CORTOCIRCUITOS

Whereas in the first two centuries of the principate the political structure was formed mainly by the emperor and his officials and by the senate, the most influential element in the third century was the army. Since about 100 BC the army had no longer consisted exclusively of Roman citizens doing compulsory military service but also included some professionals. The officers, however, as in the past, came from the senatorial aristocracy and the equites:

they served in the army as part of their political career. The army soon developed into an exceptionally effective but expensive instrument.⁸

Compared to the size of the empire the army was really quite small but its power was so great that in wartime Roman generals considered that a ratio of one Roman soldier to two to four enemy soldiers was adequate. The army was usually stationed along the frontiers, the largest concentrations being on the Danube, the Euphrates and the Rhine. For centuries the chief ‘weapon’ had been the heavy infantry which was organised in legions. The legions were supported by local troops consisting mainly of cavalry. In the third century the main emphasis shifted to heavily armed cavalry. The effectiveness of the army was increased by

strict discipline and thorough training; any legion that gave up a fight or mutinied was ‘decimated’: every tenth soldier was clubbed to death by his fellow-soldiers. In addition, every ordinary Roman soldier was also an engineer and in conquered territories the Romans not only built fortified camps but they also linked them together by a network of military roads which permitted rapid troop movements. The frontiers were strengthened where necessary, e.g. in England, Germany and North Africa. Since the army was so effective it also constituted a dangerous political factor; it could only be properly controlled if the soldiers were paid adequately and on time. When one emperor succeeded another, the army had to be ‘bought over’, which did not always make economic sense.

During the civil wars at the end of the republic and during the first two centuries of the principate the army was occasionally of overriding importance. In a struggle for power the only person who emerged victorious was the one with a loyal army. This became apparent in various ways: directly from the victories of, for example, Augustus and Vespasian, indirectly from the adoption by Emperor Nerva of the successful general Trajan whom he thereby designated as his successor. In the third century and particularly after the death of Alexander Severus in 235 it occurred regularly that generals of various armies were pronounced emperors by their troops and that the decision about who could in fact be emperor was made on the battlefield. Because it often took years for an emperor to defeat his opponents it sometimes came about that tiny realms were formed and managed by a former Roman general; this happened mainly in frontier areas, for example in the north-west of Gaul and in England. In the period between 235 and 285 there were about sixteen official emperors and many more unofficial emperors or usurpers. This period is also referred to as the period of the soldier emperors.

Diocletian was the first general who managed to bring the whole Roman empire under his power and keep things that way for at least twenty years. The changes that he introduced into the organisation of the empire and that in many respects had been prepared by his predecessors determined the political structure of the Roman empire in the last few centuries of its existence.

THE PRINCIPATE (27 BC–284)

THE PRINCIPATE:

THE LAW

9.1. INTRODUCTION

The beginning of the principate was marked by sweeping changes in the law. Whereas under the republic the senate basically had been responsible for lawmaking, power now shifted to the emperor and law too came into his sphere of influence. The process, however, was a gradual one, as can be seen in legislation, the administration of justice and in legal science.¹

Laws were still made by the comitia and the senate, but the emperors, by virtue of their special powers, could influence the content of the laws. In the long run the emperors themselves began enacting laws. Ultimately, the republican methods of legislation fell into disuse: the leges-plebiscites by the end of the first century and the senatorial decrees by the beginning of the third century.

In the principate justice continued to be administered via the formula procedure in the case of disputes coming under private law (and in certain cases by means of legis actiones) and by means of the quaestiones in the case of criminal offences. At the same time, however, a new form of procedure, called the cognitio extraordinaria, developed. This was used by or on behalf of the emperor in connection with both types of case.

Legal science was still in the hands of the jurists. Their activities now concentrated on the giving of opinions. Here too the emperors interfered by granting certain leading senators the right to give, on their behalf, opinions on legal problems (ius respondendi); in the case of a lawsuit these opinions were binding for the judge. This ius respondendi probably limited the number of jurists giving opinions. In the second century the emperors let

opinions be given in their own name as well. As under the republic, the jurists themselves collected the opinions they gave; a relatively large part of these collections has been preserved via the Digest. In addition, some jurists also published introductory textbooks, the most important one being the Institutes of Gaius.

Nowadays the law of this period is normally referred to as classical law. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, the jurists of the principate did much to develop and elaborate Roman law and, secondly, since the rediscovery of the Digest in the eleventh century the law of this period has been normative for later generations of jurists.

9.2. LEGISLATION