Hi, Saturday, October 30, 2004, 2:44:13 AM, Graywolf wrote:
> Well I think the intention was pretty much like Social Security. That is not too > many lived long enough to collect. However, I am simply going by memory of > something I read long ago, so the details could well be wrong. > Most legionnaires probably joined up at 13 or 14. I think their widows and > children got the farm if they died in action but not if they just go sick or > something. Land back then was not something you could buy, especially if you > were poor, so a small farm very far away from Rome was an estate that your > descendants could live off of forever. Anyone back then who owned real estate > was very close to being nobility. > As I recall if they completed their enlistment they got; Roman citizenship, that > farm, and a small pension. Remember most legionnaires were not much more than > serfs, the promise of all that was kind of like promising a GI today that he > would be made president when he retired if he did not get killed in action. Also > they got food and kit while they were in, not something the poor could be sure > of unless they sold themselves into slavery. It always sounded to me like their > choices back then were the army, outlawry, or surfdom. To be a legionnary you had to be a Roman citizen already. People who were not Roman citizens joined auxiliary regiments (not legions), and could acquire citizenship through long service (and other routes). Legionnaries and auxiliaries had to pay for their own kit, but not necessarily up front - they could pay by instalments from their salary. -- Cheers, Bob
