ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

two thousand artisans there the task of providing munitions for him.Supplies could also be gained from territories under Roman control, even if notwithin the current arena of battle: in 191 BCE, M. Aemilius Lepidus, who becametriumvir in charge of founding Parma and Mutina (183) and was the current praetor incharge of Sicily, was commissioned to requisition two-tenths of the grain on the island tosend to Greece. 64The senate also played a part of this transaction, but only to authorizethe transfer; the logistics were handled by the magistrates involved. This is similar to theauthorization which the senate extended to preparatory efforts while in the city of Rome,as well.During the Second Punic War, the consul arranged to enroll and supply his troopsin consultation with the senate, a duty transferred to the urban praetor when the consuldeparted. 65Within the purview of this duty, the urban praetor could appoint a legate tobuy grain, such as in 212 BCE when P. Cornelius Sulla sent C. Servilius to Etruria forthat purpose. 66Thus, the commissions for Copia and Tempsa did not cause theircolonists to suffer for not having a consul or military praetor as their highest magistrate.The urban praetors on the boards would also have had experience with supplying anarmy.All of these instances of the commanders in the army controlling their own supplylines and depots or acquiring supplies while in the field imply that supplying an army was63 Livy 26.47.64 Livy 36.2.12. See also Roth (1999), p. 247.65 Polyb. 3.106 for the consul consulting with the senate. See also Roth (1999), p. 249.66 Livy 25.15.5 and Roth (1999), p. 249. Roth also notes that the urban praetor might also aid in buildingthe navy: in 172, the senate ordered the urban praetor C. Licinius Crassus to repair 50 ships and raise crews(Livy 42.27.1).117