Literary notes about Centurion (AI summary)
The term "centurion" in literature often evokes a multifaceted image of Roman military authority and character. Early historians like Livy depict centurions as pivotal figures in the military hierarchy—figures whose conduct, whether heroic or controversial, could influence their career trajectory and even their legacy ([1], [2], [3]). In Suetonius’s accounts, centurions frequently appear amid narratives of personal ambition and brutal enforcement, as seen in the portrayal of notable figures or their involvement in dramatic and sometimes violent events ([4], [5], [6], [7], [8]). Beyond historical chronicles, the term is employed to underscore contrasts in leadership quality and military strategy, highlighting the difference between the calculated generalship of commanding generals and the more immediate, sometimes crude, actions of a centurion ([9]). Even in modern literature, such as in Joyce's work, the role of a centurion is invoked to underscore a certain raw, unrefined menace ([10]), while instructional texts on Latin maintain the formal military definition of the rank ([11], [12]).
- [a clause] was added that no one, after he had been a tribune of the soldiers, should afterwards be a centurion.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - "He himself," he said, "had been dictator at Rome; and no man, not even the lowest plebeian, or centurion, or soldier, had been outraged by him.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - There was a centurion, Marcus Flavoleius, one of the foremost in demanding battle; he says, "M. Fabius, I will return victorious from the field."
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - Scaeva, a centurion, his heroic conduct, 42.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - There was one Esius Proculus, the son of a centurion of the first rank, who, for his great stature and fine proportions, was called the Colossal.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - MARCUS VALERIUS PROBUS, of Berytus 903 , after long aspiring to the rank of centurion, being at last tired of waiting, devoted himself to study.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - Note 119 ( return ) [ Virgil was one of the fugitives, having narrowly escaped being killed by the centurion Ario; and being ejected from his farm.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - His wife Caesonia was killed with him, being stabbed by a centurion; and his daughter had her brains knocked out against a wall.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - You must try to express more strongly the contrast in generalship between Hannibal and a mere centurion.
— from Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Edmund Luce - Panther, the Roman centurion, polluted her with his genitories.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - — primipili = the chief centurion of the triarii (the third, veteran line of the legion), the primipilus , or primus pilus .
— from Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Edmund Luce - Criminals were usually executed outside the Vallum, and in the presence of a centurion.]
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius
