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Journal of Roman Studies

This book analyzes the ideology of military discipline (disciplina militaris) in the late Roman Republic and early Principate. The author argues that disciplina militaris addressed a social and political crisis stemming from fears of an unruly professional army. Military discipline sought to routinize the army and re-establish elite legitimacy. It did so through combat training, moral codes, punishment systems, economic controls on soldiers, and restrictions on diet. Disciplina militaris went beyond obedience to legitimize the army through various administrative, social, and cultural controls. The book provides a fascinating and well-researched perspective on the Roman army from an ideological and cultural viewpoint.

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Ara Harwood
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80 views

Journal of Roman Studies

This book analyzes the ideology of military discipline (disciplina militaris) in the late Roman Republic and early Principate. The author argues that disciplina militaris addressed a social and political crisis stemming from fears of an unruly professional army. Military discipline sought to routinize the army and re-establish elite legitimacy. It did so through combat training, moral codes, punishment systems, economic controls on soldiers, and restrictions on diet. Disciplina militaris went beyond obedience to legitimize the army through various administrative, social, and cultural controls. The book provides a fascinating and well-researched perspective on the Roman army from an ideological and cultural viewpoint.

Uploaded by

Ara Harwood
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Reviews:Layout 1 09/10/2009 14:56 Page 231

i. history and culture

231

S. PHANG, ROMAN MILITARY SERVICE: IDEOLOGIES OF DISCIPLINE IN THE LATE


REPUBLIC AND EARLY PRINCIPATE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Pp. xv + 336. isbn 978-0-52188-269-9. 50.00.
Phang, using literary sources supplemented by military documents, claims that disciplina
militaris addressed a social and political crisis stemming from a fear of the army which was due
to the late Republican soldier being portrayed, in the literary tradition, as a greedy mercenary
whose desires were exploited by ambitious commanders. The ideological crisis concerned the
transition of the army from the citizen militia of the Republic to the professional army of the
Principate. P. argues that the emperors and leading men of the Empire sought to routinize the
army and re-establish their legitimacy through disciplina militaris. Her work discusses the ideologies of the lite with regard to the ordinary soldier, senatorial commanders and emperors; this
is not a book about campaigning or warfare.
As an analytical framework P. uses the sociological and critical theories of Max Weber and
Pierre Bourdieu. In ch. 1 we learn that disciplina militaris provided a legitimatizing ideology in
Weberian terms since it helped to routinize charismatic elements of late Republican warfare.
Bourdieus theory of habitus is applied because many aspects of disciplina were based on habitual
tendencies. P. notes that the strict ideal of rational discipline required by Webers theory cannot
be present in an ancient context.
Ch. 2 explains how combat training inculcated discipline and generated combat virtus through
its emphasis on physical fitness. In ch. 3 P. suggests that disciplina militaris was used to address
the moral standing of the soldier. Military habitus was ensured through the imposition of a moral
code that emphasized masculinity and austerity. In ch. 4 P. observes that penalties were never
fully rationalized since they remained at the discretion of individual commanders or the emperor.
Capital punishment remained, but shaming punishments which depended on a sense of honour
having been instilled through disciplina militaris were used more often. Punishments remained
value-rational and were influenced by traditional exempla, although legal-rational punishments
were developed that showed a high degree of administrative rationality (allowances were made
for mitigating factors). Ch. 5 focuses on the control of soldiers wealth through the rationalization
and routinization of wages, pensions, and donatives; this helped to expel fears of avarice. Fixed
service conditions formed a rational bureaucratic system that routinized the army. The sixth
chapter discusses how military work such as monument building came to exemplify a soldiers
virtus. P. argues that virtus evolved under the Empire, where combat was rare, to incorporate
obedience, endurance and the masculinity of peacetime military toil. Military labor avoided idleness which was thought to bring physical, mental and moral degeneration and could lead to
revolt. However, military labor produced an ideological contradiction; military labor was honourable, but hard manual labour was indicative of status, thus associating soldiers with slaves.
Recommended methods of discipline and management for both groups were also similar. If work
was particularly menial, soldiers resented the implication and were likely to rebel. Emperors
would attempt to assuage tensions through their own displays of labor; the sharing of labours,
even symbolically, lessened the social divide. In ch. 7 we learn that disciplina militaris included
the imposition of an austere diet which promoted social control and allayed aristocratic fears of
unruly soldiers. Controls on feasting and drinking also ensured that the army remained in condition and alert. To mitigate potential complaints from the soldiers about the unjust privileges of
the officers, emperors or commanders could adopt an austere diet themselves whilst on campaign.
Disciplina militaris was a method of control that went beyond the inculcation of obedience.
The legitimation of the army was achieved through economic controls placed on wages and donatives, administrative controls on labour and methods of training, and restrictions on a soldiers
consumption of food and drink rather than through any political loyalty. Consequently, the
elements of control formed the ideology of disciplina militaris which inculcated the soldier and
his officers, instilled obedience and reaffirmed the social hierarchy and cultural elements of virtus.
It is hard to do justice to the wealth of material contained in this book. It is a fascinating read
for anyone interested in the imperial army, and is especially useful to those interested in imperial
and military ideologies. My only criticism would be that the sociological approach becomes a
little tiresome. The few typos I observed (21, 60, 65 n. 202, 240, 285) do not detract from this wellresearched and thematically-organized work. It offers a refreshing look at the Roman army from
a social and cultural perspective and provides an impressive thirty-page bibliography.
Hughes Hall, Cambridge/
Karen L. Pickford
Fellow of the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women

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