Promotion to the centurionate.

[Carlton Bach]

im still a staunch follower of the 'brave men and good soldiers' idea. marcus caelius for example. primi pili of the 18th legion destroyed under Varus. On his tombstone he wears a crown of oak - for saving the life of a comrade... no doubt the kind of respected and valued personnel needed in the infantry front line

carlton, above, seems to rate centurions in extra-military activity and I would agree that they undertook so but the level to which they could competetnly undertake such activity is largely dependant literacy and numeracy. im hardly suggesting that centurions couldnt count the number of cohorts in a legion but i woudl argue that there were sufficient administrative staff attachted to the military to ensure that military matters were the primary concern

Different times, different usages, I'd say. Caelius was a centurion in a legion under Augustus, one that basically still followed the late Republican paradigm in almost all regards. A centurio regionarius in 2nd-century Egypt would have come from a very different background (for one thing, the chance that he had personally seen combat in his lifetime would be much lower). Also, I'm not saying that the literate, numerate and legally astute men that the new centurionate increasingly required of necessity weren't brave men. Stouffer's WWII study showed up a few interesting things about the qualities of 'good soldiers'. But I very much doubt any government would willingly put a man promoted solely for combat prowess in charge of handling a significant chunk of a district's petition load or the supply of textiles to a legion, and that is what centurions ended up doing. It can't be coincidence that epgraphic evidence shows cornicularii being good candidates for promotion.