Society and Army in the Second Century BCE. Once more on Sp. Ligustinus

The centurion Sp. Ligustinus (Liv. XLII 34) represents the ideal type of the virtuous soldier of the good old times. The brief passage by Livy devoted to Sp. Ligustinus’ speech is full of relevant information about his idealised perception of the Italic and precisely of the Sabine society in the second century B.C., as he widely shares the conservative ideology of Cato the Censor. Quite risky appears the attempt to use this episode as a milestone in the evolution of the Roman army in the age of the Mediterranean conquests.

Keywords: Titus Livius, Cato the Elder, mos maiorum, Roman economy, Roman army.