Free grain for a legionary: a contribution to the question of food supply in the roman army of the II century bc

The article examines the history of reforms in one of the central aspects of the Late Roman republican military organization: the supply with food. Author analyses a group of sources from the 2 nd half of the II century BC, primarily the text passage of Sallust, and comes to a conclusion that during this time Rome had a system of free grain distribution in the army. This very convention was apparently abolished on the initiative of consul Marcus Junius Silanus in 109 BC.