Hildinger, Erik Swords against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Republic.(Book Review)

History: Review of New Books, March, 2004 by Cagniart, Pierre

Hildinger, Erik Swords against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Republic New York: Da Capo Press 240 pp., $18.95, ISBN 0-306-81279-7 Publication Date: November 2003

The title of Erik Hildinger's new book--Swords against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Republic--suggests a fascinating subject. Unfortunately this title is misleading both in content and scope. The author merely follows the career of Gaius Marius from his first military assignment in the entourage of Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus in the Numidian campaign of 134-133 BC to his death in 86 BC. Half of the book is devoted to the wars against Jugurtha and the Germans (Cimbri and Teutones). The remaining chapters, with the exception of the...

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