ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

one of the members lest we make an argument from silence; it should be noted however,that one of the two known members of the college for founding Tempsa was an urbanpraetor before becoming triumvir. The supplementation of Aquileia in 169 also should bedisregarded because it is the last supplement for which we have notice; it is impossible totell if it is an anomaly or marks the beginning of a trend.Discounting the latter two examples, there is only one commission out of twentythat did not contain a definite general in the Roman army. The commissions for Copiaand Tempsa both had urban praetors, however, who were still experienced in armysupply. These two commissions were also in a year in which ten colonies were eithervoted or were in the process of being founded, which would require a larger number ofavailable men than ever needed for colonization before. Thus, it seems that the preferredcomposition of a colonial commission would include at least one man who hadcommanded an army. This attests to the usefulness of the skill-set gained bycommanding a Roman legion and its applicability to Roman colonization.Moreover, sixteen out of the twenty two commissions had at least one formercommander who had led a legion multiple times, whether as praetor and consul, consultwice, or through a pro-magistracy. 6Both consuls and praetors could have their5 Copia: Livy 34.53.1-2, 35.9.7-8; Tempsa: Livy 34.45.3-5; Aquileia: Livy 43.17.1. See also Gargola(1995), pp. 60-63 for a breakdown of the consular and praetorian members of the commissions (especiallynn. 45, 46, and 51-56 on pp. 210-212 for lists of magistrates and references in Livy), although withoutdiscussion of what sort of praetor nor of any other magistracies held by the commissioners. See alsoGargola (1995), p. 212 n. 64 for the suggestion that the Aquileia supplement in 169 could not find enoughranking magistrates to fill the commission. See Salmon (1970), p. 112 f. for die break in colonization after169.6 The commissions that did not were the two commissions to Placentia and Cremona (219-218), the first ofwhich saw the commissioners taken prisoner for 15 years; these commissions are debatable in their makeup:see Gargola (1990). Also on the list of colleges without a more experienced commander are ViboValentia (194), Copia (194), Tempsa (194), and the supplement to Aquileia (169). The reasons for270