rmy.

The Roman governing class itself was in no small measure a military aristocracy, in which long service as a junior officer was a prerequisite for a political career, and in which the major public offices co

Warfare, it is always to be remembered, was a central preoccupation of Roman society, a normal part of life. There was the interval between 241 when the First Punic War ended after twenty-three years of protracted agony and monstrous casualties, and the outbreak of the Second Punic War in 218 as a period of peace, briefly interrupted by Illyrian wars in 229-228 and 219 and by a Gallic invasion in 225.

Despite the meagreness of the sources for this 'interlude' there are only five years in which active warfare is not positively attested. Roman forces were repeatedly employed in the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica and against the Ligurians and the Gallic tribes of northern Italy, as well as in the two Illyrian campaigns; and at least thirteen Roman commanders celebrated public military triumphs. Nor were these the remote activities of a professional Army.

The Roman governing class itself was in no small measure a military aristocracy, in which long service as a junior officer was a prerequisite for a political career, and in which the major public offices com

ony and monstrous casualties, and the outbreak of the Second Punic War in 218 as a period of peace, briefly interrupted by Illyrian wars in 229-228 and 219 and by a Gallic invasion in 225.

Despite the meagreness of the sources for this 'interlude' there are only five years in which active warfare is not positively attested. Roman forces were repeatedly employed in the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica and against the Ligurians and the Gallic tribes of northern Italy, as well as in the two Illyrian campaigns; and at least thirteen Roman commanders celebrated public military triumphs. Nor were these the remote activities of a professional Army.

The Roman governing class itself was in no small measure a military aristocracy, in which long service as a junior officer was a prerequisite for a political career, and in which the major public offices co

of the sources for this 'interlude' there are only five years in which active warfare is not positively attested. Roman forces were repeatedly employed in the conquest of Sardinia and Corsica and against the Ligurians and the Gallic tribes of northern Italy, as well as in the two Illyrian campaigns; and at least thirteen Roman commanders celebrated public military triumphs. Nor were these the remote activities of a professional Army.

The Roman governing class itself was in no small measure a military aristocracy, in which long service as a junior officer was a prerequisite for a political career, and in which the major public offices co

s and the Gallic tribes of northern Italy, as well as in the two Illyrian campaigns; and at least thirteen Roman commanders celebrated public military triumphs. Nor were these the remote activities of a professional Army.

The Roman governing class itself was in no small measure a military aristocracy, in which long service as a junior officer was a prerequisite for a political career, and in which the major public offices co

rmy.

The Roman governing class itself was in no small measure a military aristocracy, in which long service as a junior officer was a prerequisite for a political career, and in which the major public offices combined civil and military functions. This was the class into which Cato was to make his way. Military prowess counted for much, and it was no irrelevance when he boasted of the martial qualities of his father and great--grandfather; but more relevant still were those of Cato himself, and there was no lack of opportunity to display them.

When Hannibal had crossed the Alps he defeated the Roman armies at the Ticinus and the Trebia. The massacre at Trasimene in 217 was followed in 216 by the catastrophe of Cannae, which to all appearances brought Rome to the brink of total disaster. Recovery was slow and arduous. Roman armies toiled and fought in Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, in Spain and Sicily, and ultimately in Africa.

Cato first enlisted, as he himself stated, 'at the age of seventeen, at the time when Hannibal, enjoying the favour of fortune, was