This post brought to you by chronic insomnia!

There had been Roman cavalry earlier in the Republic, but by the 1st century BCE it was almost totally gone. Several interrelated factors contributed to the disappearance of the Roman cavalry corps. I'm going to talk about one here, and maybe another if I am still awake.

In the 1st century BCE we can begin to detect marked changes in how the Roman elite participated in military service. In the 3rd century, the role of a cavalryman was well suited to the middling landed elite youth -- it was a viable and valuable step along the way in a young aristocrat's life. In this way it was very similar to the ephebic tradition of classical Athens. As a cavalry trooper, a young aristocrat was fulfilling a duty prized by the Romans in the Mid Republic (who went to war just about every year); he got to interface with elite peers and superiors; and he had the opportunity (at least) to earn accolades (via virtus) that might serve to further his career later.

By the 1st century, this tradition of elite youth service had lapsed. Young men were no longer compelled (or required, as it had come to be by the end of the 2nd c.) to serve as troopers, and this avenue for furtherment/betterment had been, apparently, largely abandoned. We hear of young men getting exemptions from the cavalry for this or that deed -- it had become something to avoid, not to seek out.

Clearly, that vehicle for prestige by service in the cavalry had been somehow replaced. McCall (The cavalry of the Roman Republic 2005) suggests that in this period, there was a growing emphasis on oratory and advocacy (lawyering) as a path to prestige and distinction. There is certainly some solid evidence for it (Caesar learned oratory at a young age and distinguished himself early as an orator, then only later as an imperator; and Cicero made his whole career on advocacy). He also suggests, rather cynically, that the wars of the 3rd and 2nd centuries brought immense infusions of cash into Italy and the hands of the landed elite, so that by the 1st century the youth were trending towards wealth-related careers at the expense of cavalry service (on Wall Street instead of the army, in other words). I'm not sure about this either, but there it is.

Let me quote from his conclusion:

In the larger picture the changes in cavalry service were part and parcel of the general evolution of elite values that took place over the last three centuries of the Republic. One cause of this change was the acquisition of a Mediterranean empire. Historians have long recognized that Roman society underwent tremendous social, cultural, economic, and political changes as a result of centuries of conquests. The standards of wealth for members of the elite rose rapidly as more and more wealth poured into their pockets from conquests, taxfarming, and provincial exploitation. The elite came to dominate increasing amounts of Italian land and profited from that land by operating slave-cultivated, market-oriented farms, farms that produced oil, wine, and luxury goods for Rome and other urban markets. It appears, if anything, the rich had grown richer at Rome while the peasants largely remained at a subsistence level of existence or became landless paupers. In short, the gulf between rich and poor had widened considerably as a result of the wealth from the Empire. Nor was economic growth the only effect the Empire had upon the Roman elite. Increasing contact with Greeks, for example, brought admiration of, and eventually skill in, the components of Greek education and culture. Elite Romans pursued a Greek education, sent their sons abroad to study with master philosophers, and sought to distinguish themselves as literati. [. . .] Social, economic, and political changes over the last three centuries of the Republic affected how the Roman elite viewed themselves and what they valued. We should not overestimate the changes in elite values. The evolution in elite values and identity was very gradual and largely seamless. A fourth century aristocrat would not have found his first century counterpart incomprehensible. Both competed with their peers for offices and honors; both sought to increase their reputations whenever possible; both worked to distinguish themselves from their social subordinates in as many ways as possible. Nevertheless, the elite Romans of the first century faced a set of challenges and problems that their fourth century predecessors did not face to the same degree – not least of all how to distinguish themselves as elite in a society with great monetary wealth and an expanded citizen body. Cavalry service was not an effective means for coping with these problems and it lapsed. This important change in the military sphere was closely connected to social, political, and economic changes. The end of cavalry service was another reflection of the changes in elite values in the late Republic.