Thursday's Term to Learn - Donativum (Donative)

During last night's Roman history book chat on Book I of Tacitus' History, someone asked what a donative was. The term first came up in connection with a donative promised the soldiers on Galba's behalf, but not paid. Galba was one of the 4 emperors in the year A.D. 69. Even though Galba was not the one who made the promise, the failure to pay the donative led to the end of Galba's reign.

5. The soldiery of the capital, who were imbued with the spirit of an old allegiance to the Caesars, and who had been led to desert Nero by intrigues and influences from without rather than by their own feelings, were inclined for change, when they found that the donative promised in Galba's name was withheld, and reflected that for great services and great rewards there was not the same room in peace as in war, and that the favour of an emperor created by the legions must be already preoccupied. They were further excited by the treason of Nymphidius Sabinus, their prefect, who himself aimed at the throne. Nymphidius indeed perished in the attempt, but, though the head of the mutiny was thus removed, there yet remained in many of the soldiers the consciousness of guilt. There were even men who talked in angry terms of the feebleness and avarice of Galba. The strictness once so commended, and celebrated in the praises of the army, was galling to troops who rebelled against the old discipline, and who had been accustomed by fourteen years' service under Nero to love the vices of their emperors, as much as they had once respected their virtues. To all this was added Galba's own expression, "I choose my soldiers, I do not buy them," noble words for the commonwealth, but fraught with peril for himself. His other acts were not after this pattern.
Tacitus History Book I

A donative was an "irregular monetary payment to soldiers," according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary. It is thought that the giving of donatives to soldiers started during the period of the Roman Republic with generals distributing booty among their men. During the imperial period, a donative was given the legionaries and praetorians, among others, at the emperor's accession.

Donatives were a serious consideration for the soldiers, both in terms of allegiance and of what they might do upon leaving the military. Garnsey says that on the frontier, pay, donatives, booty, slaves, and a land grant allowed veterans to be leaders in the cities they settled in. References:

• _{John Brian Campbell "donativum" The Oxford Classical Dictionary . Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. © Oxford University Press 1949, 1970, 1996, 2005.}
• _{"Septimius Severus and the Marriage of Soldiers"
  Peter Garnsey
  California Studies in Classical Antiquity, Vol. 3, (1970), pp. 45-53}

For related information, see:

• Praetorian Guard
• Roman Imperial Succession
• The Roman Army

More Thursdays' Terms to Learn | Ancient Rome Glossary