Rome's Marian Reforms and the Gracchi

If you are a wargamer (odds are if reading this blog) then you are probably aware of the Marian Reforms of 107 BC. If you have so much as played the computer game Rome: Total War you are almost definitely aware of them in some sense. Just in case you have strolled in here by chance, I shall explain that they were a set of changes to the structure of the Roman army. These changes made the army much more professional. Today I want to talk about why these reforms came about, and why those reasons fill me with alarm for our future.

First, I want to lay out some basic elements of this story. The city of Rome rose to prominence as a result of waging and winning an awful lot of wars. For the purposes of this story, we have to consider three elements within Rome herself. First, the patrician class, the acknowledged leaders of the city. In times of war they provided Rome with her generals and (initially) her cavalry. Rather like the Greek hoplite's armour showed he was a wealthy member of his city state, so did the nobleman's ability to keep a horse show off his wealth. Second, the plebeians, the lower orders, who provided the footsoldiers of the army. The younger, poorer ones comprised the light infantry, and those who got older and wealthier advanced in seniority, providing the medium and heavy infantry. Third, the slaves, who generally played no role in combat.

The infantry were "yeomen farmers", a term which was still being applied to "salt of the earth" soldiery in Australia in the Great War, I believe. In a word, they had a plot of land, which they and their families farmed. When there was a war, they left their families to tend the land, and took up arms for the Republic. Obviously, if you have one fewer able-bodied man to run a farm, it will do less well. I mentioned that Rome enjoyed victory in a string of wars. That means that rather than the occasional year when the homesteader was unavailable, it began to be the case that he was off campaigning for years at a time.

If you were a poor man, you just had yourself and your family. If you were a rich one, then even if you were away, you could buy slaves to tend your property in your absence. These slaves were not part of the normal army, so had no obligation to serve. So you can see how the rich man's farm, running at full capacity, is going to out-produce the poor man's. Sometimes the poor man's farm will fail, and he will have to sell up. Something we see in the press today about farmers is them complaining that supermarkets do not pay them enough to make their work viable. Many leave the job because of this. It was the same in the time of the Republic. If one could not make a living, why keep trying?

Gradually, the wealthy forced out many farmers. Like the baddies in many Westerns, they would buy up the smallholdings, consolidate them into their large estates, and make even more money. In Britain it has long been a saying that one can make one's fortune on the gold-paved streets of London. The Romans felt the same. The erstwhile farmers would head for Rome. Legally speaking, the Republic had land which belonged to the State itself, conquered in war. Gradually, the rich had taken all this over for their grand estates, too. This was the beginning of a crisis. The Roman Army relied upon recruiting men who could pay for their own equipment, but fewer and fewer were available.

Into this crisis stepped Tiberius Gracchus. Some saw him as a man on the make, aiming to use the support of the plebeians to make himself consul. Others saw him as a saviour, who would return to them the lands they had lost, give them back their dignity, and restore the balance of power in the state. He attempted to pass legislation that would have take public land, which the rich held illegally, and returned it to the one-time farmers, who now filled Rome. Political manoeuvring followed, and the Senate decided Tiberius was an existential threat to the Republic. A senatorial mob fashioned clubs, then beat him and three hundred of his followers to death. To mollify the people, they accepted Tiberius' propositions. However, this did not solve the problem.

About a decade after Tiberius' murder, his younger brother, Gaius, rose to prominence.He was a cannier man than his brother, and succeeded in a whole host of reforms. However, in the end the Senate won again, Gaius fled and committed suicide, as was the Roman way. Within fifteen years the situation was worse than it had been for the poor at the beginning of Tiberius' attempts. Marius enacted his reforms as the army would otherwise have no soldiers.

The result of this was that the security of these soldiers was tied to the political success of whoever their general was. If their general did poorly, their future was at risk. If he did well, they were safe. Their loyalty was to their generals, not to the state, for the state, run by the wealthy, had given them no reason to love it. This led to rather a lot of civil wars.

The rich were supposed to rule the state for the benefit of all, but instead used their power to accumulate more riches to themselves, while allowing the poor to become poorer, disenfranchised and desperate. Eventually, the poor discovered that the rich did not have the best interests of the poor in mind, and threw their support behind anyone who might be able to provide for them personally.

I see the same pattern today. The disparity between the wealthy and the poor has been growing since before I was even born. The powerful in America have refused to root out the problem, and now America has President elect Trump. The powerful in Britain refused to do anything about the problem, and many of those who voted for Brexit did so to stick two fingers up at the Establishment. It matters not to these people that the man in America who is supposedly opposing the Establishment is a billionaire. The powerful in Britain show no signs of awareness of the road they are on. Just now the Work and Pensions Secretary has lied about the nature of jobs in the UK.

Mr Green said in a speech at the Reform think-tank on Wednesday morning: “Just a few years ago the idea of a proper job meant a job that brings in a fixed monthly salary, with fixed hours, paid holidays, sick pay, a pension scheme and other contractual benefits.
“But the gig economy has changed all that. We’ve seen the rise of the everyday entrepreneur. People now own their time and control who receives their services and when.
“They can pick and mix their employers, their hours, their offices, their holiday patterns. This is one of the most significant developments in the labour market. The potential is huge and the change is exciting.”

I had one of those jobs he was talking about for over a year. We employees did not own our own time. We did not control who received our services and when. If our boss needed us in at a particular time on a particular day, we were there. Two of my fellow employees took the post because it was convenient because of their childcare arrangements. When those arrangements fell through, through no fault of their own, it imperilled their jobs. They were women, and women often take such jobs precisely because of childcare. Green lies that one can pick and mix employers and hours. I shall not pretend to believe that he is mistaken. He is just lying. When taking on new employees, my employers would check that they weren't also working other jobs, as those hours could interfere with their availability to work whenever the employers wanted.

The point is made. He shows no awareness of the hardships of the people he and his government crush beneath their exquisitely-made boots. I very much fear we are on course for a repetition of something terrible. The wealthy will not stop it because it is not immediately profitable to do so, even though in the long term it could save much more of their wealth.

Surprises at work!

I am doing a bit of temping at the minute, which is leaving little time for hobbying. However, I have spotted some great things at work. I understand that the chap who owns the place I'm working is a wealthy collector of militaria. When I say militaria, I mean military vehicles. I had the chance at lunch on Monday to pop round and take a few snaps of the newly arrived armoured car. It's gorgeous.

Happy Independence Day

To all my readers in the United States of America!

The Battle of the Somme

A century ago the British Army under Haig launched the largest assault it had ever conducted, preceded by the most powerful artillery bombardment the Royal Artillery had ever made. The plan was that the sheer volume of shellfire would blast away the defences of the enemy, leaving them dead or too stunned to defend, and pulverising the barbed wire entanglements. This turned out not to be the case. The first day of fighting saw nearly 60,000 soldiers from Britain and her Empire killed. That figure excludes the losses of our French allies and our German opponents. The war would continue for more than another two years, by which time over 900,000 soldiers from Britain and her Empire were dead. Around 8.5 million soldiers died on both sides by the time the guns fell silent. Europe then paused for two decades before embarking on the rematch.

Remembrance

This post should have gone up earlier today, but something seems to have gone awry.

I picked up the Great War boardgame the other week, and have just got the BEF ready in time for 11th November. The Germans are still being painted. A few pictures are below. If you look closely, you can see I have mislaid one of the members of the HMG teams. Not too bothered, as I plan to pick up some more of these chaps. Lovely to paint, these little fellows. Setting gaming aside, this is a day to remember the loss of those who died. Wilfred Owen reminds us of the tragedy that was that Great War.

Dulce et Decorum Est

By Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

Happy Vinalia!

Since it's 23rd April, I think we all know what day it is. That's right: the feast of Vinalia urbana.

The Vinalia were Roman festivals of the wine harvest, wine vintage and gardens, held in honour of Jupiter and Venus. The Vinalia prima ("first Vinalia"), also known as the Vinalia urbana ("Urban Vinalia") was held on April 23, to bless and sample last year's wine and ask for good weather until the next harvest. The Vinalia rustica ("Rustic Vinalia") was on August 19, before the harvest and grape-pressing.

So remember to sample a spot of wine after work, folks! Spill any, and you can always claim it's an offering to Jove or Venus. :D

Also, Happy St George's Day, 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and thousandth anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf!

Guest post: Things I’ve Learned about Writing Research by M. W. Quinn

Ahoy, folks. This is the second of two guest posts by my friend Matthew W. Quinn.

One of the most important aspects of writing is research. If an error throws the reader out of the story or provokes them to throw the book against the wall, you have failed.

For my unpublished (thus far) novel Battle for the Wastelands, its companion novella Son of Grendel, and the quarter-finished second novel Escape from the Wastelands, I had to do a lot of research on Civil War battles and weapons. Both Wikipedia and YouTube proved quite useful, as I could quickly find out about different guns, then go to YouTube to watch them being fired.

However, a hard science fiction project I’ve been working on will require even more. There are plenty of books about the Civil War that won’t be hard to find, but finding a book from the 1980s about the Strategic Defense Initiative and in particular a proposed nuke-pumped laser is harder. Furthermore, it’s set in a future space-based United States Navy, so there’s an extra layer of research that simply Must Get Done if I want to sell to military and former military people.

My most helpful resource has been the public library system. Although you can get a lot of superficial information from the Internet, books are what’ll help you go deep. When I lived on the South Side of Atlanta, the statewide PINES library system was extremely helpful in getting me the information I needed. When I moved to the North Side, the Atlanta-Fulton library system and the Cobb County library system became my new mainstay. Libraries often have books that bookstores don’t. One of my big research sources for Battle for the Wastelands was the series Daily Life In…, in particular the ones about Victorian England, the United States during the Civil War, and the 19^th Century American frontier. Those books were apparently fairly limited in terms of press run, since the Amazon price for each one is around $50. They’re especially valuable because although many history books cover big-picture items like wars and the reasons behind economic shake-ups, they won’t go into detail about how people lived, what they ate, etc.

Writing groups are another source. Different group members often know a lot about particular topics. For example, a member of one of my writing groups knows a lot about firearms. During a critique of Son of Grendel, he pointed out that I should depict insurgents firing modern assault rifles on full auto reloading, since this goes through bullets VERY fast. Although I’d depicted them having to fight the guns dragging upward, I’d forgotten about that even though it’s fairly common sense. Another group member is a retired Army sergeant who’s been quite helpful in areas of military protocol and tactics, including a scene in Son of Grendel where a colonel is directing soldiers during a firefight while on horseback — he might as well be wearing a sign that says “Kill Me” — and a scene in Battle for the Wastelands in which a sergeant oversees shooting drills.

Meanwhile, at least three members of my other writing group are retired military. One provided some good advice on portraying a military policewoman’s reaction to being hit on in a bar (probably not a good one), while another — a retired Navy submarine petty officer — provided a lot of material about Navy culture and protocol. He also informed me of the “one crew one screw” rule in which collective punishments are used to give all members of a unit incentive to keep troublemakers under control. I was sure to use this in Battle when a sergeant makes all members of a squad do “gaspers” (what I describe as “an unholy mix of squatting, push-ups, and jumping to their feet”) when three members get into an argument.

However, you’ve got to make sure you’re using quality material for your research. I remember (hopefully incorrectly) a history of Anglo-Saxon England I read in high school implied the Normans imposed the infamous “first night” on England after their conquest, but the historical evidence for this “right” even existing is rather spotty. If something seems weird, I would recommend looking for corroboration in other sources.

Matthew W. Quinn is a published writer of short stories and an aspiring novelist. Several independently-published short stories of his are available on Amazon. His blog is The World According To Quinn.

Guest Post: My Career as a Kindle Direct Author, Thus Far

Today's post is a guest post from an author and mate of mine, Matthew Quinn. He's a grand fella, and so without further ado, I turn you over to him!

Hey everybody. My name is Matthew W. Quinn. Pete graciously allowed me to make his blog a stop on my blog tour promoting my newest Kindle-published stories — the alternate history spy tale “Picking Up Plans In Palma” and the supervillain protagonist tales “Ubermensch” and “Needs Must.”

 I’ve been writing short fiction and trying to sell it to magazines since 2001. 2006, when I was a senior at the University of Georgia, brought my first sale — “I am the Wendigo,” sold to the now-defunct webzine Chimaera Serials. A few more sales followed— the college tales “Nicor” and “Lord Giovanni’s Daughter” to the print magazine Flashing Swords in 2008, my licensed BattleTech tale “Skirmish at the Vale’s Edge” to BattleCorps in 2009, “Coil Gun” to Digital Science Fiction in 2011, and most recently, “Nicor” to Heroic Fantasy Quarterly in 2012.

(Flashing Swords paid me for both stories but went on hiatus before they could be printed.)

However, I still had many I wasn’t able to sell. I used feedback from the markets that rejected them and commentary from online groups like Critters and my two real-life groups to improve each version of the story, but as the markets for short fiction declined, I soon ran out of acceptable places to submit.

So I decided to self-publish. The first was my horror tale “Melon Heads,” which I started writing in 2004 after coming across an urban legends website in college. “Wendigo” came next, a glorious resurrection requiring e-mailing an Internet forum someone posted the text on to get them to remove it. My last two were also college stories, the Ottoman-era Lovecraftian tale “The Beast of the Bosporus” and the science fiction “Illegal Alien.” I decided to self- publish three more after figuring I wasn’t likely to find a paying home for my supervillain stories (subject matter) and “Palma” (length).

Here are some lessons I’ve learned, some the hard way:

*Social media advertising for short stories is not worth it. Buying Facebook ads and paying to promote the posts announcing new publications may have gotten me a lot of Facebook followers and a few sales, but they were a net loss. And my attempt to use Google ads to promote “Melon Heads” failed miserably. I made no “Melon Heads” sales at all while the Google ad was active.

*Internet message-boards, though time-consuming, are a better option. I had a review for “Palma” from a fellow member of my alternate-history forum within a day, while a former member and I have swapped reviews for each other’s work. And I made a couple sales of “Palma” within days of posting a publication announcement on the forum. The message-board also got me in contact with Alex Claw, who has provided excellent covers for most of my stories, as well as loyal reviewers Sean C.W. Korsgaard and Matthew Stienberg.

*Twitter can be useful. Author Saladin Ahmed is a proponent of increasing diversity in speculative fiction and when I tweeted him the announcements for “Ubermensch” and “Needs Must”—stories whose protagonist is an irreligious half-Indian biomedical engineer—he re-tweeted it to his many thousands of followers. I don’t know how many sales resulted, but I’m fairly certain I acquired a few Twitter followers.

*Don’t expect rivers of cash from short fiction alone. I’ve made more money Kindle-publishing the first four stories than I would have made from non-paying or many token markets, but my Kindle revenues combined are less than the penny a word Flashing Swords paid me for “Nicor” or “Lord Giovanni’s Daughter” individually. I’m thinking the money will come long term, once I have published books drawing people to my Amazon author page. William Meikle has Kindle-published many short stories he’s sold to dead magazines and anthologies and considering how he has many novels in print, I imagine he’s doing well. Of course, that presupposes I’ll sell one or more novels and we all know about not counting chickens.

*Elaborate cover art doesn’t guarantee sales. “Illegal Alien” has a beautiful cover, but at this rate it will be years before it sells enough copies to pay for it. “Melon Heads” and “I am Wendigo” have simple covers I got for free and they’ve sold far better. If you’re going to invest in a fancy cover, do it for a book, not a short story.

Matthew W. Quinn is a freelance writer and editor from Marietta, GA. Those interested in finding out more about him can visit his blog, The World According To Quinn.