Roman Military Tribunes

Great Jobs, If You Could Get Them
So Few Of Them Did Any Work

Roman military tribunes came in two flavours, senators' sons and knights. The young soon-to-be-senators were getting their first taste of army life - on what was often their first time away from home.

The knights, who we called equestrians, should have had a bit of experience with the Auxiliaries, before coming to a legion.

Tribunus Laticlavius

Roman military tribunes of the senatorial class were called laticlavius from the broad purple stripe on their togas. Every legion had one.

The noble lad, 18 to 20 years old, was assigned as second in command to the legate (in name only - thank the gods!). He was there to learn about how the army worked. By overseeing his general's office, he would learn how the legion was organized.

A broad-stripe was too young to have had any more military experience than our raw legionary recruits. Life in the headquarters was all he learned. Posted to a legion in a peaceful province, he would go home thinking army life was an easy job with a great social life.

If that three year posting was with a fighting legion, he would have a better idea of the army's real life and work. The British legions produced well trained tribunes.

Then he went back to Rome to stand for the post of Quaestor and begin his career in politics. In another ten years or so,the lad whose legate spoke well of him, might get to command a legion.

I knew a broad-stripe tribune called Julius Agricola, who turned out to be a born soldier. He was that 'exception that proves a rule'. He was on the staff of Governor Paulinus when Boudicca led a revolt in Britannia. The lad learned how to fight a legion with it's back to the wall.

Julius Agricola next appeared in Britannia as a legate and then served here again as governor...for an unusually long term. He did a lot to make Britain Roman.

His son-in-law, P Tacitus, wrote a book about him that people still read, in your time. It's called 'The Agricola', oddly enough, and it is one of the reasons your world has always known a good bit about Roman Britain.

Tribunus Angusticlavius

The junior tribune (Angusticlavius - which grand title means he has a narrow purple stripe on his toga) came in sets of five.

They were usually young men of Equestrian rank. As knights, they were entitled to a horse, at public expense. I knew a few who would have been happy to pass that honor. Being real Romans, they preferred to walk - but rank has it's duties.

Army postings were steps on the knight's 'career ladder'. The problem for Roman military tribunes, in my time, was that the rules kept changing.

Under Augustus, they might have been former centurions who, as professional soldiers, could offer sensible advice to their legate. Then some genius decided that plebes are too low a class for the tribunate. Only Equestrians could apply.

Narrow stripe tribunes - under the old emperor, Claudius - had to get experience commanding auxiliary infantry and cavalry before they could boss legionaries about. They were useful.

Under Nero (or perhaps his tutor, Burrus - commander of the praetorian guard), they had to command a cohort of auxiliary infantry, then get themselves appointed as a tribune, before commanding auxiliary cavalry.

Between their army postings, most of them worked as clerks in government offices or the courts, in Rome. Unless their families were well connected, they needed to find a high ranking patron - a Praetor(Judge)or even a Consul(Prime Minister).

The patron had to be persuaded to write his friend, the governor of a province, and ask him to appoint the 'fine young knight' to command a cohort or to a legion, as a Roman military tribune.

It might have been a bit easier to get that first posting to the auxiliary cohort if their dad had earned his knighthood as a senior centurion.

The poor auxiliaries were expected to break in their 'commanders' who had no experience at all.

By the time they got to a legion, we expected them to know their way around - the camp and the language, at least. If they'd got too many auxiliaries killed, they wouldn't have been appointed as Roman military tribunes, would they? Or so we hoped.

Roman Military Tribunes
Had No Clear Command Position In A Legion

Being more honest than polite, that was probably a good thing.

Roman military tribunes were usually kept out of the way acting as, well, clerks. They shuffled a lot of tablets and scrolls around headquarters or did odd jobs for the legate or even the Governor.

Being a bit more sympathetic, it must have been very frustrating for a man who had real authority one year, to be seen as an over paid clerk, the next.

Both Laticlavius and Angusticlavii (all five of them),spent their time with a legion to learn the nuts and bolts organization of the Roman army. If they showed any talent at all, the equestrian officers might go back to the auxiliaries as prefect of an ala of cavalry, after more service in Rome.

The best we hoped from them was that as they moved up through the civil service in Rome, they would remember to get our pay sent out on time.

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