strategos. Lower down the social scale the post of superintendent of engineers {praefectus fabrum) was practically non-military by the Julio-Claudian age,
and even some types of military tribune were military only in name. It is only in the third century that the process is reversed, and military titles spread in
areas of government 'with no necessary connection with war; the eventual militarization of the Empire brings to an end the processes described here
(though, significantly, military titles such as praepositus and optio spread earlier among the servants of the Emperor). But throughout the Emperor was
called by the honorific military title imperator, first as an informal description, then as a name, finally as a formal title, and took on himself many of the
military functions once carried out by the republican magistrates. Although we usually refer to him by his senatorial style of princeps, it was as imperator
(autocrator, 'the ruler answerable to none' in Greek) that he was perceived by the Empire. And the Emperor's military power pervaded the government of
the Empire.
In the ancient world, to question the Tightness of a standing army was unthinkable; and peace was the product of victory won by the soldier. But there is
no easy way to translate 'civilian' into Greek or Latin, and this is because the legacy of the citizen army ensured an intermingling of the apparatus of
warfare with the activities of peace. The distinction between soldier and civilian, so clear to our minds, and in our times possessing a moral as well as a
practical flavour, did not exist before the triumph of the military, which began in the Severan period.
Augustus established the military system which lasted until the third century. The army was composed of two parts (and there was also a considerable
fleet). The senior part was a citizen army of some thirty legions (about 165,000 men), each commanded by a senator of middling status, and subject to the
more senior senatorial governors of the imperial and senatorial provinces. Gradually these legions became a permanent feature of the frontier areas in
which they were established. They recruited mostly from those areas. Although some legions changed their bases, such moves were not overall very
frequent. Rather more numerous were the auxiliary troops who from the reign of Claudius regularly received the citizenship on discharge. Rome had
always relied on the military help of non-Romans, and the employment and incorporation of the auxiliaries became one of the most important ways in
which the Empire acquired a cultural homogeneity. The regiments of auxiliaries, much smaller than legions, were commanded by citizens of equestrian
rank, usually from the elites of Italy or the provinces and using these jobs to win further status and opportunities for themselves. The whole system was
financed from a military treasury established by Augustus, one of the first and most fundamental steps towards financial planning taken by the Romans.
It follows that before the third century the military commanders provided from the Empire's elites were not what we would call professionals. The
effectiveness and expertise of the army rested with the senior and junior centurions who often rose from the ranks and would serve as long as any ordinary
soldier. It was, as far as we know, very unusual for such an officer to receive equestrian rank, and still rarer to proceed to equestrian military office. And
equestrian commands, although important in the promotion game of the upper classes, were usually short and variegated, including horse and foot and in a
whole range of different places. So too even with senators, whose military service as junior officer, legionary legate, or governor of a garrisoned province
would usually occupy only a short period of their whole career, take place in many different areas, and give them little opportunity to become
professional. This is true of almost all the military commanders we know, and it is clear that it became standard practice for the Emperor to ensure that no
senator acquired too much familiarity with armies and warfare. This practice of drawing the high military command from essentially unmilitary personnel
helped integrate the army into the more peaceful activities of the Empire.
The legionary army always remained part of the citizen body of Rome. Its communities, especially in non-citizen areas, enjoyed privileges like other
citizen settlements, and expected the facilities-aqueducts, amphitheatres, baths and so on-of any classical city. The castellum (fort) was originally an
ordinary member of the sequence of possible settlement-institutions which ranged from village to city. The colonia, originally in the late Republic a town
of discharged citizen veterans which was autonomous but expected to defend itself and the interests of Rome in case of trouble, and which came to be the
coveted highest status attainable by a provincial city, helped to blur the distinction between camp and town still further. Outside fortresses, moreover,
people congregated to form whole settlements dependent on the presence of the army, which often became independent. When not on active duty-which
was more often than not, as in all armies-soldiers cultivated the land, engaged in trade, and generally lived their lives like ordinary citizens. This close