ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

sed occurrebat artimis quantos exercitus terrestres naualesque tuerenturquantaque noua classis moxparanda esset si bellum Macedonicum moueretur:Siciliam ac Sardiniam, quae ante bellum uectigales fuissent, uixpraesidesprouinciarum exercitus alere; tribute sumptus suppeditari... Livy 23.48.6-7.But other considerations were present to their minds - the enormous landand sea forces they had to keep up; the large fleet that would have to befitted out if the war with Macedon went forward; the condition of Sicilyand Sardinia, which before the war had helped to fill the treasury and werenow hardly able to support the armies which were protecting those islands;and, above all, the shrinkage in the revenue... (Trans. Roberts, my italics)Ultimately, in order to grant the Scipiones' request for aid, the senate was forced tosubcontract the procurement and shipment of material supplies for the army in Spain tobenefactors from among the citizens of Rome. Thus, while the senate customarily didsend physical supplies to the commanders in the field, those supplies were procuredthrough a decision to allocate money to their purchase in Rome rather than from somesort of senatorial store-house. The purchasing action implies the agency of an individualofficer or group of individual statesmen, who used the state's money and senatorialauthorization to procure and ship goods.On the general's side of the supply issue, there was also the duty to instruct hisofficers and their soldiers to gather supplies either from the foraging in the fields or fromenemy cities. While this is not the same as direct control over supply lines, it was often anecessary process while an army was in the field and shows a general's experienceutilizing the resources available to him. After the Punic Wars, Roman armies reliedheavily on conquered cities for their supply needs while in the field. 62For example, whenScipio conquered the Carthaginian arsenal at Carthago Nova in 210 BCE, he assigned theBishop and Coulston (2006), p. 231.116