“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn 't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” This quote is taught to non-commissioned officers of the United States Army, at all leadership courses. It is taught as a quote from Tacitus. However, many sources give the quote to Heraclitus. Regardless of who is the original author, it is significant that the importance of the Roman army in modern times centuries later. The commander of the United States Army is the President. Tacitus in The Annals of Imperial Rome, illustrated the effects of the relationship between the Roman emperor and the Roman army. Tacitus
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Whether one blamed Cato the elder, who changed Roman army politics to a system of loyalty to their commander, or Marius, who allowed Plebians to enter army service without the ownership of land, the Roman army became less Roman, fighting for nationalism, and more mercenary, fighting for profit. Tacitus details the Roman army’s desire to profit following the death of Augustus, “While these events were taking place at Rome, mutiny broke out in the regular army in Pannonia. There were no fresh motives for this, except that the change of emperors offered hopes of rioting with impunity and collecting the profits afforded by civil wars.” Tacitus detailed the mutiny as a loss of discipline created by the formative changes in the emperor’s throne. Tacitus wrote, “The soldiers, simple men, were worried – no that Augustus was dead – about their future terms of service.” Percennius, a skilled applause-leader in the theatre, inspired mutineers, “An emperor who is new and still faltering.” Tacitus characterized the flexible circumstances during the transition of emperors, as a means of greedy legionaries to mutiny for better terms of
Whether one blamed Cato the elder, who changed Roman army politics to a system of loyalty to their commander, or Marius, who allowed Plebians to enter army service without the ownership of land, the Roman army became less Roman, fighting for nationalism, and more mercenary, fighting for profit. Tacitus details the Roman army’s desire to profit following the death of Augustus, “While these events were taking place at Rome, mutiny broke out in the regular army in Pannonia. There were no fresh motives for this, except that the change of emperors offered hopes of rioting with impunity and collecting the profits afforded by civil wars.” Tacitus detailed the mutiny as a loss of discipline created by the formative changes in the emperor’s throne. Tacitus wrote, “The soldiers, simple men, were worried – no that Augustus was dead – about their future terms of service.” Percennius, a skilled applause-leader in the theatre, inspired mutineers, “An emperor who is new and still faltering.” Tacitus characterized the flexible circumstances during the transition of emperors, as a means of greedy legionaries to mutiny for better terms of