Read Legions of Rome for Free Online Page A

on attachment to the 3rd Augusta Legion; he was 70 years of age. [ ILS , 2653]
    XVIII. THE CAMP-PREFECT
    The third-in-command of each legion of the early empire was the praefectus castrorium , or camp-prefect. A mature former primus pilus, the camp-prefect was the legion’s quartermaster, and commanded major legion detachments. On occasion—inVarus’ army in the Battle of the Teutoburg in AD 9, and in the case of the 2nd Augusta Legion in Britain in AD 60, for example—camp-prefects commanded entire legions.
    By the end of the fourth century, the camp-prefect had been abolished, being replaced by a junior tribune.
    XIX. THE TRIBUNES
    Young men of Equestrian rank “served as military tribune as a stepping stone to the Senate,” said Dio. [Dio, LXVII , 11] In the republican Roman army, a legion’s six tribunes had commanded the troops in battle—each one, on rotation, commanding the legion, the other five commanding two cohorts each. But over time this proved unsatisfactory, and in Augustus’ remodeled Roman army the command structure changed dramatically.
    Each imperial legion still had six tribunes—one broad-stripe tribune or military tribune, five thin-stripe tribunes (the titles referring to the width of the purple stripes on their togas, and possibly also on their tunics). But the tribunes’ roles had altered.
    From 23 BC , every well-to-do young Equestrian had to serve as a tribunus angusticlavius , tribune of the thin stripe. According to Seneca, the chief secretary to Nero, a thin-stripe tribune did “his military service as the first step on the road to a seat in the Senate.” [Sen., XLVII ] The thin-stripe tribune was an officer cadet, serving a six-month military apprenticeship, the semestri tribunata , during the annual campaigning season from March to October. Once they turned 18, thin-stripe tribunes became eligible for the semestri tribunata and—provided their assets totaled the qualifying sum of 400,000 sesterces net—were granted membership of the Equestrian Order.
    Gnaeus Agricola, for example, when he went to Britain as a thin-striper in AD 60, was 19. Most thin-stripe tribunes served on the staff of a legate, a legion commander. But some thin-stripers, like Agricola, were taken on to the staff of provincial governors, where they had more opportunity to shine. Appointment as a thin-striper under a legate of note, whose commendation would help later career prospects, did not come about by chance. Examples exist of senators writing to legion commander friends and provincial governors, putting forward their relatives or the sons of friends for appointment as thin-stripe tribunes. [Birl., DRA¸ TCEO]
    Legates often took their own sons with them to the provinces to serve on theirstaff, apparently submitting lists of names of young men they would like to accompany them, or to fill vacancies in their province, for the emperor’s approval.
    The legion in which Romans served out their semestri tribunata was never listed on memorials or in biographies when the careers of men of achievement were later recorded. It was, after all, nothing more than an internship. Conscientious thin-stripers wishing to make an impression on their sponsors and earn commendation would volunteer for special duty. Historian Tacitus’ father-in-law Agricola did not waste his time on the staff of the governor of Britain as a “loose young” thin-stripe tribune enjoying a “life of gaiety.” Said Tacitus, Agricola did not “make his thin-stripe status or his inexperience an excuse for idly enjoying himself and continually going on leave.” Instead, “he acquainted himself with his province and made himself known to the troops. He learned from the experts and chose the best models to follow. He never sought a duty for self-advertisement, and never shirked one through cowardice.” [Tac., Agr ., 5] This suggests that many teenage thin-stripe tribunes wasted their semestri tribunata appointments living it up, leading the