AES EQUESTRE
AES EQUESTRE,
AES HORDEA´RIUM, and
AES MILITA´RE, were the ancient terms for the pay of the Roman
soldiers, before the regular
stipendium was
introduced. The
aes equestre was the sum of money
given for the purchase of the horse of an eques; the
aes
hordearium, the sum of money paid yearly for the keep of the
horse of an eques--in other words, the pay of an eques; and the
aes militare, the pay of a foot-soldier. (Gaius,
4.27.)
The
aes equestre was probably introduced in the
Constitution of Servius Tullius, by way of compounding for the horse
previously supplied at the public cost to the country. It amounted,
according to Livy (
1.43), to 10,000 asses:
according to the method probably followed in Livy's estimates [
CENSUS], this sum represents 2000
libral asses, or pounds of copper. As each knight had two horses (Paul. p.
221)--one for himself, one for his attendant squire-this tallies with
Varro's statement (
L. L. 8.71),
equum
publicum mille assarium esse.
The
aes hordearium was the money paid annually
by the state for the purchase of corn (
hordeum）
for the
equi publici. It was derived from the
contributions of the
viduae et orbi, i.e. the
unmarried women (whether widows or not), orphans, and perhaps also childless
old men, past the age for military service. The sum allowed to each knight
was 2000 asses, i. e. 400 pounds of copper: the total amount paid to the
1800 knights was therefore 720,000 libral asses. There can be little doubt
that this sum was levied upon the
viduae et
orbi in proportion to their rateable property, and paid into the
aerarium, whence, like the
aes equestre, it was distributed by the
tribuni aerarii [q. v.]. Both Gaius (4.27) and
Gellius (
7.10) expressly tell us that the knights
had a right of distraint (
pignoris capio）
against the
tribuni (or, as Gaius says,
is qui distribuebat), and there is nothing
in the principles of Roman law to make us doubt this. The statement of
Cicero that this practice was introduced by Tarquinius Priscus is probably
only based upon the erroneous notion that it was borrowed from Corinth
(
de Rep. 2.20). Cf. Lange,
Röm.
Alt. 1.474-478; Marquardt,
Röm, Staatsv.
2.90 ff.
[
W.S] [
A.S.W]
