Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1072 STIPENDIUM. STIPENDI UM.
during the hostilities against Veii, a certain amount allowances as a gratuity; the Roman soldiers, on
of pay was assigned (certzus zumerus aeris est as- the contrary, have deducted from their pay the
signatus, Liv. v. 7) to the knight also. [EquITEsS, money value of whatever they receive, in corn,
p. 472, a.] Livy, however, seems to be here speak- armour or clothes." There was indeed a law passed
ing of the citizens who possessed an equestrian for- by C. Gracchus (Plut. C. Graceds. 5) which provided
tune, but had no horse (eqptus publicus) assigned to that besides their pay the soldiers should receive
them by the state. For it had always been cus- from the treasury an allowance for clothes; but
tomary for the knights of the 18 centuries to re- from Tacitus (Acln. i. 17) this law seems either to
ceive pay out of the common treasury, in the shape have been repealed or to have fallen into disuse.
of an allowance for the purchase of a horse, and a The two oboli of Polybius, which we make equal
yearly pension of 2000 asses for its keep. [AEs to 3l- asses, are reckoned by Plautus in round numEQUESTRE; AEsHORu)EARIUsM'.] HenceNiebuhr bers at 3 asses. Thus he says (Most. ii. I. 10),
(vol. i. p. 474, and vol. ii. p. 441) doubts the accu- " Isti qui trium nummorum causa subeunt sub
racy of the account which is given by Livy (iv. falas." This amount was doubled for the legion59), and observes that "the Veientine war cannot aries by Julius Caesar (Sueton. Jul. Caes. 26) behave been the occasion on which the practice of fore the civil war. He also gave them corn whengiving pay to the troops was first established: the ever he had the means, without any restrictions
aerarii must undoubtedly have always continued (sine modo nensze aqure). Under Augustus (Suet.
to pay pensions (ccapita) to the infantry, in the Aezg. 49; Tacit. 1. c.) it appears to have been
same way as single women and minors did to the raised to 10 asses a day (three times the original
knights: and the change consisted in this, that suem), or 300 a month, or 1200 in four months.
every legionary now became entitled to pay, Now as the original amount of their pay had been'whereas the number of pensioners had previously tripled, the-soldiers could not complain if the debeen limited by that of the persons liable to be narius were reckoned at 16 asses in payments
charged with them; and hence the deficiency was made to themselves, as well as other persons; and
supplied out of the aerarium, from the produce of taking this value, the 1200 asses amount to exthe vectigal, and when this failed, by a tribute actly 3 aurei, or 3 x 400 asses. This sum then
levied even from those plebeians who were them- was considered as an unit, and called stipendisuem,
selves bound to serve." Consequently the tribunes being paid three times a year. Hence Suetonius
murmured that the tribute was only imposed for says of Domitian (Dom. 7): "Addidit et quartun
the sake of ruining the plebs. (Liv. iv. 60.) stipendium, ternos aureos:" a fact which Zonaras
In support of his opinion Niebuhr (l. c.) advances (Acn. ii. p. 196) otherwise expresses by stating,
arguemnents which at least make it very probable that instead of 75 drachmae (i. e. denarii) Domithat the " paternal legislation " of Servius Tullius tian gave the soldiers 100, i. e. he made an addiprovided for the pay of the infantry in the mannIer tion of 25 denarii or 1 aureus to their pay. The
mentioned; but even admitting this, the practice expression of Suetonius supposes that 3 aurei were
might have been discontinued so as to justify the paid every quarter instead of every four months,
statement made on this subject by Livy. We after the addition made by Domitian; that of
have not space to repeat or discuss those argu- Zonaras implies, that 4 aurei instead of 3 were
ments here, and therefore simply refer to vol. i. paid, as before, every three months, the annual
p. 374, and vol. ii. p. 441, of his History. Accord- amount being the same either way, and the quaring to Polybius (vi. 37) the daily pay of a legionary terly or four months' instalment of 3 or 4 aurei
amounted, in his time, to two oboli, which, as lie being called a stipendium. Niebuhr's (vol. ii. p.
makes a drachma equivalent to a denarius, and a 443) statement on this subject is only partially
denarius in paying the soldiers was then estimated correct or else obscure: at any rate, if the soldiers
at ten asses (Plin. I. c.), and not at sixteen, as was received 10 asses a day they must have received
usual in other money transactions, gives 3~ asses a more than 1200 a year.
day, or 100 a month. Now the yearly pension of The Praetorian cohorts received twice as much
the knights (1000 asses), observes Niebuhr, gives, as the legionaries. (Tacit. 1. c.) The pay of the
if we take the old year of 10 months, 200 asses a tribunes is not known; but it was considered very
month: just double the pay of the foot soldiers. great (Juven. iii. 132), and probably was not less
In later times the knights received triple pay (htri- than 48 aurei per annum, after the time of Domliplex stipenzdizsm e ereban2t). This allowance was tian. We must not omit to mention that if his
first established by the military tribune Cn. Corne- pay were withheld the Roman soldier was allowed
lius Cossus (400 B. c.), and according to Niebuhr by an old unwritten custom to distrain the goods
ewas then designed as a compensation to those (per pignoois capionenm.) of the officer whose duty
who served with their own horses; it did not it was to supply it. The eques was allowed the
become the general custom till some time after- same privilege against the persons who were bound
wards. Polybius (vi. 37) thus speaks of the sti- to furnish him with the aes equestre, for the purpendium of his day, which he calls 0de*vov, as chase of his horse, and the aes hordearium for its
St. Luke (iii. 14) also does. "' The foot soldier keep. (Gaius, lib. iv. ~ 26-28.)
receives as pay two oboli a day: the centurion From an expression which Livy (v. 4) puts
twice as much: the horseman a drachma or dena- into the mouth of a patrician orator, it might be
rius. The foot soldiers also receive in corn every supposed that the soldiers always received a full
month an allowance (demensssm) of 3 of an Attic year's pay, independent of the length of their sermedimnus or about 2 bushels of wheat: the horse- vice. This, however, seems so unreasonable, that
men 7 medimni of barley and 2 of wheat. The we cannot but agree with Niebuhr in supposing
infantry of the allies receive the same allowance that the historian was misled by the custom of his
('ovf c-ErpoYTrai) as the Roman: the horsemen 11 own time, when a full year had long been the stirnedimni of wheat and 5 of barley. But there is pulated term of a soldier's pay as well as of his
this difference, that the allied forces receive their service. [R. W.]