l of the Roman Empire. This was made possible when emperors became afraid of their own troops and the possible rebellion against them. Therefore the emperors to remain on their throne were sometimes obliged to buy the emperor powers from soldiers and other militia men. The lack of conventional loyalty and honor towards the emperor led to a character change in the Roman soldier. ROMAN SOLDIERS BEFORE AND AFTER Before the Civil War the Roman soldier was considered as probably the greatest fighting force in all of the Western World. During the Pax Romana period, the Roman soldier used his superior organization and training to conquer nations. He was extremely disciplined and professional. He and his army were literally the wall which protected Rome. Their fighting willpower would allow them to remain on the battlefield no matter what and how long battles were needed for victory. “They would join the army at the age of eighteen. Their recruitment was localized and usually hereditary. They were not allowed to marry while on service. Their employment included police duties, checking and rounding up local raiders.”(8) “The army had two purposes, first to fight wars of conquest and satisfy the emperors desires for glory, booty, and expanded territory. Second, to suppress the unrest in outlying provinces.”(9) But all this seemed to be changing later on in the empire with the emperors change in attitude and the allowing of barbarous German tribes into the army. Emperors resorted first to the population of the barbarous regions of the empire regions, then to foreign barbarians. In the reserve army, the highest regarded men were the barbarians units. These officers occupied the highest ranks up to that of master of the militia. With all the favoritism toward the German unit the Roman soldiers began to feel inferior and secondary in their role of defending the empire. The military commanders began to use their military troops...
