A legate (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: , ) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the

Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...

, equivalent to a high-ranking

general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

of modern times. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

as the officer in command of a

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

. From the times of the Roman Republic, legates received large shares of the military's rewards at the end of a successful campaign. This made the position a lucrative one, so it could often attract even distinguished consuls or other high-ranking political figures within Roman politics (e.g., the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Lucius Julius Caesar volunteered late in the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gauls, Gallic, Germanic peoples, Germanic, and Celtic Britons, Brittonic trib ...

as a legate under his first cousin, Gaius Julius Caesar). Diplomats and envoys sent by Rome were also given the title of legate.

History

Roman Republic

The rank of legate existed as early as the

Samnite Wars The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe. ...

, but it was not until 190 BC that it started to be standardized, meant to better manage the higher numbers of soldiers the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Ancient Carthage, Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For ...

had forced to recruit. The legate of a Roman Republican army was essentially a supreme

military tribune A military tribune () was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribunes as a stepping stone to the Senate. The should not be confused with the ...

, drawn from among the senatorial class of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(usually a

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

), who acted as a second-in-command to the magistrate in charge of the force. This role was usually played by either seasoned generals or ambitious young senators; the latter option eventually displaced the military tribune as a path to gain recognition. The legate was officially assigned by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, the republic's highest governing body. An appointment was generally only done after consulting with the magistrate in command, hoping to pair a commander and a lieutenant who could work together without trouble. This was established to avoid clashes of leadership like that of the consuls

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

and Paulus in Cannae. The legate often acted as a military consultant or adviser, like

Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (, , ; 236/235–) was a Roman general and statesman who was one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Ancient Carthage, Carthage in the Second Punic War. Often regarded as one of the greatest milit ...

did for his brother Lucius during the

Roman–Seleucid War The Roman–Seleucid war (192–188 BC), also called the Aetolian war, Antiochene war, Syrian war, and Syrian-Aetolian war was a military conflict between two coalitions, one led by the Roman Republic and the other led by the Seleucid Empi ...

, or as a trusted man of action, as in the case of Lucius Quinctius Flamininus and his brother

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...

in their campaigns. After the changes in the army of the late Republic around the 1st century BCE (often referred to as the "

Marian reforms The Marian reforms were putative changes to the composition and operation of the Roman army during the late Roman Republic usually attributed to Gaius Marius (a general who was consul in 107, 104–100, and 86 BC). The most important of ...

", although the accuracy of this designation is disputed), the figure of the legate as a major second-in-command was eliminated. Multiple legati were assigned to every army, each in command of a legion, which was called ''legatus legionis''.

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

made wide use of this title throughout the

. Initially, only conflicts on foreign ground had demanded the presence of legati, but the beginning of the Social War in 90 BC saw them being increasingly deployed in Italia. There were two main positions. The was an ex-

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

given command of one of Rome's legions, while the ''legatus pro praetore'' was an ex-

given the governorship of a

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

, with the magisterial powers of a praetor, which in some cases included command of four or more legions. A legate was entitled to twelve ''lictors'', who carried out punishments with

fasces A fasces ( ; ; a , from the Latin word , meaning 'bundle'; ) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, often but not always including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbol that had its origin in the Etrus ...

(bundled rods). A ''legatus legionis'' could order

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

Roman Empire

From

onwards, the emperor gave the title of ''legatus legionis'' to senior commanders (former

s) of a legion, except in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

where the legions were commanded by a '' praefectus legionis'' of an equestrian rank. The ''legatus legionis'' was under the supreme command of a '' legatus Augusti pro praetore'' of senatorial rank. If the province was defended by a single legion, the ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' was also in direct command of the legion. This post was generally appointed by the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

. The person chosen for this rank was a former

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

, and although the emperor

set a maximum term of command of two years for a ''legatus'', subsequent emperors extended the tenure to three or four years, although the incumbent could serve for a much longer period. In a province with only one legion, the legate served as the provincial governor, while in provinces with multiple legions each legion had a legate and a separate provincial governor who had overall command. A legate was the principal commander of their assigned legion. The ''Legatus legionis'' would delegate operational duties to their command staff of

Tribunus laticlavius In the Roman army of the late Republic and the Principate, the ("broad-striped tribune") was one of the six military tribunes in a legion. Usually, it consisted of young men around age 20 who belonged to a wealthy family or were friends with th ...

Praefectus castrorum The ''praefectus castrorum'' ("camp prefect") was, in the Roman army of the early Empire, the third most senior staff officer of the Roman legion after the legate ('' legatus'') and the senior military tribune (''tribunus laticlavius''), both of ...

, Tribunus angusticlavii &

Primus pilus The ''primus pilus'' ( "first maniple of triarii") or ''primipilus'' was the senior centurion of the first cohort in a Roman legion, a formation of five double-strength centuries of 160 men each; he was a career soldier and advisor to the l ...

who would collectively be responsible for the legion's operational effectiveness. The legate could be distinguished in the field by his elaborate Attic helmet and Lorica musculata or plumata, as well as a scarlet '' paludamentum'' (cloak), ''cincticulus'' (a sash tied around the waist) and a '' parazonium'' (status sword). The senatorial ''legatus legionis'' was removed from the Roman army by

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...

, who preferred to entrust the command of a legionary unit to a

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

chosen from within the

equestrian order The (; , though sometimes referred to as " knights" in English) constituted the second of the property/social-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an (). Descript ...

who had a long military career. The title has other uses from the period of Augustus onwards, following the constitutional resettlement of 27 BC "that senatorial governors in the People's provinces bore the republican title of 'proconsul', while those appointed by the Emperor bore a title which explicitly referred to their dependence on him, namely ''legatus'', or deputy".

Diplomatic legates

was also a term for an ambassador of the Roman Republic who was appointed by the Senate for a mission () to a foreign nation, as well as for ambassadors who came to Rome from other countries. Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' (1875), Bill Thayer's edition
entry on "Legatus"
The concept remains today as a diplomatic

legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legation ...

References

{{Authority control Ancient Roman titles Military ranks of ancient Rome

History

Roman Republic

Roman Empire

Diplomatic legates

See also

References