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Short description

These Principes are recruited from among Rome's allies and equipped in the same way as their Roman counterparts.

Description

The military superiority of the Roman Republic rested heavily on the manpower and loyalty of its allies, the Italic Socii. Most of these communities, tribes or city states had been subjected by force during the early centuries of Rome's expansion across Italy, but they remained remarkably loyal to the Republic even in its darkest days.

Polybios (III, 90, 13-14) comments on their steadfastness after the crushing defeat at Lake Trasimene in 217 BC: "For up to now, although the Romans had been beaten in two battles, not a single Italian city had revolted to the Carthaginians, but all remained loyal, although some suffered much. From which one may estimate the awe and respect that the allies felt for the Roman state."

The Socii were organised by the Romans into legions like their own - each with the same number of velites, hastate, principes, and triarii, but with up to three times as many equites (cavalry) and served alongside them for the majority of the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BCE, including the Punic Wars, the struggle against the Hellenic powers of the eastern Mediterranean, the Numantian Wars, the war against Jugurtha, and the defeat of the Cimbri and Tuetones.

The Principes were armed similarly to the Hastati who, traditionally, deployed in front of them in battle. However, due to their higher social status and age, the Principes were able to equip themselves more adeptly. They wore chain mail armour, as opposed to the "pectoral" seen on Hastati, as well as greaves, the gladius, scutum, pila and the 'Montefortino' helmet. It should be noted though, that because of the self-equipping nature of the Roman Army of this period, the equipment of each individual would naturally vary.

In battle, Principes demonstrated model discipline, as well as a stubborn resolve to fight to the last, due to innate courage and training. The Principes were usually described as "the foremost", perhaps in the sense of being the best fighters, or in our terms, those on whom the battle depended.

Polybius (Book 6, 21.6) states that the Principes were in the "prime of life" and that along with the Velites, Hastati and Triarii, made up "the names among the Romans of the four classes in each legion distinct in age and equipment. They divided them so that the senior men known as Triarii number six hundred, the Principes twelve hundred, the Hastati twelve hundred, the rest, consisting of the youngest, being Velites.

The gladius varied in design throughout its usage and the gladius Hispaniensis was the most commonly and widely used, being adopted after Roman contact, in Iberia, with the Celtiberians. The scutum or shield was semi-rectangular in shape and provided good protection for almost the entire body. The pilum (pila pl.) was the javelin thrown before charging the enemy, of which they had two.

The Montefortino helmet was the head protection of choice in the Republican era. It received its name after archaeological finds in the Italian town of Montefortino. Earlier examples may have been more decorative (often adorned with black ostrich feathers from Latium), due to the fact that equipment (including helmets) would have been passed down through the generations of a family whereas, post-Marius, the Head Count soldiers enlisted couldn't afford to equip themselves, and therefore relied on the State to provide them with standardised, though less decorative, equipment.

The armament of the Principes was similar to that of the Hastati, as each were within the same class level (classis) or property ownership for the levy. Finds in Numantia, among other places, confirm the standard equipment of legionary pila, heavy oblong scutum, gladius, and armour (a pectoral, or, for wealthier soldiers, a shirt of lorica hamata). (20.11.2) Some have used Dionysius' statement from Roman Antiquities, 20.11.2 ("Those who fight with cavalry spears ... the Romans call Principes") to claim that the Principes fought with a hasta similar to the Triarii. It is, however, more likely that Dionysius was using a Pyrrhic era source, or mistakenly wrote "Principes" when he should have written "Triarii". Following the Marian reforms, the equipment borne by the legionaries was effectively that of the principes.

Marius' reforms also began to break down the distinction between Roman and Italian legions - granting citizenship to Italians that enlisted in the legions and effectively making all the legions under the Republic's command truly "Roman legions".

Following the Social Wars, as swathes of Italian communities south of the River Po had been given Roman citizenship, the concept of separate allied Italic and Roman legions became completely obsolete. This, combined with the fact that the Marian reforms ensured that standardised equipment was provided by the state, meant that the Romans could recruit their reformed legions from the entire Italian peninsula, though remnants of the manipular system remained in the positions and titles of centurions within each cohort of the reformed legions.