely, most often in the case of men who had commanded
a legion in their first procuratorial post, and needed to pick up adminis-
trative experience without losing seniority by holding a first-echelon finan-
cial procuratorship135. Some interesting inversions, i. e. a second-echelon
post held before a first-echelon one, suggest that the echelons are not
rigid136.
134 X 6657 = DESSAU 1387 cf. A E 1945, 80 M. Aquilio M. f. Fabia Felici a census equit.
Roman., praef. cl. pr. Ravennat., proc. patrim. bis, proc. hered. patrim. privat., proc. oper.
pub., praep. vexillat., p. p. leg. XI Cl., 7 fr. (probably a civil war career, generally identified
with Script. Hist. Aug., Vit. Did Iul. 5 ,8 missus praeterea Aquilins centurio notus caedibus
senatoriis, qui Severum occiderei; V I 1636 = DESSAU 1361 [note 124, cent. frum. to procur-
ator-governor of Sardinia]; Cassius Dio 78, 14 [note 70], from speculator through the castra
peregrinus to praetorian prefect); V I 36853 cf. 7870 = DESSAU 6762 add. (note 70, fru-
mentarius to centenarian procurator and a special ducenarian appointment); I I 484 =
DESSAU 1372 (note 70, centurio leg., centurio frum. to procurator of Lusitania et Vettonia);
Cassius Dio 78, 15 (note 70, two men from the castra peregrina to praetorian prefects,
but appointed by Macrinus); X I 1 8 3 6 = DESSAU 1332 (note 73, centurio deputatus to praet-
orian prefect).
185 V 867 = DESSAU 1339 (note 124), p. p. iterum, praef. leg. II Tra. [f.], proc. XX her.; X I V
3626 = DESSAU 2742 p. p. bis, procurators M. Antonin Aug. (patrimonii?), praef. leg.
II Troianae (sic) fortis CC, trib. chor. VII praetoriae, XIIII urbanae, III vigul., centurio
chortis I pr., X urbanae, V vig., evocato Augustorum, beneficiar. praef. praetori; V I I I 20996
= DESSAU 1356 (note 123), praefecto legionis secundae Parthicae Severianae Alexandrianae
vice legati, proc. hereditatium, tribuno cohortis octavae praetoriae piae vindiciis Severianae
Alexandrianae; X I V 191 praef. class, praet. Misen.] et Raven., [ proc. XX he]r.,
praef. [leg. II Traianae? p. p. bis, trib. coh.] Ill pr., trib. [ .
13,1 X I 6055 = DESSAU 2743 L. Petronio L. f. Pup. Sabino Foro Brent., corn. pr. pr., [7] leg.
X Fret, et IIII Fl., donis don. [a]b imp. Marco Antonino in bello German, bis, hasta pura
et coronis vallari et murali, p. p. legion. Ill Cyreneicae, curatori statorum, tribuno coh.
Γ / et provinciae Narbonensis, cf. I X 5898 = DESSAU 1386 L. Petroni Sabini p. p.

Authenticated
424 BRIAN DOBSON
The procurator-governors and the fleet commanders generally omit the

second echelon137, except when Mauretania Tingitana is governed, which is
classed as second-echelon and was normally held after or before a post at
Rome in the second echelon, hereditates or XX hereditatium13*. Sardinia is
also second-echelon. The two fleets normally appear in the same career139,
and Caesariensis often follows Tingitanali0.
The great prefects often have distinctive careers, not easily sum-
marised, except that they often show a tendency to include posts that
keep the man concerned near the emperor141. The careers of Bassaeus
Rufus and Rustius Rufinus on the other hand are reasonably similar to
those of procurator-governors142. The Rome secretariats rarely appear in
bis, procurator. Augg. rationis hereditatium, item provinciae Narbonensis; AE 1962, 312
proc. prov. Maur. Ting., proc. prov. Delmatiae, proc. XX heredit. Romae, trib. coh. IUI
pr., X urban., IV vigil., p. p. bis (Dalmatia is first-echelon). See also V I I I 20996 = DESSAU
1356 (note 135, proc. hereditatium before praef. leg. II Parth.). For the echelon division
see PFLAUM 1950, 219ff., with modifications in R E 23 (1957), 1240—79 s.v. procurator.
They are indicated henceforth thus (I).
137 ILGS VI 2796 = DESSAU 9200 proc. imp. Caesaris Aug. Germanici provinciae Pannoniae
et Dalmatiae (I), item proc. provinc. Raetiae ius gla[d]i (III) (for full text see note 43);
VI 31828 = DESSAU 1326 proc. regni [Norijci, proc. Asturiae et Calleciae (I) (for full
text see note 142); V 8660 = DESSAU 1364, cf. PAIS 1227 proc. provinc. Cappadoc. etc.
(I), proc. prov. Raetiae (III) (full text in note 133); prefects of the fleet I I 1178 = DESSAU
2736 praef. classis Misenensis (IV), praef. classis praetoriae Ravennatis (III), proc. pro-
vinciae Lusitaniae et Vettoniae (I) (full text note 132). I X 1582 = DESSAU 1343, cf. X
1127 praef. class. pr[aet. Misen.J (IV), praef. class. Rav[enn. (Ill), proc.] Aug. prov. Syriae
Coeles] (I) (full text note 142). X I V 191 is an exception because a ducenarian legionary-
prefecture was held in echelon I, making necessary a post in echelon II, note 135 above.
AE 1955, 225 is an ad hominem career for a future praetorian prefect (note 141).
138 AE 1942/3, 69 proc. Augustorum prov. Mauretaniae Caesariensis, (III), proc. hereditatium
(II), proc. XX her. (II), procurat. Mauretaniae Tingitanae (II), proc. Hispaniae Tarraco-
nensis (I), p. p. II; AE 1962, 312 proc. prov. Maur. Ting. (II), proc. prov. Delmatiae (I),
proc. XX heredit. Romae (II) (for full text see note 136).
139 I I 1178 = DESSAU 2736 (note 137); X I V 191 (note 135); I X 1582 = DESSAU 1343 (note
137); exceptions are AE 1955, 225 (note 45, 141), who only holds the Misene fleet, but he
is a future praetorian prefect (Marcius Turbo) with a distinctive career; in the case of
X 6657 = DESSAU 1386 cf. AE 1945, 80 (note 134) the Ravenna prefecture is probably
a device to keep a man in Italy whose career, unusually for a primipilaris, had centred on
Rome.
140 X I 5744 [proc. p]rov. [Belgic. et duar. GJermafniar. (IV), proc. pro leg.] provinfc. Mauret.
Caesar.] (Ill) item Maurfetan. Tingitan.] (II), proc. prov [inc. Hispaniae] ulterio[r.
Baeticae] (I) (full text note 43); AE 1942/3, 69 (note 138); an exception is AE 1962, 312
(note 136, 138).
141 AE 1955, 225 p. p. bis, praef. vehic. (C), trib. coh. VII vigil., trib. equ. sin[g.] Aug., trib.
pr[ae]t., proc. ludi magni (II), praef. class[is] pr. Misenensis (IV); Pap. Brit. School Rome
30 ( = n.s. 17) (1962) 31f. (cf. above n. 113) c. m. v., praef. [vi]g., proc. rat. privat., proc.
lud. m., tr. coh. V pr. (praef. vig. A.D. 212, VI 1063). Note the post of procurator ludi magni
in both, a convenient post to keep men in Rome., close to the emperor.
142 VI 31828 = DESSAU 1326 M. Bassaeo M. f. St[el.] Ruf ο pr. pr. [im]peratorum M. Aureli
Antonini et [L.] Aureli Veri et L. Aureli Commodi Augg., [c]onsularibus ornamentis
honorato [e]t ob victoriam Germanicam et Sarmatic. [AJntonini et Commodi Augg. corona
[ m ]urali vallari aurea hastis puris I III [to ]tidemque vexillis obsidionalibus [ab iisdem ]
donato, praef. Aegypti, praef. [vig(ilum)], proc. a rationibus, proc. Belg[icae et du]arum

Authenticated
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF T H E CENTURION AND 'PRIMIPILARIS' 425
primipilaris careers, the examples of a rationibus in two cases pointing to

unusual specialisation, in a third to that post having become a formal
requirement143.
How long did men take to reach the procuratorships and how long
did they spend in them ? The question is of particular importance for the
primipilaris, for if the minimum age for the primipilate tended to be fifty
with rare exceptions his active life after the primipilate could only be in
the order of 15—20 years. For future procurator-governors or prefects,
rapid movement after the primipilate was vital, and a primipilate at fifty
equally so. Twelve years seems to be the average gap between primipilate
and procurator-governorship144. For the future prefect promotion was even
more rapid. Sulpicius Similis spent over twelve years in the great prefec-
tures and his successor Turbo some fifteen, both having apparently moved
from the centurionate to the heights in about nine years or less. Each was
clearly spotted while still in the centurionate by Trajan and Hadrian
respectively145. Bassaeus Rufus had a more orthodox career but was a
prefect for at least ten years and a procurator or prefect for perhaps twenty.
Rustius Rufinus moved from tribune of vigiles to prefect in fifteen years
with a minimum of a further six years as prefect146.
What did this mean in proportions of men reaching the procurator-
ships ? A complete model for the primipilaris and centurion career appears
Germaniarum (IV), proc. regni [Norijci (III), proc. Asturiae et Catteciae (I), trib.'[coh. —]
pr., trib. coh. X urb., trib. coh. V vigul., p. p. bis; I X 1582 = DESSAU 1343 Cn. Marcio
Cn. fi[l]io Rustio [Rufino praef. cojhortium vigilum, pfrjaeposito anfnonae imp. L. Sep-
timi] Severi Pit Pertinac. e[t] M. Aurelii Antonfini Augg., praef.] classium praetoria[ru]m
Misenatium [et Ravennat., trib. cojhortium primae praeftojriae, XI urban., [VI vigil.,
p. p. legijonum III Cyrenaicae, III Gall[icae], cf. X 1127 Cn. Ma[rcio] Cn. f. Stel.
Rust[io Rufino] praef. class. pr[aet. Misen.], praef. class. Ra[venn., proc.] Aug. prov. Sy-
ria[e Coeles (I), trib.] coh. I praet., tri[b. coh. XI ur]ban., trib. coh. VI [vig., dilect. reg.]
Transpadan., p. [p. bis, ab imp. Aujgust. ordinibu[s adscripto ex] equite Roman[o, exer-
citato]ri equit[um ], 7 coh. I [praet. — 7 leg.] XV Ap[oll. ]. For his praetorian
prefecture see PFLAUM 1960, 629.
143 Unusual specialisation in V 867 = DESSAU 1339 p. p. leg. IUI F. f., trib. coh. prim, vig.,
trib. coh. XI urban., trib. coh. Villi pr., p. p. iterum, praef. leg. II Tra. [f.], proc. XX her.,
proc. provin[c.] Lugdunens, et Aquitan[icae], a rationib. Aug., praef. an[non.] and VI
1626 = DESSAU 1386 p. p. bis leg. II Aug. et leg. X Fretens., trib. coh. Ill vig., trib. coh. X
urb., trib. coh. V pr., donis donato ab imp, torq. phal. armill. cor. aur. hast, pur., proc. Aug.
provinciae B[ritt]aniae, proc. Aug. provinc. duarum Lugud. et Aquit., proc. Aug. a rationi-
bus. Both have no post in the third echelon, a procurator-governorship or a fleet prefect-
ure. In VI 31828 = DESSAU 1326 (note 142) the post appears to be a formal requirement,
note the move to the prefecture of the vigiles, not of the annona.
114 See note 80 and add V I I I 2543 L. Sempronius Ingenuus primipilaris (A.D. 144, see note
85), cf. AE 1937, 113 proc. Daciae Porolissensis (A.D. 164).
145 On Turbo as centurion and his probable meeting with Hadrian at that time see
PFLAUM 1960, 202; on Similis note Cassius Dio 69, 19 τφ τε γάρ Τραιανω έκατοντ-
αρχοΰυτα §τι αύτόν έσκαλέσαντ! ποτέ εΐσω πρό των έπάρχων Ιφη "αίσχρόν έστι, Καίσαρ,
έκατοντάρχω σΕ των έττάρχων Ιξω έστηκότων διαλέγεσθαι".
ΑΕ 1946, 189 Cn. Rustium Rufinum pr. vig. (A.D. 205) cf. X I V 4381 = DESSAU 2155 Cn.
M. Rustio Rufino pr. vig. (A.D. 207), X I V 4389 [Cn.] Marcio [Rustio Rufino ? praef.
praet.] c. v. (A.D. 210 ? 212 ?), X I V 4378 Rustio R[ufi]no trib. coh. VI vig. (A.D. 190).

Authenticated
below, but here the estimate may be made that of the five or so vacancies
in a year in the ducenarian ranks two might be obtained by primipili
iterum, one of whom might go on to be a procurator-governor or prefect
of a praetorian fleet. Once a decade a future prefect might appear. Produc-
tion on this scale would account for the known procurators and great
prefects, even the impressive list of prefects of the guard 147 , without assign-
ing to the primipilares a quasi-monopoly of the great posts.
IV. The centurion and 'primipilaris' in society
The social status of the centurion and primipilaris have been discussed
elsewhere148. Here only the main conclusions need to be referred to, for
their implications for the general significance of the centurion and primi-
pilaris in army and administration. The title of primipilaris was worth
seeking because it meant equestrian rank, the money to support it, and the
special kudos of belonging to a select body of perhaps 600 surviving
primipilares at any one time. It was this hope that ensured the voluntary
staying on of the centurion body in active service, giving an indispensable
nucleus of experienced officers. Social promotion in fact lay through the
primipilate, it being rare for centurions to become equestrians otherwise.
The primipilaris was a respected member of society, and in the
municipalities in particular he loomed large, as a magistrate in the first
century, but increasingly in the second century as a patron, without the
formality of a magistracy. The primipilaris was not normally adlected into
the senate; his age forbade him being useful. But the descendant of primi-
pilares could expect to reach the senate in the second or even the first
generation, taking into consideration only ordinary primipilares and pre-
fects of the camp. Their sons might enter the centurionate by direct com-
mission or become equestrian officers.
The centurions had rather less distinguished prospects, but they were
still considerable. Often like the primipilares they belonged to families with
military traditions, though equally if they were directly commissioned their
147
Ignoring the isolated example of Catonius Iustus under Claudius (note 131) and the
prefects thrown up b y the civil war, Sulpicius Similis was prefect of the guard 112—119
and then was succeeded b y Turbo till the latter years of Hadrian's reign. Whether
Gavius Maximus, Pius' great prefect for twenty years, was a primipilaris, is an open question
(PLAUM 1960, 247ff.), but his successor, Tattius Maximus, was a primipilaris, prefect
c. 158—160. Bassaeus Rufus became prefect in 169 and continued till some time between
177 and 180. Rustius Rufinus became a praetorian prefect early under Caracalla, and at the
end of that emperor's reign Oclatinius Adventus was one of the praetorian prefects.
The prefects of Macrinus may be discounted, as those of 69—70 and perhaps Valerius
Comazon should be too, under Elagabalus. The last primipilaris prefect known is
Petronius Taurus Volusianus (XI 1836 = DESSAU 1332, note 73), under Gallienus.
148
DOBSON 1 9 7 0 see also DOBSON 1972.

Authenticated
links might be with brothers who were equestrian officers. Indeed this
body of centurions and primipilares, not large in number, with cross-links
with each other through common service (there were only about thirty
places where a centurion might spend his life, excluding service on detached
duty) and with the equestrian officers, to whom some centurions were
related or social equals, and with whom the primipilares could claim parity
of esteem, formed a very valuable and healthy social group with strong
military traditions. The centurions played a smaller role in the municipal-
ities, not because they are not valued but because they are away on
military service, though remarkably sometimes given leave of absence to
act as magistrates149. They were away because unless old age, wounds or
illness forced retirement the primipilate was their goal, and it is the exis-
tence of the primipilate as a possible goal for the legionary, the praetorian
and the directly commissioned centurion that gave the centurionate, par-
ticularly the legionary centurionate, its attractiveness.
V. The working of the career — a possible reconstruction
If an attempt is to be made to describe how this career worked from

Claudius to Severus, leaving aside the third century because of Severus's
attempt to integrate the legions and the guard and his moving of men from
one branch of the centurionate to another, it may be made in the following
terms. There were about 1800 legionary centurions, 150 centurions in Rome.
On a twenty year estimate of the effective service of a centurion 90 new
posts as legionary centurion came up each year, 7 as Rome centurions, the
latter presumably normally in the vigiles, though the directly commissioned
man would look for a vacancy at urban level. The legionary centurionate
on the basis of B I R L E Y ' S findings on origines was mainly supplied from the
ranks of the legions. The guard certainly could not from its discharge rate
of some 300 men a year supply ninety centurions, which taking account of
the fact noted above that many evocati did not reach the centurionate
would mean one man in three at least retained as an evocatus. There were
seven vacancies at Rome to fill and there might be one cornicularius taking
up a legionary centurionate each year of the three cornicularii of the
149 I L G S V I 2787 primopilo leg. X Preten., praefecto castrorum leg. XII Ful., flamini August.,
pontif, praefect. Augusti, cf. I L G S V I 2786 primopilo leg. X Fret., praef. Neron. Claudi
Caesaris Aug. Germanici·, I I I 6809 = DESSAU 2696 praefecto Cn. Domiti Ahenobarbi,
p. p. leg. XII Fulm., praef. castror. leg. II Aug. in Britannia, praef. ex[er]citu qui est in
Aegypto, where the timing of the career virtually requires that the prefecture of Ahenob-
arbus be held in mid-career; I X 5839 = DESSAU 2084 p. c., pr. Auximo, 7 leg. III Fl.
fei., evoc. Aug., ab actis fori etc. cf. I X 5840 = DESSAU 2085 p. p., p. c., pr. i. d. Aux., 7 leg.
IUI Fl. fei. et leg. II Tr. for., etc. The man could not have been prefect in Auximum
before entering the guard; he must have acted as such midway through his career in the
centurionate.

Authenticated
428 BRIAN DOBSON
praetorian prefect. On an arbitrary basis nine more legionary centurionates

might be taken up by men from the guard, giving a total of seventeen
centurionates a year, requiring perhaps twenty to twenty-five evocati each
year out of the 300, a more credible figure than one hundred or more160.
What proportion of centurionates should be awarded to directly-com-
missioned men, who always began with a legionary centurionate ? As has
been already noted these men are difficult to distinguish on origo alone
from men from the ranks of the legions and the guard. Many of the men
from the provinces receiving the primipilate under Trajan and Hadrian
were directly commissioned, it would appear, and it might be argued that
a considerable proportion of legionary centurions were directly commis-
sioned. All that can be said in default of an exhaustive examination not
simply of origines but of the social classes from which centurions appear
to come is that the BIRLEY evidence suggests that while directly-commis-
sioned men formed a not insignificant proportion of the intake their num-
bers did not rival the ninety a year entering the equestrian military service
with a prima militia. The literary sources do not contradict this impression,
and so ten places a year, the same as for the guard, may be suggested for
the directly-commissioned, leaving the ranks of the legions to supply
seventy centurions a year from the 6000 or so men who entered the
legions annually.
How might this one hundred men fare twenty years later, hoping for
a primipilate? Of the ten directly-commissioned men perhaps half might
hope for a primipilate — 5. Of the ten praetorians in the legions and the
seven in the guard rather more than half — 9. This would leave the seventy
centurions from the ranks sixteen, or conveniently fourteen if twenty-eight
legions are thought of, one in five. In other words it would be possible for
a praetorian soldier who reached discharge to have almost a one in thirty
chance of the primipilate (9/300) while allowing a legionary a chance of
one in four hundred (15/6000), and still give the legionary centurion from
the ranks a half-share in the primipilates. The directly-commissioned man
might have a one in two chance, once his centurionate was obtained.
Further it offers to all centurions a one in three chance of a primipilate,
increased by the incidence of death and incapacitating wounds and illness
among their fellows. The final consequence is this: if, as seems possible,
linking up as it does with indications for the procurators in general151, Pius
and Marcus (and perhaps Commodus) weighted the balance even more in
favour of the guard, the directly-commissioned, and indeed Italy, the
cutting down drastically of expectations of the primipilate for the locally-
recruited legionaries may have made it desirable for Severus to restore
incentives for recruiting by channelling legionaries through the guard. He
increased them also in other ways (higher pay, permission to marry, etc.).
150
BIRLEY 1966, 61 estimates 270 posts; on a three year average tenure (BIRLEY 1953a, 137f.)
this gives 90 to find a year.
151
PFLAUM 1958, 5.

Authenticated
Of the thirty or so primipili ten might take up posts as prefects of the camp
(fewer if prefects of the camp had a longer average tenure than three years,
and if primipili iterum were serving as prefects of the camp). Seven might
proceed to the Rome tribunates, one (but not every year) to a tribunate
outside Italy. Twelve could retire; the numerus primipilarium could prob-
ably be kept up to strength with men between appointments. Of the Rome
tribunes two might eventually reach a first-echelon procuratorship, one of
whom might go forward to a procurator-governorship152. One in a decade
might reach a prefecture. The chances for a primipilaris suggested then are
one in fifteen or less of a procuratorship, one in thirty or less of a pro-
curator-governorship, one in three hundred of a great prefecture. How this
would compare with an equestrian following the militiae I have not
attempted to calculate; probably if a man had the talent it did not
matter which way he came, for we are dealing with outstanding people
here, not the ordinary primipilaris or centurion ambitious for his primi-
pilate.
VI. The disappearance of the career
How did the system of building a career for the centurion upon the
primipilate come to an end? The career remains much the same up to
Severus Alexander. The changes introduced by new elements, i. e. the
breaking-down of the legions/guard division which had reached danger-
level, the use of the castra peregrina and fleet centurionates, and the moving
of men and centurions between these different branches are not crucial.
The last evidence for a prefect of the camp and for a primuspilus
iterum come from much the same period, Severus Alexander or there-
abouts153. VI 1645 = DESSAU 2773 has a career which includes only the
praetorian tribunate from the Rome tribunates and no primuspilus iterum.
He had been dux legionum, a command of combined vexillations from the
legions of a province later described by the title praepositus and found in
other primipilaris careers154. His career ended under the Philips. The
152 Both estimates may be too high; there were four posts available at the procurator-governor
third echelon level, Raetia, Noricum, Caesariensis, Ravenna (Tingitana and Sardinia were
second-echelon, Misenum fourth-echelon). As primipilares did not monopolise these the
one post a year or so to be filled would not need one primipilaris a year entering the
procuratorships with a procurator-governorship in view. The drop in vacancies with the
disappearance of Raetia and Noricum as procurator-governorships under Aurelius would
have its effect. On the other hand the demand for legionary commanders provided by the
primipilares quadrupled with the creation of the Parthian legions,
iss V I I I 1 4 8 5 4 = D E S S A U 2764 (note 75) for praefectus casirorum (under Elagabalus or Severus
Alexander); VIII 20996 = D E S S A U 1356 for primuspilus iterum, represented by primi-
pilum bis (note 123) (A.D. 227).
151 V I 1645 = D E S S A U 2773 [praef.] vehficul., proc.] lud. ma[gni, proc.J Lusit., trib. pfraet.]
Philipporum A[ugg.], p. p., duci leg. Dac., 7, comic, praeff. pr.; III 4855 = D E S S A U 2772

Authenticated
430 BRIAN DOBSON
emphasis on the praetorian tribunate seems to foreshadow the praetorian

tribune who is protector Augusti, found in embryonic form in XI 1836 =
DESSAU 1332, and in other careers also165. Primuspilus iterum is also absent
in X I 1836 = DESSAU 1332, under Gallienus, though that still retains the
passage through the Rome tribunates.
The great mystery is the replacement of the senators as legion com-
manders by prefects of legions with the title agens vice legati and protector.
As no career exists for any of these it is unknown whether such prefects
were simply promoted primipilares, like the old prefects of the camp, or
whether they had been through the Rome tribunates, like the earlier
prefect-commanders of legions. This is the real question, not whether the
man was the old prefect of the camp or the primuspilus iterum, for as has
been shown I do not believe the two co-existed in any legion under the
Principate. For the same reason there is no need to consider the possibility
of an old-style prefect of the camp continuing beside the new prefect-
commander. There is no evidence of such for the Egyptian or the Parthian
legions. Arguments based on Vegetius are unreliable; it is clear in that
section as in others he is conflating material of different periods156. Traianus
Mucianus cannot be invoked in support; it is the other evidence that must
explain Mucianus, for the inscription can hardly be interpreted as it
stands157.
So far the primipilaris career had successfully absorbed the new com-
mands. A career primuspilus, command of one vexillation of a combined
forced [dux), command of a combined force (praepositus), Rome tribunates,
tribunus praetor ianus protector A tig., procuratorships or generalships was
still a possibility. The ducenarian prefect-commanders could have had such
p. p. leg. II Ital., duci leg. III Ital., duci etpraep. leg. III Aug.-, X I 1836 = DESSAU 1332
trib. coh. III vig., (praep.) leg. X et XIIII Gem. prov. Pannoniae superiori, itim (sic) leg.
Daciae, praeposito equitum singularior. Augg. n., p. p. leg. XXX Ulpiae, centurioni depu-
tato, eq. pub. ex V dec. (for the rest of the text see note 155); Inscriptiones Graecae in
Bulgaria repertae I I I 2 1570 Τραιανόν Μουκιανόν δοϋκ(α), στρατευσάμενον έν χώρτη ά
Κονκορδ. καΐ έν λεγ. β ' Παρθ., Ιππέα χώρτ. ζ' πραιτωρ., ήβοκδτ., > προτήκτορα
λεγ. γ Γ Γεμ., > προτ. βιγούλ., > προτήκτ. ούρβ. καΐ > προτ. χώρτ. ε' πρα[ι]τ.
[κ]αΙ πρίνκιπα προτ(ήκτορα), πρειμοπ. [καΐ] έκτων διεξερχομένωνΒ ]άρχ. λεγ. δ '
Φλαβ., σ[ λεγ. δ ' Κλ]αυδ καΐ δ ' Φλαβ. τριβ. λιβουρν[ ] στρατε[ύ]ο[μεν .
The rest of the inscription is even more unintelligible, but the ]άρχ. etc. above seems to
represent a dux command followed by a praepositus command, whatever the actual terms
used.
1 5 5 X I 1836 = DESSAU 1332 v. cos. ordinario, praef. praet. em. v., praef. vigul. p. v., trib. coh.
primae praet., protect. Augg. nn., item trib. coh. II 11 praet., trib. coh. XI urb., trib. coh. Ill
vig. (see note 154 for continuation of career); I I I 3126 trib.] coh. XI urb., trib. coh. VI praet.
et protector. Auggg. nnn.; AE 1965, 114 προτήκτορα τοΟ άνεικήτου δεσπότου ήμών Γαλ-
λιηνού Σε. τριβοϋνον πραετωριανών καΐ δοΰκα καΐ στρατηλάτην; I I I 8571 υ. e., proc.
due. prov. Dalmat., trib. protec[t.].
Ι5Β Vegetius 2, 9. 10. 11 describe three officers, praefectus legionis, clearly in command of the
legion, praefectus castrorum and praefectus fabrum as if they co-existed, but this is simply
conflation of evidence from different sources and periods cf. DOBSON 1966, 10 f.
157 For a discussion of this career see DOBSON (career number) 223 in Epigr. Stud. 10 (forth-
coming) ; the career with the restorations I feel sure of appears in note 154.

Authenticated
a background, and they went on to the old procurator-governorships as

praesides. But by the time of Diocletian such prefects are being recruited
otherwise, and it seems unlikely that any primipilares started this type of
career after Gallienus 158 .
The explanation seems to lie in a development of the post of primus-
pilus still little studied and understood, his association with the provision
of supplies for the army and the special tax named after him, the primi-
pilum159. The legion continued to have a primuspilus till Diocletian 160 , yet
by the time of Caracalla the post had acquired an administratio, the debts
of which might be a burden 161 . A reference under Valerian and Gallienus
seems to confirm this 162 . B y 286 it would appear that the office of primi-
pilaris had become compulsory and hereditary 163 , and that it was the
primipilaris rather than the primuspilus who was carrying out these duties.
These duties seem to be linked with the annona1M, and it would be tempt-
ing to see Severus as the man who gave the primuspilus new responsibilities
in this connection. The detailed tracing of the connection is difficult. There
is an important article by A. MOCSY on the subject 165 , seeking to link the
responsibility for the annona with the lustrum primipili, but there is no
space to discuss this here. It seems reasonable to suppose however that
this commitment of the primuspilus to administrative duties connected
with the primipilum meant in the long run that when the agents for this
were completely removed from the military sphere the primipilaris went
with them, under the authority presumably of the praetorian prefect,
thereby destroying effectively the military primipilaris career. It is a
measure of how much can be happening behind the apparently unchanging
career structure that when he disappears from careers the primipilaris is
apparently as military a type as ever, adapting to the new military require-
ments as he had done from the early years of the Principate.
158 III 6149 = DESSAU 2781 qui militant in leg. XI CI., lectus in sacro comit. lanciarius, deinde
protexit annis V, missus pref. leg. II Hercul., [e]git ann. I. semise, et decessit, vix. ann.
XXXV m. III d. XI represents a new career to the prefecture of a legion; the last primi-
pilaris military careers appear to be AE 1954, 135 ii protecftori ] item primip[i]la-
[ri] protectori item centurio. 11 II Fl. et protectori item ce[ nturi Jo. leg. Ill Aug. item [ dec. ?? J
alae Parthoru[m] item and Inscr. Graec. in Bulg. repert. I l l 2 1570 (note 154) and they
do not necessarily begin later than Gallienus.
159 Α. Η. M. JONES, The Later Roman Empire 284—602 (Oxford 1964) i. 459 cf. iii 124 f.
180 AE 1957, 287 primipilarius leg. V Mac. — post pastum militum stat. Cf. 288 [prijmip.
leg. V Mac. [po]st pastum militum.
181 Cod. lust. 7. 73. 1 bona mariti tui si ob reliqua administrationis primipili a fisco occupata
sunt.
162 Cod. lust. 12. 63. 1 commoda primipilatus post administrationem incipiunt deberi, et si is,
qui ea percipere debuit, prius rebus humanis eximatur, heredibus petitio salva sit.
183 Frag. Vat. 278 Idem Aurelio Zoilo. [Cum] adfirmes patrem tuum donationes perfectas in
te contulisse et suprefmis] iudiciis eas non revocasse, poteris iure constituto, praesertim cum
konor[i] primipilari sis adstrictus, securo animo ea quae donata sunt possidere.
184 JONES, loc. cit.; D. VAN BERCHEM, L'annone militaire dans L'Empire romain au IHe
siecle (Paris 1937), 82.
185 A. Mocsv, Das Lustrum Primipili und die Annona Militaris, Germania 44 (1961!), 312—26.

Authenticated
432 BRIAN DOBSON
VII. Conclusions
How then are we to assess the significance of the centurionate and

primipilate ? What Augustus seems to have done, for he must be given the
major credit, though Claudius and Severus have important roles, is to take
the centurionate and primipilate, the military significance and political
importance of which were already well established, and integrate them into
his new army and administration by giving the legitimate social aspirations
of soldier-citizens an outlet. The post of centurio primi pili, already high
in prestige, was given a new lustre by the attaching to its ex-holder of the
title of primipilaris, with a gratuity which gave him equestrian rank. The
primipilares in fact formed a new military aristocracy, the obvious and
virtually only route into the equestrian order for the soldiers of Rome.
Care was taken that the men of the praetorian guard should have access
to it. The worth of men who had been centurio primi pili had already been
appreciated in Caesar's time; Augustus now extended their employment,
throwing open to them the old officer posts of tribunus militum and prae-
fectus equitum as well as entrusting to them two new key posts, praefectus
castrorum and tribunus cohortis praetoriae.
Claudius consolidated this work, sharply dividing a primipilaris career,
branching to praefectus castrorum or the Rome tribunates and primuspilus
iterum and the procuratorships, from the equestrian career. The career thus
organised endured without substantial change to Severus Alexander. Trajan
and Hadrian held the balance evenly between the sources of recruitment
to the primipilate, but Pius and his successors, without military experience
before their principates, tilted the balance towards Italy. Severus remedied
that and broadened the intake and diversified the experience of those
coming to the primipilate, but administrative duties, possibly added by
Severus, meant that though the primipilaris proved as versatile as in the
past in adjusting to the new requirements of the mid-third century, when
the split came between military and civil he found himself rather sur-
prisingly on the civil side.
The significance of the centurion and primipilaris may then be sum-
marised by saying that for the soldiers who possessed the Roman citizen-
ship, to which were added, at centurion level, a not insignificant proportion
of men of some social standing wanting to make the army a lifetime career,
the primipilate was an attainable goal, a target which justified long years
in the centurionate and a striving for promotion, and that the primipilate
also was a means for the emperor not only of evoking this response from
his citizen troops but also of finding prefects of the camp, tribunes at
Rome, prefects to command legions that could not be commanded by
senators, and a number of men of high quality, the absolute cream of
legions, guard and directly-commissioned, to supplement the supply of
procurators and prefects from the equestrian military service.

Authenticated
T H E SIGNIFICANCE O F T H E CENTURION AND 'PRIMIPILARIS" 433
For nearly three hundred years the centurions and primipilares

represented the pick of the citizen troops of Rome, a vital contribution to
the loyalty and efficiency of the legions and the Rome cohorts. They
formed an essential professional military caste, carrying much of the
responsibility for the effectiveness of the legions. It is not perhaps inapprop-
riate that they pass from our view as the legion itself finally cedes its place
as ruler of the battlefield to the cavalry army.
I am most grateful to Dr. D. J . B R E E Z E and Dr. V . A . MAXFIELD for
reading the text of this article and making constructive comments.
Abbreviations and Bibliography
N B A general reference may be made to the bibliography given in D O M A S Z E W S K I — D O B S O N

1967, 309—311. The following is simply a list of works cited in the foot-notes without full
details being given there.
AE L'annee epigraphique, fondle par R. CAGNAT, Paris.

G. A L F Ö L D Y , Die Generalität des römischen Heeres, Bonner Jahr-
ALFÖLDY 1969
bücher 169 (1969), 33—246.
The Origins of Legionary Centurions. Roman Britain and the
BIRLEY 1953
Roman Army (ed. E. B I R L E Y , Kendal 1953), 104—124.
The Equestrian Officers of the Roman Army, Roman Britain and
BIRLEY 1953a
the Roman Army, 133—153.
Promotions and Transfers in the Roman Army I I . The Centurionate.
BIRLEY 1965
Carnuntum-Jahrbuch 1963/64, Römische Forsch, in Niederösterr.,
Beiheft 8 (Graz-Cologne 1965), 21—33.
BIRLEY 1966 Alae and Cohortes Milliariae, Corolla Memoriae Erich Swoboda
dedicata, Rom. Forsch, in Niederösterr. V (Graz 1966), 54—67.
BIRLEY 1969 E. B I R L E Y , Septimius Severus and the Roman Army, Epigraphische
Studien 8 (Düsseldorf 1969), 63—82.
CHEESMAN 1914 G. L. C H E E S M A N , The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army
(Oxford 1 9 1 4 ) .
DESSAU H. D E S S A U , Inscriptiones latinae selectae, I — I I I (Berlin 1892ff.).
DEVIJVER H. D E V I J V E R , Su£tone, Claude 25, et les milices equestres, Ancient
Society I (1970), 69—81.
B. D O B S O N , The Praefectus Fabrum in the Early Principate. Brit-
DOBSON 1966
ain and Rome, Essays presented to Eric Birley on his sixtieth
birthday, ed. M. G. J A R R E T T and B. D O B S O N (Kendal 1 9 6 6 ) , 6 1 — 8 4 .
The Centurionate and Social Mobility during the Principate, Re-
DOBSON 1970
cherches sur les structures sociales dans l'Antiquite classique ed. C.
N I C O L E T (Paris 1 9 7 0 ) , 9 9 — 1 1 6 .
B. D O B S O N , Legionary Centurion or Equestrian Officer ? A com-
DOBSON 1972
parison of Pay and Prospects, Ancient Society I I I (1972), 193—207.
DOBSON—BREEZE 1969 B. D O B S O N and D . J . B R E E Z E , The Rome Cohorts and the Legionary
Centurionate, Epigraphische Studien 8 (Düsseldorf 1969), 100—132.
DOMASZEWSKI—DOBSON A. v. D O M A S Z E W S K I , Die Rangordnung des römischen Heeres,
1967 2. durchgesehene Auflage, Einführung, Berichtigungen und Nach-
träge von B. D O B S O N , Beihefte der Bonner Jahrbücher, Band 14
(Cologne 1967).
DURRY 1938 Μ. D U R R Y , Les cohortes pr^toriennes (Paris 1938).
ESP£RANDIEU E . E S P £ R A N D I E U , Inscriptions Latines de Gaule (Narbonnaise)
(Paris 1929).
28 Röm. Welt II, 1
Authenticated
434 BRIAN DOBSON
FORNI 1 9 5 3 G. F O R N I , II reclutamento delle legioni da Augusto a Diocleziano

(Rome 1953).
GILLIAM 1 9 5 6 J . F. G I L L I A M , The Veterans and Praefectus Castrorum of the II
Traiana in A.D. 1 5 7 , American Journal of Philology 7 7 ( 1 9 5 6 ) ,
268—289.
HARMAND 1 9 6 7 J . H A R M A N D , L'armee et le soldat ä Rome de 1 0 7 k 50 avant notre
fere (Paris 1 9 6 7 ) .
IGRR Inscriptiones graecae ad res romanas pertinentes, edendum curavit
R . CAGNAT auxiliantibus J . TOUTAIN et P. J O U G U E T , I — I V (Paris
1911 ff.).
ILGS J . - P . R E Y - C O Q U A I S , Inscriptions Latines et Grecques de la Syrie VI
(Paris 1967).
I N S C R I P T . DE X U N I S I E A . M E R L I N , Inscriptions Latines de la Tunisie (Paris 1 9 4 4 ) .
LOPUSZANSKI 1938 G. LOPUSZANSKI, La transformation du corps des officiers superi-
eurs dans l'armee romaine du Ier au I l l e sifecle ap. J.-C., Melanges
d'arch<5ologie et d'histoire 55 (1938), 131—183.
MAXFIELD V . A. The dona militaria of the Roman Army (unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Durham 1972)
PAIS H. PAIS, Corporis Inscriptionum Latinarum supplementa italica,
fasc. I, additamenta ad vol. V (Rome 1884).
PFLAUM 1950 H.-G. P F L A U M , Les procurateurs equestres sous le haut-empire
romain (Paris 1950).
PFLAUM 1 9 5 8 H.-G. P F L A U M , Principes de l'administration romaine imperiale,
Bulletin de la faculte des Lettres de Strasbourg 37, 3 (1958), 1—17.
PFLAUM 1 9 6 0 H.-G. P F L A U M , Les carriferes procuratoriennes iquestres sous le
Haut-Empire romain (Paris 1960—1961).
SANDER 1 9 6 2 E. S A N D E R , Der praefectus fabrum und die Legionsfabriken, Bonner
Jahrbücher 162 (1962), 139—161.
SHERWIN-WHITE 1937 A. N . S H E R W I N - W H I T E , Procurator Augusti, Papers of the British
School at Rome 15 ( = n.s. 2) (1937), 11—26.
SYME 1932 R. S Y M E , Die Zahl der praefecti castrorum im Heere des Varus,
Germania 16 (1932), 109—111.
WEGELEBEN 1 9 1 3 Τ Η . W E G E L E B E N , Die Rangordnung der römischen Centurionen
(Diss., Berlin 1913).

Authenticated

Dobson - The Significance of The Centurion and Primipilaris in The Roman (1974)

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Dobson - The Significance of The Centurion and Primipilaris in The Roman (1974)

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

The Significance of the Centurion and 'Primipilaris'

in the Roman Army and Administration

I. The development of the centuiion-primipilaris career 393

Although a number of important articles have appeared concerning

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

I. The development of the cewiMnow-primipilaris career

1 DOMASZEWSKI-DOBSON 1967, 80—122 and X X — X X X I V .

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

tended to be with a particular general, on whom his hopes for discharge

2. The Augustan experiments

The measures adopted cannot be described in the order of their

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

19 Suetonius, Caligula 44 plerisque centurionum maturis iam, et nonnullis antea paucissimos

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Other posts, senior ones, those of praefectus fabrum28 and praefectus

3. The establishment of a distinctive career

It was left to Claudius to take the next step, in this as in so many

praefectus cohortium as an alternative to praefectus equitum: I I 1477 trib. cohortis praet.,

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

development the post of praefectus equitum before the praetorian tribunate

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

II. The centurionate

The career then changes little from Claudius to Severus Alexander,

1. Entry into the centurionate

1. from the ranks of the legions, to legionary centurionates alone, after

A number of points may be made about these groups60. The legionary

50 See DOBSON—BREEZE 1969 for detailed comment.

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

governors, and not always obtainable, as Pertinax discovered54. The reasons

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

2. Promotion and pay

Promotion within the legionary centurionate seems to have been pri-

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

centurionates ranked with the primi ordines. It should of course be noted

Augustus Domitian Severus Caracalla

Β primus ordo trib. mil. 30 40 60 100

C praef. alae D 45 60 100 150

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

It is not my intention here to discuss in detail the other employment

3. Centurions from the castra peregrina and the fleet

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

III. The primipilate and beyond

1. The post of primuspilus

'8 DOBSON—BREEZE 1969, 1 1 6 note 42.

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

Principate would certainly be difficult to explain otherwise, as being

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

2. The post of praefectus castrorum

a) The ordinary prefecture

The post of praefectus castrorum seems to have been an Augustan

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

The rank of the praefectus castrorum seems to be third in the legionary

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

The tenure of two legionary prefectures in succession is found in the

b) praefectus castrorum Aegypti

Brought to you by | UT System - Univ of Texas

war and at the council of war in 70 he outranked the centenarian pro-