01-18-2013, 07:02 PM
Quote:Nathan Ross Wrote:If we accept, following Fronto, that a centurion was equal to an (auxiliary) cohort prefect
Do you have that Fronto reference to hand, by the way?
Ah, turns out it's Florus, not Fronto - sorry!
However:
If the greatest emperor had granted me the rod, that is, the command over a hundred men, I would regard that as an honour of no small moment; and similarly if a prefecture or tribunate, for the honour is the same except that the pay is greater.
Florus. Vergilius Orator an Poeta, III.5
Florus goes on to say that he would rather remain a literature teacher than take up one of these military positions.
It's a tricky passage to interpret - does he mean that the pay is greater for a prefect and a tribune than a centurion, or that the prefect and centurion are paid the same but the tribune is paid more (as seems more likely, I think)?
Either way, it seems to imply that an ex eques centurion (who may indeed have been superior to a basic centurion from the ranks) was considered equal to a cohort prefect at least.
Nathan Ross