Day of Empire_ How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance--And Why They Fall - Amy Chua [32]
The Romanization of local communities began with the aristocracy. Public officeholders were typically granted Roman citizenship as a matter of course, regardless of their race or ethnicity. This citizenship grant resulted in the gradual Romanization of the local elite, who came to identify themselves with Roman rule and to see their interests as aligned with the preservation of the empire. As Aristides wrote, “There is no need for garrisons to hold their citadels, but the men of greatest standing and influence in every city guard their fatherlands for you.”
Roman citizenship was not limited to the upper classes. Many among the lower classes were incorporated into the ranks of citizens through service in the army. Both tradition and Roman religion decreed that the legions of the Roman army—its prestigious core—had to be composed of Roman citizens. When the legions were low on recruits, the commanders would accept foreigners and simply grant them citizenship. This happened en masse in extreme circumstances, as when Caesar created his famous Gallic legion, and even in ordinary times, especially in the East, when numbers were low and citizens were not turning out for the army.
It was much more common, however, to become a Roman citizen by joining the auxiliary forces. Although these forces were mainly comprised of noncitizens, twenty-five years of service in the auxiliary army entitled one to citizenship. Ten thousand people annually became citizens via this route. Soldiers in the Roman army were generally not allowed to contract into marriage during their tenure; it was thought that this would distract them from their duties and reduce their ferocity. Nonetheless, most soldiers did have relationships that resulted in offspring, and those children were granted citizenship at the end of their father's service. This practice contributed greatly to the Romanization of the lower classes.
In other cases, a whole community could be granted the prestigious—and usually materially beneficial—status of “Roman colony.” When this happened, the entire free male population became citizens. Over time, the ranks of Roman citizens throughout the empire steadily increased, culminating in Emperor Caracalla's mass enfranchisement of AD 212, granting citizenship to every freeborn male in the empire.
Rome's color-blind and surprisingly class-blind approach to citizenship was instrumental in spreading Roman culture and values. Across the empire, Roman citizens eagerly donned the Roman toga and adopted the tria nomina, the Roman three-part name, in order to convey their elite status.22
“TO SEE THE WHOLE POPULATION
OF THE WORLD IN TOGAS”
In incorporating different peoples, Rome's ideal was emphatically not multicultural diversity. It was assimilation. Rome was tolerant in the sense that any group willing to adopt Roman customs, manners, and ethos could be fully incorporated into the empire, regardless of ethnic origins. But the Romans had no interest in preserving, respecting, or honoring the practices they found barbaric.
They were disgusted, for instance, by the unkempt appearance of the Irish Celts, who wore their hair long and sported trousers instead of togas. They criticized the Britons, who had access to milk, but—unfathomably—did not use it to make cheese. They spurned the Lusitanians, in today's Portugal, who slept on the ground, made bread out of acorn meal, preferred water to wine, and cooked with butter instead of olive oil.
For the Romans, however, these coarse traits were remediable. Roman contempt for barbarian subjects evaporated as soon as they