fighting for a triumph', and he was himself shamefacedly eager for one. Admittedly, generals were often
also anxious to end a war and take the troops home to grace the event.
If enough members of the oligarchy were to have a chance of distinction-and there was great pressure on
the sons of aristocrats to emulate their ancestors- wars had to be almost continuous. There was
resentment against men who, like Scipio, hogged big commands for years, and there was jockeying for
appointment if a good war was in prospect. There might be disagreement about where to fight, but not
about fighting somewhere. Roman aristocratic tradition was reinforced by Greek influence. Scipio
already perhaps modeled himself on Alexander; Pompey notoriously did, adopting his hair-style and
letting panegyrists exaggerate his youth at the time of his eastern conquests; Caesar is said to have wept
in youth at the thought of the Macedonian, who had conquered the world at an age when he himself had
done nothing. But there is public as well as personal glory; first-century Romans were intensely proud of
their world Empire and set the globe on their coins.
The Economic Motive
All booty was legally at the general's disposal, though he was expected to give some to the Treasury and
use some himself on public works, notably temples vowed in battle. Such buildings, apart from
providing employment (to men who would support their employer at elections) kept a man's name, often
emblazoned on the facade, before the public. And, as the standard of luxury-and later of electoral
bribery-rose, spoil provided the quickest way to the wealth needed by the competitive upper class.
It was also the quickest way to wealth for the troops, to whom the general distributed part of the official
booty-there was doubtless unofficial booty too, in spite of the rules. Although the really poor were not
eligible for the army till the late second century, the (probably increasingly small) small-holders serving
were often in debt to richer neighbours, and doubtless anyway eager to make their fortunes. Later, in a
letter of 43 B.C., D. Brutus tells Cicero that he has led his men against some Alpine tribes to meet their
wishes. During the Italian wars victory had often led to conquered land being parcelled out among poor
citizens. This happened much less after wars overseas, though the state acquired some land to rent out,
to foreigners or citizens; but a few veterans were placed in the second century in Spain and the
Balearics, and there was much settlement in Cisalpine Gaul. Gaius Gracchus, however, who, like his
brother Tiberius, had a new vision of how the Empire could be used to support the poor of Rome,
proposed colonies abroad; Saturninus, another demagogic tribune at the end of the second century, had a
broad plan of transmarine settlement for both veterans, now including many landless, and the urban
plebs. But in practice Caesar was the first to plant both classes abroad on any large scale.
It has also been suggested that, till the Social War, Rome's only way to profit from her alliances in Italy,
since the allies paid no taxes, was to call them out to fight. Most Italian peoples had their own military
tradition, and if at times they found Rome's demands oppressive, they took pride in their share in her
victories, which many came to feel earned them a right to political equality and Roman citizenship. They
did not always get an equal share of booty, but the grand buildings set up at some Italian shrines shortly
before the Social War may show its deployment by local magnates; equally, the negotiatores hailing