Comment on It was a lot easier to get a job back in the day

Skullgrid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

• PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Mandatory fun-killing note: the evidence suggests that Roman soldiers were never actually paid in salt. 😔

  You could get rich as a literate legionary, though. A legionary’s standard pay was about as much as a common worker. But the enlisted-to-NCO pipeline was very real, and NCOs got 1.5x pay, 2x pay, and then, at the rank of centurion, 16x pay! That pay scale also applies to the share of loot you receive after a battle, and, in the Imperial period, also to your retirement bonus!

  Of course, centurions were expected to lead from the front, and had high casualty rates. In the Battle of Gergovia, centurions died at four times the rate of enlisted men.

  … what’s your tolerance for danger…?

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  • Skullgrid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    So where did that apochrapha(sp?) come from?

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    • PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      A misinterpretation of a line from Pliny the Elder. Pliny traces the etymology of ‘salary’ (when talking about soldiers and government officials) to ‘salt’ because of salt’s value in prior times, but doesn’t actually say soldiers (or government officials, for that matter) were paid in salt.

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  • SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Is the job as emperor still available?

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    • PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      It’s something of a “make your own opening” position

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      • SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Okay, so here’s my application. I think all people are equal and if they work against the greater good for society, they should be banned from participation.

        Shit. Now I see it as well. I don’t have what it takes to be a leader.

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