(August 1, 2016 at 5:25 pm)Banjo Wrote:(August 1, 2016 at 5:23 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Again, it makes sense because the whole idea was to keep the army busy at all times. When they weren't fighting - and there were long stretches of peace on the various fronts - or drilling, they were building. If there was nothing to build I can see commanders trying to encourage education of one type or another.
Remember, part of the appeal of a life in the legions ( or, I might add - the Auxillia) was that when your 25 years were up you got a piece of land to farm in a colony as a reward. Those people were then expected to become solid citizens of that community. The Roman army was a great civilizing force and it wasn't just because they built roads and bath houses.
I imagine that some people had more of an affinity for literacy than others but that is still true today, is it not?
That was under Caesar but it did not last.
What did not last? Augustus easily settled more retired Roman legionaries on government granted land, and thus advanced the cause of Roman culture in the empire's peripheral, than Caesar, any of Caesars predecessors back to Marius, or any subsequent emperors.
