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MONEY, WARFARE AND POWER IN
THE ANCIENT WORLD
Also available from Bloomsbury

A CULTURAL HISTORY OF MONEY IN ANTIQUITY


edited by Stefan Krmnicek

GREEK WARFARE: MYTH AND REALITIES


by Hans van Wees

SHIPS AND SILVER, TAXES AND TRIBUTE: A FISCAL HISTORY OF


ARCHAIC ATHENS
by Hans van Wees

WAR AS SPECTACLE: ANCIENT AND MODERN PERSPECTIVES ON


THE DISPLAY OF ARMED CONFLICT
edited by Anastasia Bakogianni and Valerie M. Hope
CONTENTS

List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
In Memoriam, Matthew Freeman Trundle

1 Money, Power and the Legacy of Matthew Trundle in


Ancient Mediterranean Studies Jeremy Armstrong, Arthur
J. Pomeroy and David Rosenbloom
2 The Upkeep of Empire: Costs and Rations Anthony
Spalinger
3 Piety, Money and Coinage in Greek Religion Matthew
Trundle †
4 Naval Service and Political Power in Classical Athens:
An Inverse Relation David Rosenbloom
5 The Perils of Victory: Sparta’s Uneasy Relationship with
the Profits of War Ellen Millender

6 Pegasi and War: Patterns of Minting at Corinth in the


Later Fourth Century BCE Lee L. Brice

7 The Wage Cost of Alexander’s Pike-Phalanx Christopher


Matthew
8 Sicily in the Mediterranean c. 540–31 BCE: Evidence
from Coin Circulation Christopher de Lisle

9 RRC 1/1: The First Struck Coin for the Romans Kenneth
A. Sheedy, with an Addendum by Michael Rampe
10 The Military History of Early Roman Coinage Jeremy
Armstrong and Marleen K. Termeer
11 Corruption, Power and an Oracle in the Late Roman
Republic: The Restoration of Ptolemy Auletes John Rich

12 Money and Wealth in Tacitus Arthur J. Pomeroy

13 Gothic Mercenaries Daniel K. Knox

Index
FIGURES

8.1 Finds of Syracusan coinage minted in Period III


8.2 Hoard finds in Sicily by period deposited
8.3 All external coinage in Period IV hoards
8.4 Findspots of Campanian coinage minted in the First Punic War
8.5 Roman coins in Sicilian hoards of Period VI
8.6 Non-Sicilian coin finds at Morgantina and Monte Iato by
minting date
8.7 Sicilian coin finds in Gaul and Illyria, by date of minting (top)
and deposit (bottom)
8.8 Distribution of Sicilian coinage abroad by period minted (left)
and deposited (right)
8.9 Sources of coinage deposited in Sicily, by period of deposition
9.1 ACANS inv. 07GS16. RRC 1/1. Mint: Neapolis. 3.16g. Left
panel: Obverse. Right panel: Reverse
9.2 Overlay of ACANS inv. 07GS16 and Glasgow, Hunterian Mus.
151
9.3 Glasgow, Hunterian Mus. 151. RRC 1/1. Mint: Neapolis. 3.11g.
Top panel: Obverse. Bottom panel: Reverse
9.4 ACANS inv. 07GS117. Mint: Neapolis. 6.51g. Left panel:
Obverse. Right panel: Reverse
9.5 ACANS inv. 07GS121. Mint: Neapolis. 3.71g. Left panel:
Obverse. Right panel: Reverse
9.6 ACANS inv. 07GS36. Mint: Cales. 6.95g. Left panel: Obverse.
Right panel: Reverse
9.7 ACANS inv.07GS16. 3D model using a photogrammetry
approach
TABLES

2.1 Provisioning of soldiers, based on P. Anastasi I


2.2 Daily calorific value of provisions as estimated by Heagren
(2012, 169–72)
6.1 Number of control marks in each series of Ravel Period Five
staters
7.1 The sub-units of the pike-phalanx
7.2 The structure of a file of the pike-phalanx
7.3 The monthly and annual wages of a file of the pike-phalanx
8.1 CH 8.35 (‘Selinunte 1985’)
8.2 Sicilian coins in western Mediterranean hoards, Period II
8.3 Sicilian coins in eastern Mediterranean hoards, Period II
8.4 Sicilian hoards containing eastern Mediterranean coins, Period
III
8.5 Macedonian coins in Sicilian hoards
8.6 Hoards containing Roman coins minted in Sicily in Period VI
9.1 RRC 1/1
9.2 Taliercio Mensitieri (1986) phase I
9.3 Taliercio Mensitieri (1986) phase I, group Ic
9.4 Bronze unit issues with obverse head of Apollo/ reverse man-
headed bull
CONTRIBUTORS

Jeremy Armstrong is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the


University of Auckland, New Zealand. He received his BA from the
University of New Mexico and his MLitt and PhD from the University
of St Andrews. He works primarily on archaic central Italy, and most
specifically on early Roman warfare. He is the author of War and
Society in Early Rome: From Warlords to Generals (2016) and the
editor/co-editor of a number of volumes on ancient warfare. He was
a friend, collaborator and colleague of Matthew Trundle at the
University of Auckland.
Lee L. Brice is Distinguished University Professor in the Department
of History at Western Illinois University. He has published seven
books on ancient history including most recently People and
Institutions in the Roman Empire, coedited with Matthew Trundle
and Andrea Gatzke. His articles and chapters address Corinthian
coinage, mutiny, ancient military history, pedagogy and the Roman
army on film. He is the series editor of Warfare in the Ancient
Mediterranean World and senior editor of the series Research
Perspectives: Ancient History. He initially met Matthew over a
decade ago through Garrett Fagan and formed a fast friendship that
resulted in several collaborations and much fun.
Christopher de Lisle has been Assistant Professor of Greek History
at the University of Durham since 2021. His doctoral thesis,
completed at Oxford (2013–17), was published as Agathokles of
Syracuse: Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King (2021). He was a
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at University College, Oxford
(2017–21). He was taught by Matthew Trundle as an undergraduate
at Victoria University of Wellington (2008–10) and abandoned a law
degree in order to take his Honours course in 2011.
Daniel K. Knox is a PhD candidate in the Department of Medieval
Studies at Central European University in Vienna. His PhD research is
focused on the contested papal election of AD 498 and the
subsequent ‘Laurentian Schism’ that erupted in Rome in the first
decade of the sixth century. Between 2019 and 2022 he was an
assistant professor (Prae-doc) in the History Faculty at the University
of Vienna where he taught classes in late antique social media and
digital humanities. Daniel first met Matthew during his graduate
studies at Victoria University of Wellington, when, along with David
Rosenbloom, Matthew led a group of Classics students on a six-week
field trip to Greece. He subsequently followed Matthew to the
University of Auckland, where Matthew became not only a cherished
mentor, but a true friend. Daniel would not be where he is today
without Matthew’s guidance.
Christopher Matthew is Lecturer in Ancient History at the
Australian Catholic University in Sydney. After first meeting at a
conference, Christopher remained a friend and research collaborator
with Matthew Trundle for many years, and the two would often
workshop ideas, review drafts of each other’s work, and engage in
the collegial debates and discussions for which Matthew was well
known, and well respected. The author of several books and articles
on various topics of ancient warfare, Christopher teaches units on
the Ancient Near East, the Roman Republic, the Greek City-States,
Pompeii and Greek Drama.
Ellen Millender is the Omar and Althea Hoskins Professor of Greek,
Latin and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Humanities at Reed
College, Oregon, USA. She has published on many aspects of
Spartan society, including literacy, kingship, military organization,
women and leadership. Forthcoming publications address Spartan
austerity, Xenophon’s treatments of Spartan obedience and
emotional practices, and the role of both spectacle and performance
in Xenophon’s accounts of Sparta. Professor Millender is also
completing a monograph on the Athenians’ construction of Spartan
‘otherness’. She frequently collaborated with her dear friend,
Matthew Trundle, on ancient history panels and greatly misses their
exchange of ideas.
Arthur J. Pomeroy is Professor Emeritus of Classics at Victoria
University of Wellington, New Zealand. His research interests include
Roman social history, Roman historiography, and the depiction of
ancient Greece and Rome in film and television. He has published a
number of chapters and articles on the Roman historian, Tacitus,
while his most recent book is A Companion to Greece and Rome on
Screen (2017). He was a colleague of Matthew Trundle during his
time teaching at Victoria University of Wellington.
John Rich is Emeritus Professor of Roman History at the University
of Nottingham, where he taught throughout his career. He has
published widely on Roman history and historiography, and in
particular on Roman war and imperialism, the reign of Augustus, and
the historian Cassius Dio, and was a contributor and editorial board
member for The Fragments of the Roman Historians (gen. ed. T. J.
Cornell, 2013). Along with his colleague, the late Wolfgang
Liebeschuetz, John Rich taught Matthew Trundle ancient history
throughout his undergraduate years at the University of Nottingham
(1984–87).
David Rosenbloom is Professor and Chair of the Ancient Studies
Department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He is
the author of Aeschylus: Persians (2006) and co-editor (with John
Davidson) of Greek Drama IV: Texts, Contexts, Performance (2012).
He has published numerous articles and chapters on Greek tragedy,
comedy, history and rhetoric. He was Matthew Trundle’s colleague in
the Classics Department of Victoria University of Wellington from
1999–2011 and will always cherish memories of co-teaching and
travelling with him throughout Greece – from Komos, Crete to Delphi
and all points between – over six-week periods in 2001, 2007 and
2010.
Kenneth A. Sheedy is Associate Professor at Macquarie University
in Sydney, Australia. He is the founding director of the Australian
Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies (from 2000). He is also a
member of the teaching staff of the Department of History and
Archaeology. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of
the Humanities in 2010 and is the representative of the Academy for
the SNG Australia Project at the Union Académique Internationale.
Matthew Trundle was a visiting scholar at ACANS.
Anthony Spalinger is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History
(Egyptology) at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His
research interests include the art of war in the ancient world, ancient
Egyptian calendrics, the ancient economy of Egypt, and narrative in
Egyptian art. His most recent book is The Books Behind the Mask
(2022), a study of the narrative structures employed in the
monumental inscriptions of the military pharaohs. He was a
colleague of and co-lecturer in ancient military history with Matthew
Trundle during his time at the University of Auckland.
Marleen K. Termeer is Assistant Professor in Ancient History at the
Radboud Institute for Culture and History (Radboud University
Nijmegen, The Netherlands). Her research focuses on Roman
expansion in the Republican period, and cultural interaction between
Rome and other players in Italy and the Mediterranean. Her current
project Coining Roman Rule? (NWO Veni 016.Veni.195.134)
examines the introduction of coinage in the Roman world as part of
these broader dynamics. Matthew Trundle’s work on mercenaries
and mobility has been inspirational in this context.
Matthew Trundle † was Professor of Classics and Ancient History
at the University of Auckland. His research interests were primarily in
the field of ancient Greek history, and he was the author of Greek
Mercenaries from the Late Archaic Period to Alexander (2004), and
the editor of a number of volumes including New Perspectives on
Ancient Warfare (2010), Beyond the Gates of Fire: New Perspectives
on the Battle of Thermopylae (2013) and Brill’s Companion to Sieges
in the Ancient Mediterranean (2019). He died on 12 July 2019, after
a battle with Acute Lymphoid Leukaemia.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This volume was produced during a very difficult period, between


2020 and 2023, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, as
editors, we often wondered what Matthew Trundle would have
thought about the pandemic and the varied responses to it
worldwide. However, we know he would have been deeply touched
by the effort and dedication that the contributors to this volume
demonstrated in producing and revising their chapters under such
trying circumstances. As a result, our first thanks must be to them.
We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their
thoughtful suggestions in improving the manuscript and the School
of Humanities at the University of Auckland for providing the
generous subvention which allowed this volume to be published.
Many thanks must also go to Francesca Taylor, whose editorial
assistance vastly improved the final product. Thanks should go, as
well, to Lily Mac Mahon and Zoë Osman at Bloomsbury for their work
and support in bringing this volume to fruition.
Finally, we must also thank Matthew Trundle himself, to whom this
volume is dedicated, for his friendship, scholarship, and his
boundless enthusiasm for the subject that inspired this volume. He
made us all better scholars, and better people, and the world is a
poorer place without him.

Jeremy Armstrong, Arthur J. Pomeroy and David Rosenbloom


ABBREVIATIONS

Ancient abbreviations generally follow those in the Oxford Classical


Dictionary, 4th edition. Modern bibliography abbreviations follow
those in l’Année philologique.

ACANS Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies


AIO Attic Inscriptions Online
(http://www.atticinscriptions.com/)
CH Price, M. J., et al (1975–), Coin Hoards. London and
Leuven: Royal Numismatic Society and Peeters.
CID Rougement G., ed. (1977), Corpus des inscriptions de
Delphes, Vol. I, Lois sacrées et règlements religieux. Paris
and Athens: De Boccard, École française d’Athènes.
HNItaly Rutter, K. and A. Burnett (2001), Historia Numorum: Italy,
London: British Museum Press.
IGCH Thompson, M., O. Mørkholm, and C. Kraay (1973),
Inventory of Greek Coin Hoards, New York: American
Numismatic Society.
KRI Kitchen, K. (1968–90), Ramesside Inscriptions: Historical
and Biographical, Oxford: Blackwell.
OLD Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd
edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
RRCH Crawford, M. (1969), Roman Republican Coin Hoards,
London: Royal Numismatic Society.
Urk. Sethe, K. and H. Helck (1903–61), Urkunden des
Ägyptischen Altertums, Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs’sche
Buchhandlung.
IN MEMORIAM
MATTHEW FREEMAN TRUNDLE
12 October 1965 – 12 July 2019
Matthew Trundle will be remembered as a kind and charismatic
figure, as well as an astute scholar, who worked ceaselessly to
popularize Classics in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in North
America, and in Australasia. In particular, he made major
contributions to the study of warfare in the Greek and Roman worlds
and, in association with the payment of mercenaries, the role of
money in ancient societies.
Matthew was born in London and graduated with a BA from the
University of Nottingham in 1987, with joint Honours in Ancient
History and History. He then moved to McMaster University in
Canada, first gaining an MA and then, in 1996, completing a PhD
thesis, entitled ‘The Classical Greek Mercenary and His Relation to the
Polis’, under the supervision of Daniel Geagan. In 1999 he was
appointed lecturer in Classics at the Victoria University of Wellington,
New Zealand and rapidly rose to Associate Professor in Classics and
Associate Dean (Humanities and Social Sciences), before being
appointed Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University
of Auckland in 2012.
Matthew often recalled that Xenophon’s narrative of the adventures
of the Greek mercenaries fighting their way back home from Persia in
the Anabasis inspired his interest in Classics. It is perhaps
unsurprising then that his first major publication was Greek
Mercenaries: From the Late Archaic Period to Alexander (2004) and,
in association with fellow McMaster graduate Garrett Fagan, he
organized a joint APA/AIA panel in 2008 that formed the basis for the
edited volume New Perspectives on Ancient Warfare (2010). At the
time of his death, he was working on a monograph on the
interconnection of coinage and warfare in the Greek and Hellenistic
worlds, as well as completing the compilation of inscriptions found
during excavations at Isthmia that Daniel Geagan had entrusted to
him. Sadly, before he completed these projects, Matthew died from
leukaemia in Wellington on 12 July 2019.
Matthew will be remembered among his colleagues and students
for his caring and selfless nature, always seeing and seeking the best
in those around him. The first to buy a round of drinks, he was well
known for his gregarious participation in the meetings of the major
classical associations, including the Classical Association (UK), the
American Philological Association (now Society for Classical Studies),
the Classical Association of South Africa, and the Australasian Society
for Classical Studies. He also presented papers at numerous
universities around the world, including in China, South Korea and
Japan. An outstanding teacher and dynamic public speaker, he was
an untiring promoter of Classics wherever he went, not only
encouraging undergraduates, secondary school teachers and
colleagues in the tertiary system, but also generously devoting his
time and attention to the wider community. Among his successful
pupils, for instance, he numbered Victor Vito, All Black and Wellington
Hurricanes rugby team captain.
For some time, he was a regular guest on Kim Hill’s Saturday
Morning programme on Radio New Zealand, sharing his knowledge of
the ancient world with listeners throughout the country. He also
regularly submitted opinion pieces to The New Zealand Herald and
other local print media, often offering political commentary using
ancient parallels. Proud of his blue-collar roots and a vocal Labour
supporter, both in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Matthew
argued strongly for the importance of a dynamic and inclusive
democracy. The principles that Matthew taught in the classroom as
being central to life in the ancient Greek polis, isonomia (ἰσονομία,
‘equality before the law’) and isēgoria (ἰσηγορία, ‘equality in speech’),
were also central to his approach to modern society and politics.
A father to Christian, husband to Catherine, and dear friend to
many, he is deeply missed. In his honour, the University of Auckland
has established an endowment to fund a biennial lecture in Classics
at Auckland and Wellington.

ὣς σὺ μὲν οὐδὲ θανὼν ὄνομ᾽ ὤλεσας, ἀλλά τοι αἰεὶ


πάντας ἐπ᾽ ἀνθρώπους κλέος ἔσσεται ἐσθλόν…

Selected publications of Matthew Trundle


• (1998), ‘Epikouroi, Xenoi and Misthophoroi in the Ancient Greek
World’, War and Society 16: 1–12.
• (1999), ‘Identity and Community Among Greek Mercenaries in
the Classical World: 700–323 BCE’, Ancient History Bulletin 13:
28–38. [Repr. in Wheeler, E. (ed.) (2007), The Armies of Classical
Greece, 481–92, Aldershot: Ashgate]
• (2001), ‘The Spartan Revolution: Hoplite Warfare in the Late
Archaic Period’, War and Society 19: 1–18.
• (2003), ‘Camilla and The Volscians: Historical Images in Aeneid
11’, in J. Davidson and A. Pomeroy (eds), Theatres of Action,
164–85, Auckland: Polygraphia. Prudentia Supplement.
• (2004), Greek Mercenaries: From the Late Archaic to Alexander,
London: Routledge.
• (2006), ‘Money and the Great Man in the Fourth Century BCE:
Military Power, Aristocratic Connections and Mercenary Service’,
in S. Lewis (ed.), Ancient Tyranny, 65–76, Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
• (2008), ‘OGIS 1.266: Kings and Contracts in the Hellenistic
World’, in P. McKechnie and P. Guillaume (eds), Ptolemy
Philadelphus and his World, 103–16, Leiden: Brill.
• (2010), ‘Why Did Greeks and Romans Fight Wars?’, The Journal
of Greco-Roman Studies 40: 37–56.
• (ed. with G. Fagan) (2010), New Perspectives on Ancient
Warfare, Leiden: Brill.
• (2010) ‘Introduction’ (with G. Fagan), in M. Trundle and G. Fagan
(eds), New Perspectives on Ancient Warfare, 1–19, Leiden: Brill.
• (2010) ‘Coinage and the Transformation of Greek Warfare’, in M.
Trundle and G. Fagan (eds), New Perspectives on Ancient
Warfare, 227–52, Leiden: Brill.
• (2010), ‘Light Armed Troops in Classical Athens’, in D. Pritchard
(ed.), War, Culture and Democracy in Classical Athens: 139–60,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• (2012), ‘Greek Athletes and Warfare in the Classical Period’,
Nikephoros: Zeitschrift für Sport und Kultur im Altertum 25: 221–
37.
• (ed. with C. Matthew) (2013), Beyond the Gates of Fire: New
Perspectives on the Battle of Thermopylae, Bradford: Pen and
Sword.
• (2013), ‘Thermopylae’, in C. Matthew and M. Trundle (eds),
Beyond the Gates of Fire: New Perspectives on the Battle of
Thermopylae, 27–38, Bradford: Pen and Sword.
• (2013), ‘Conclusion: the Glorious Defeat’, in C. Matthew and M.
Trundle (eds), Beyond the Gates of Fire: New Perspectives on
the Battle of Thermopylae, 150–63, Bradford: Pen and Sword.
• (2013), ‘Why Greek Tropaia?’, in J. Armstrong and A. Spalinger
(eds), Rituals of Triumph, 123–38, Leiden: Brill.
• (2013), ‘The Business of War: Professional Soldiers in Antiquity’,
in B. Campbell and L. Tritle (eds), The Oxford Handbook of
Warfare in the Classical World, 407–41, Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
• (2016), ‘The Spartan Krypteia’, in G. Fagan and W. Riess (eds),
The Topography of Violence in the Greco-Roman World, 60–76,
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
• (2016), ‘Coinage and the Economics of the Athenian Empire’, in
J. Armstrong, (ed.), Circum Mare: Themes in Ancient Warfare,
65–79, Leiden: Brill.
• (2017), ‘The Reception of the Classical Tradition in New Zealand
War Reporting and Memory in the Late Nineteenth and Early
Twentieth Centuries’, in D. Burton, S. Perris and W. J. Tatum
(eds), Athens to Aotearoa: Greece and Rome in New Zealand
Literature and Society, 307–19, Wellington: Victoria University
Press.
• (2017), ‘Spartan Responses to Defeat: From a Mythical Hysiae to
a Very Real Sallassia’, in J. H. Clark and B. Turner (eds), Brill’s
Companion to Military Defeat in Ancient Mediterranean Society,
144–61, Leiden: Brill.
• (2017), ‘Greek Historical Influence on Early Roman History’,
Antichthon 51: 21–32.
• (2017), ‘Hiring Mercenaries in the Classical Greek World. Causes
and Outcomes’, Millars 43.2: 35–61.
• (2017), ‘Coinage and Democracy: Economic Redistribution as the
Basis of Democratic Athens’, in R. Evans (ed.), Mass and Elite in
the Greek and Roman Worlds: From Sparta to Late Antiquity, 11–
20, London: Routledge.
• (2017), ‘The Anabasis 401–399 BC’, ‘The Corinthian War 395–
388 BC’, ‘Fourth Century BC Greek Wars’, ‘Carthaginian
Offensives in Sicily, 409–307 BC’, in M. Whitby and H. Sidebottom
(eds), The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Battles vol. III, 13: 1–9, 14:
1–11, 15: 1–5, 16: 1–14, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
• (2018), ‘The Role of Religion in Declarations of War in Archaic
and Classical Greece’, in M. Dillon, C. Matthew and M. Schmitz
(eds), Religion and Classical Warfare Volume 1: Ancient Greece,
24–33, 212–14, Barnsley: Pen and Sword.
• (2018), ‘War and Society in the Ancient Mediterranean’, in M. S.
Muehlbauer and D. J. Ulbrich (eds), The Routledge History of
Global War and Society, 79–91, London: Routledge.
• (2018), ‘The Pinker Thesis: Were There Angels of a Better Nature
in Ancient Greece?’, Historical Reflections / Reflexions Historique
44: 17–28.
• (ed. with J. Armstrong) (2019), Brill’s Companion to Sieges in the
Ancient Mediterranean, Leiden: Brill.
• (2019), ‘Sieges in the Mediterranean World’, in J. Armstrong and
M. Trundle (eds), Brill’s Companion to Sieges in the Ancient
Mediterranean, 1–17, Leiden: Brill.
• (2019), ‘The Introduction of Siege Technology into Classical
Greece’, in J. Armstrong and M. Trundle (eds), Brill’s Companion
to Sieges in the Ancient Mediterranean, 135–49, Leiden: Brill.
• (2019), ‘The Limits of Nationalism: Brigandage: Piracy and
Mercenary Service in Fourth Century BCE Athens’, in R. Evans and
M. De Marre (eds), Piracy, Pillage and Plunder, 25–37, London:
Routledge.
• (ed. with A. Gatzke and L. L. Brice) (2020), People and
Institutions in the Roman Empire: Essays in Memory of Garrett
G. Fagan, Leiden: Brill.
• (ed. with G. Fagan, L. Fibiger, and M. Hudson) (2020), The
Cambridge World History of Violence, vol. I, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
• (2020), ‘Violence, Law and Community’, in G. Fagan, L. Fibiger,
M. Hudson and M. Trundle (eds), The Cambridge World History
of Violence, vol. I, 533–49, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
CHAPTER 1
MONEY, POWER AND THE LEGACY OF MATTHEW
TRUNDLE IN ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES
Jeremy Armstrong, Arthur J. Pomeroy and David
Rosenbloom

… the sinews of war are limitless money…


… nervos belli pecuniam infinitam…
Cicero, Philippics, 5.2.5.

At the time of his death, Matthew Trundle was working on a


monograph investigating the relationship between money and
military action from early Greece to Alexander the Great and his
successors. This had long been an area of interest for him, but was
something to which he had begun to devote significant attention
from 2016 on, as he attempted to summarize and synthesize his
thoughts on the wider phenomenon. Sadly, that volume remained
unfinished, although one relatively complete chapter (subsequently
edited by Christopher de Lisle) can be found in this collection. The
chapters in this volume, however, continue in the broad vein
Matthew had started to mine, exploring multiple relationships
between money, war and political power – both personal and
collective – in the ancient Mediterranean world and indeed extending
the scope to include different cultures and socio-political systems,
ranging from Pharaonic Egypt to late antique Europe. Contributed by
friends and colleagues of Matthew, they are a testament to his
influence on scholarship and a scholarly conversation that covers the
breadth of antiquity.
While obviously both warfare and forms of currency existed before
the Lydian introduction of coinage in the late seventh century BCE,1
the widespread adoption and use of coined money by the mid-fifth
century in (especially Greek-speaking) communities throughout the
Mediterranean marked a watershed moment in that it enabled the
accumulation and easy transfer of wealth in ways that made it both
an instrument and an aim of warfare.2 It facilitated military
networks, allowing both states and individual military leaders to
harness manpower and resources, from across a wide region, using
an increasingly universal and accepted method of exactly quantifying
wealth. As suggested by Cicero in the quotation at the outset of this
chapter, coinage quickly became one of the most prominent physical
manifestations of the multivariate connections, or sinews, which
bound ancient militaries together. In the eastern Mediterranean, the
monetization of warfare eventually subsumed the ‘citizen soldier’ and
‘mercenary’ under a single rubric: the professional soldier.3
Matthew’s work often strove to unify the social and economic
systems that crisscrossed the ancient Mediterranean basin. In doing
so, one of his key contributions was to emphasize how ancient
mercenary service relied, first and foremost, on social bonds – the
economic connections were secondary.4 Although often defined by
(and derided for) being soldiers for hire, the simple pursuit of wealth
was not a mercenary’s only, or even primary, aim. His was not a
world driven by money; however, it may have been a world
increasingly shaped by money. The spread of coinage across the
Mediterranean, often through mercenaries and other military
expenses, fundamentally changed the nature of both warfare and
society in the region. While more social military pursuits, such as
seeking timē (honour) and displaying virtus (manliness), remained
intact, leaders also needed to consider this new physical
manifestation of (economic) power. A state or war leader could not
be successful without access to coined money.
Aristotle’s concept of warfare as a natural art of acquisition seems
to be tailor-made for the insights of New Institutional Economics
(NIE), an approach to the history of economics based on the work of
Douglass North in which the ‘structure’ – institutions, technology,
demography and ideology of a society – determine the ‘performance’
of an economy, quantified by measures such as volume and stability
of production, allocation of benefits and costs, gross domestic
product, per capita income, and so on.5 Some historians have come
to see warfare and its putative objective, ‘empire’, as the preeminent
mechanism for mobilizing ‘the economic resources of the
Mediterranean’.6 It must be noted, however, that Matthew never fully
subscribed to this sort of model. His economic systems were more
embedded and shaped as much by concepts like ‘positive reciprocity’
as they were by economic theory.7 However, as Matthew also
recognized, the simple economic aspects, which form the grist for
NIE’s mill, cannot be ignored. Warfare was the dominant coinage-
intensive activity in ancient Mediterranean societies; it commanded
the most manpower and marshalled the most resources; it posed
the greatest risks and promised the highest rewards. The difference
between victory and defeat in battle – life or death, freedom or
slavery, flourishing or blight, glory or shame – was the sharpest
stimulus to the production, allocation and distribution of private and
collective resources in the ancient Mediterranean.
Thucydides, the earliest exponent of the nexus of money, military
domination and political power in the evolution of the polis and the
formation of empires,8 understood the acquisition of power over
other cities as a derivative of ‘a surplus of money’ (periousian
chrēmatōn, 1.2.2; cf. Arist. EN 1119b27).9 Powerful agents parlayed
such surpluses into spheres of domination cemented by a mutual
desire for gain: ‘desiring profit (tōn kerdōn), the weaker accept
servitude (douleia) to the more powerful and the more powerful,
having surpluses, acquire the weaker cities as subjects’ (Thuc.
1.8.3). In prehistory, Thucydides suggested Minos and Agamemnon
gained surpluses, developed naval power, controlled islands and
coastal populations, reduced piracy and brigandage, and diverted
the gains of vanquished marauders to themselves (Thuc. 1.4, 7–8,
9–11). Populations settled closer to the sea, exploited its resources,
secured surpluses of money, built fortifications and occupied
isthmuses ‘for the sake of seaborne commerce’ and ‘to win
advantage over their neighbours’ (Thuc. 1.7.1). In Thucydides’
scheme, Athens represents the culmination of the process of seeking
to maximize collective wealth and to parlay it into supremacy over
others.
However, as Matthew identified, this process was incredibly
dynamic and not nearly as straightforward as one might initially
suppose. As he argued in 2011, while coined money was essential to
the growth of Athenian naval power in the fifth century BCE, the
financial structures of the Athenian ‘empire’ seem to have been more
geared toward redistribution than accumulation, especially during
the Peloponnesian War, when Athens paid a premium for rowers and
hoplites.10 As quickly as wealth flowed in from allied states and
other sources, it often flowed out to misthophoroi (mercenaries) as
chrēmata (coined money) just as quickly. Indeed, warfare suddenly
appeared to be more about spending money than acquiring it,
although the two remained linked. But as Matthew suggested,
‘Xenophon (An. 7.1.27) estimated that the total annual revenue of
the Athenian empire in 431 BCE was 1,000 talents. The siege of
Potidaea, from which Athens derived little compensation, may have
cost as much as 2,000 talents (Thuc. 2.70.2; Isoc. 15.113). We can
guess that the costs of the Sicilian expedition were enormous,
running to at least 150 talents per month for the fleet, crews and
army’.11 Money was a tool to be used; war was an investment for
future gain.
More than any other collective activity, ancient warfare demanded
coinage and observed no limit in securing sources for it. Even one of
the kings of (supposedly) moneyless Sparta, Archidamus,
understood that, ‘War is not a matter of arms more than it is a
matter of the expenditure that advantages arms’ (Thuc. 1.83.2). He
was aware that the Peloponnesians would need money and naval
power to fight a war against Athens either ‘to be overpowering with
ships’ or ‘to deprive the city of the revenue that supports its naval
power’. He planned to obtain money and naval power through
alliances with Greeks and ‘barbarians’ (Thuc. 1.82.2).12 Only in the
case of wartime finance did individuals or cities consider using
temple treasuries. The Corinthians talked of borrowing from
treasuries at Delphi and Olympia to lure rowers away from Athens
(Thuc. 1.121.3),13 an expedient that probably never materialized but
cannot be entirely ruled out.14 On the other side, Pericles allayed
Athenian anxieties by listing the financial resources at their disposal,
which included gold and silver bullion in private and public
dedications, sacred implements for processions and competitions,
Persian spoils and wealth of this kind, valued at greater or equal to
500 talents (Thuc. 2.14.4). Pericles factored in the resources from
other temples. If the Athenians had no other recourse, they could
strip the gold leaf from Athena’s chryselephantine statue – 40 talents
of refined gold; although they were obligated to pay it back (Thuc.
2.13.5). When push came to shove, nothing was off limits. Indeed,
while the Athenians were not driven to such measures by the
Peloponnesian War, when Athens was besieged by Demetrius
Poliorcetes in 295 BCE, the general Lachares did eventually resort to
this.15 The Athenians borrowed around 6,000 talents from the
treasury of the other gods during the Archidamian War.16 When they
became desperate, they melted down golden Nikai from the
Parthenon for coinage. According to Diodorus, Phocian generals
coined more than 10,000 silver talents out of Delphi’s many
treasuries, including Croesus’ dedications, to hire mercenaries for the
Third Sacred War (Diod. Sic. 16.56.3–7; cf. 16.30).
Cash-heavy armies were also magnets for merchants and markets;
indeed, the formation of the latter was arguably a by-product of
monetization accelerated by the introduction of coinage. Thucydides
identifies the deficiency of the Greek mobilization in the Trojan War
as ‘not so much a scarcity of men as a lack of money’ (Thuc. 1.11.1)
that prevented the full deployment of Agamemnon’s military forces.
As Matthew noted, ‘coined money … enabled commanders not only
to centralize supply redistribution, but also to attract suppliers to
armies more effectively’.17 Already in Homer, after the completion of
their defensive fortifications in Iliad 7, the Achaeans attracted the
Lemnian merchant Euneus, son of Jason and Hypsipyle. The
Achaeans bartered for wine in exchange for bronze, iron, hides, oxen
and slaves (Il. 7.465–75).18 The lack of a single portable and
fungible medium of exchange is a drag on market formation and
hence military efficiency. Soldiers allocated the tasks of cultivating
food and pillaging for booty – presumably, in Thucydides’ view, to
barter for market supplies – did not participate in the fighting
against Troy (Thuc. 1.11.1–2). It is not clear whether achrēmatia in
this section means ‘lack of money’ (Thuc. 1.11.1–2) or ‘lack of
resources’, for Thucydides wrote as if the Achaeans could have
arrived at Troy with ‘an abundance of food’ (Thuc. 1.11.2),19 thereby
obviating the need to commit troops to farming and pillaging and
enabling them to take Troy in a shorter time with less effort (Thuc.
1.11.2). The supposed Achaean need to cultivate their own food
(never mentioned in Homer) and to maraud for media of exchange
to barter for food (likewise never mentioned) prevented Achaean
power from reaching its potential.20
Moving from the epic to historical writing, we need not take
Diodorus at his word – that the ‘market mob’ thronging around
Agesilaus’ army in Ephesus ‘for the sake of booty’ was no less in
number than his 4,400 hoplites and cavalry (Diod. Sic. 14.79.2; cf.
Xen. Hell. 3.4.17 for Ephesus as a ‘workshop of war’) – to realize
that armies drew sizeable markets for the major inputs and outputs
of warfare – armaments, provisions and booty. Indeed, the
conversion of the spoils of battle into coinage was a basic military
function. Nicias raised 120 talents by selling war captives from
Hyccara in Sicily in 415 BCE (Thuc. 6.62.4). Livy claimed that, before
the siege of Murgantia in 296 BCE, Decius obliged his soldiers to sell
booty to traders in order to attract a commercial following for his
army during a run of siege and sack operations (Livy 10.16–17).
Polybius reported that merchants acquired booty at prices below
market value from Scipio’s forces late in the Second Punic War:
soldiers anticipated expropriating even greater riches (Polyb. 14.7.1–
3). It has been suggested that booty from Syracuse and Capua was
converted into the silver denarius coinage Rome first issued in
211/10 BCE;21 this was fed by gold donated to the treasury by
Another random document with
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them from my observer, who was an old hand at the game. I
confess to a feeling of relief when I reached the point where
our bombs were to be thrown over. Having discharged this
duty I was glad to return to my starting-point with the motor
running at slow speed, and knowing that I was soon to be out
of range of the enemy’s deadly fire.
“In this bombardment my machine was made almost
entirely of steel tubing with a 140-horse-power engine,
capable of carrying a load of bombs weighing from four to
seven hundred pounds. As an arm of defense it carried a
machine gun. This is the type of machine that has made most
of the long raids on the enemy. I soon became accustomed to
the duty I had to perform and to flying with the spectacle of
shells bursting all around me, at the same time keeping on
the lookout for the ’planes of the enemy. We made seventeen
bombardments during the ensuing month of June and we got
to be old hands at this kind of warfare. It is never quite
agreeable to be shelled up in the air or elsewhere, and those
who make the boast of liking it do not tell the exact truth.
“To illustrate how well the French military aviation service is
organized and supplied with machines, let me tell you of my
experience at the front in Lorraine, where one day I had the
misfortune to break one of the wings of my machine. Instead
of stopping to have it repaired, all I had to do was to turn it
into a supply station near by where it was at once dismantled
and sent to the rear. I was then promptly supplied with a new
machine. A change of aeroplanes by an aviator in action in
France is like a cavalryman changing his horse. If there is
anything the matter with the animal, even if it is only a corn, a
new one is at once forthcoming. There is no suggestion of
parsimony or niggardliness in giving out the supplies
necessary for efficient fighting.
“On another occasion, when we were making a raid on the
railway station at Douai, which was about twenty-five
kilometres within the enemy’s lines, we started with a
squadron of some twenty machines. There happened to be
that day a great many German machines out. Somehow or
other they knew we were coming. We had four or five brisk
engagements with them. Our planes had only machine guns
with which to defend themselves, while the Germans used
regular fighting machines. This aerial engagement resulted in
four of our machines coming back riddled with bullets, my
lieutenant being hit in the leg.
“I was fortunate enough that day to escape the range of the
German flying machines by going farther north and passing
through the clouds, though I was shelled from a long distance
all the way. I succeeded in dropping my bombs on a railroad
station, one of which I saw explode in a bunch of freight cars
in the railroad yard. As I was returning within our lines the
Englishmen, by mistake, opened a brisk fire on me which
necessitated my going up into the clouds again. I proceeded
due west until I ran out of gasoline and I then descended in
the dark near the headquarters of the English. It was my good
fortune to land safely and on my arrival at my post I was
brought before the English commander, who asked me to tell
my story. Mine being one of the four machines out of twenty
that had reached Douai in the raid, I was awarded a citation
and given the right to wear a War Cross—my first decoration.
“My squadron spent a month in the east and during this
time I went farther into the enemy’s territory than I had been
before. I think the longest distance was when we made the
raid on two localities over one hundred kilometres within the
enemy’s lines in Bocherie, as we called it. During this month
General Joffre came to review our four squadrons of
bombarding machines. With him came the President of
France and the King of the Belgians. These distinguished
visitors witnessed the departure of a squadron of some ninety
of our machines on a bombarding raid loaded with bombs and
flying four abreast. They were highly complimentary in their
salutations to us Americans.
“During this month in Lorraine I experienced the hardest
knock I had received up to that time. One day six German
machines, fully equipped, bombarded Nancy and our aviation
field. To retaliate, my squadron was sent out to bombard their
field on the same afternoon. We started with thirty machines
to a designated rendezvous and fifty minutes later, after
getting grouped, we proceeded to our ultimate destination. I
had a very fast machine, and reached the German flying field
without being hit. When about to let go my bombs and while
my observer was aiming at the hangars of the Germans my
machine was attacked by them—one on the left and two on
the right. I shouted to my observer to drop his bombs, which
he did, and we immediately straightened out for home. While I
was on the bank the Germans opened fire on me with their
machine guns which were even more perilous than their
shells. My motor stopped a few moments afterwards. It had
given out and to make matters worse a fourth German
machine came directly at us in front. My observer, who was
an excellent shot, let go at him with the result that when last
seen this German aeroplane was about four hundred feet
below and quite beyond control. The other Germans behind
kept bothering us. If they had possessed ordinary courage,
they might have got us. Flying without any motive power
compelled me to stand my machine on end to keep ahead of
them. As we were nearing the French lines these Germans
left us, but immediately batteries from another direction
opened fire on us. As I was barely moving I made an
excellent target. One shell burst near enough to put shrapnel
in my machine. It is marvelous how hard we can be hit by
shrapnel and have no vital part of our equipment injured. I
knew I was now over the French lines, which I must have
crossed at a height of about four hundred metres. I finally
landed in a field covered with white crosses marking the
graves of the French and German soldiers who had fallen the
previous September at this point. This was the battle the
Kaiser himself came to witness, expecting to spend that night
in Nancy.
“Thousands fell that day, but the Kaiser did not make his
triumphal entry. Looking back on this latter experience of mine
I think myself most fortunate in having been able to return to
the French lines without a scratch. I got home safely because
the German aviators lacked either courage or skill or both.
They had me with my engine dead, four against one, and
twenty kilometres within their lines.”
Portrait as exhibited at Allied Fairs

Alluding to the occasion of the telling of this story, William Roscoe


Thayer, who presided at the dinner, said when the tidings of
Norman’s death came from France: “I shall never forget that
Christmas night at the Tavern Club when Norman sat next to me and
told me many details of his service and then arose and gave that
wonderfully simple, impressive story. To have had such a service
and to die fighting for the cause which means the defense of
civilization—what nobler career could he have had? I can think of no
one who more thoroughly enjoyed the life of continuous peril which
he led. The honors which it brought him showed that France
recognized as heroism that which he took as a matter of course.”
III
LETTERS

The following letters of Norman Prince, although chiefly of an


intimate and personal character, are here published as a part of the
record of his experiences in the service of France and as further
testimony to his tenderly affectionate nature and his constant
thoughtfulness and solicitude for those he left at home.
With his Superior Officer Lieutenant de Laage de Mœux

Havre, Jan. le 29, 1915.


Dear Mamma,—I have just put foot ashore in France after a
disagreeable crossing, 2nd class. Here in Havre there are
troops and troops always passing. French troops, chiefly of
the reserve; thousands of English troops in khaki, Belgian
troops without uniform. They all say, not at all in a boastful
way, that they will be back home again by the end of the year.
Will they?
Dear Mamma, I hope you are well and that papa has not
taken too much at heart my leaving home at this time. I
believe I can find a place to do some efficient and useful work
for the cause to which I am so deeply devoted. My love to you
all. I shall write often.
Affectionately your son,
Norman.

Esc N. 124, Secteur 24, May 15, 1915.


Dear Governor,—Arrived en escadrille par la voie des airs
to replace a disabled pilot until the Escadrille Américaine is
formed.
I saw the battle lines and heard for the first time the never-
ending boom of guns. This is war in dead earnest and right at
hand. Will write more fully later.
Affectionately,
Norman.

V. B. 108-B. 103, May 20, 1915.


Dear Freddy,—Arrived here at the Front last Tuesday
piloting two Voisins appareils de bombardement. On the way
we bombarded observation balloons, railway centers,
poudrières, aviation camps and other locations of Boche
activity—but not towns or cities or other localities where the
lives of helpless women and children might be endangered.
We are in the section where all the French advances have
lately been made. The vertical guns of the Boches are
particularly annoying to us. They have got two out of six of the
pilots of our Escadrille since our arrival. One got down within
our own lines; the other fell within the lines of the Boches—
whether he was killed or not we do not know.
(Eight miles from the German trenches.)
Been here a week and have become quite accustomed to
being shot at. We go out every day and the salutations we get
from the Boches are rapid and continuous when we are over
their lines. The Boches here have more vertical guns to aim at
us—more to the mile of front than anywhere else. There are
hundreds of French aeroplanes grouped here because it is in
the twenty miles north of Arras and south of the English
where all the recent French advances have taken place.
Attacks and counter attacks by day and night, and the bang of
artillery in the near distance never ceases. We often go out at
the same time as the infantry attack behind the artillery fire,
the artillery of both sides banging away at the trenches,
batteries and at us,—the avions in the air. It is a wonderful
spectacle and something frightful as well—until we get used
to it!
N. P.

Paris, September 6, 1915.


My dear Grandmamma,—I am in Paris on a few days’ leave
and just had luncheon with a friend who is leaving to-night for
Rome and I have asked him to mail this letter to you on his
arrival.
For the last four months I have been at the front—two
months in the North near Arras during the attacks of May and
June. After that we were stationed for a month near Nancy in
the East. Now we have returned to the north again where
there is increasing activity. I am happy and in the best of
health. I sleep under canvas on a stretcher bed and eat in the
shed of an old farm house near by. I have nothing to complain
of. I like it. There are ten American pilots with us in the French
service and twelve others in training with their number
constantly increasing. Some day soon we will all be united in
one escadrille—an Escadrille Américaine—that is my fondest
ambition. I am devoting all my spare energies to organizing it
and all the American pilots here are giving me every
encouragement and assistance in the work of preliminary
organization. As I have had so much to do in originating and
pushing the plan along, perhaps I shall be second in
command.
I would enjoy tremendously a letter. My address now is
Sergeant-Pilote Prince
Escadrille d’Avions Canon
3me Groupe de Bombardement
Secteur Postal 102.
I hope you are in Rome, not in Treviso, which must be dans
la Zone des Armées.
Your affectionate grandson,
Norman.
Application to ride a Breguet de Chasse

Cⁱᵉ Gˡᵉ Transatlantique, À bord, January 4, 1916.


My dear Mamma,—Just a line before the pilot leaves us to
tell you that Freddy and I appreciate your sorrow in having
your two boys go to the war. However, the greater the sorrow,
the greater the joy will be when they return!
Nothing was forgotten. Freddy and I have the same
stateroom and I shall immediately start to make him fit. I tell
him that in order to join the Flying Corps, one cannot weigh
more than 75 kilos.
Your most affectionate son,
Norman.

G. D. E. Div. Nieuport Secteur 92A, February 19, 1916.


Dear Governor,—Enclosed is a letter from Freddy. Notice
that he says the discipline at Pau is very strict.
I am a schoolboy again. I am training to fly the very fastest
appareil de chasse—quite a different instrument from the
avion canon which weighs three times more than these small
chasing appareils.
I am busy pushing matters, in regard to the formation of the
Escadrille Américaine. There is a possibility that St.-Saveur,
now a captain in the aviation, may command us. Although but
a short time on the front he has done finely as a pilot. We are
all disponible to go to the front and are only waiting for a
captain, the personnel—(chauffeurs, secretary, cook, etc.) our
avions and the motor cars. Orders for our formation will be
issued, I hope, next week. The weather has been very rainy
and windy here for a week, which is to be expected, during
the month of February. We are losing no time, however.
Those Lewis guns, if there is any way of getting hold of a
dozen, would be much appreciated by us here. The more you
can get for us the better, but I realize that it may be
impossible even for you to get hold of any.
How are the horses? Don’t overdo the schooling!
I hope you and Mamma are enjoying Aiken. The main thing
is to care for your health.
With love to Mamma, who, I trust, is not too anxious about
Freddy and me.
Your affectionate son,
Norman.

Esc. N. 124. Secteur 24, June 26, 1916.


Dear Mamma,—Oliver Wolcott, who has been cantoned
near by with the American Ambulance, is going home to serve
with the militia and is to take this letter with him.
No news of Freddy this past week. The training is so
thorough at these aviation schools that he risks but little while
there. Probably he won’t get to the front for another month.
Poor Victor Chapman! He had been missing for a week and
we knew there was only a very remote chance that he was a
prisoner. He was of tremendous assistance to me in getting
together the Escadrille. His heart was in it to make ours as
good as any on the front. Victor was as brave as a lion and
sometimes he was almost too courageous,—attacking
German machines whenever and wherever he saw them,
regardless of the chances against him. I have written to Mr.
Chapman—a rather difficult letter to write to a heart-broken
father. Victor was killed while attacking an aeroplane that was
coming against Lufberry and me. Another unaccounted for
German came up and brought Victor down while he was
endeavoring to protect us. A glorious death—face à l’ennemi
and for a great cause and to save a friend!
Your affectionate son,
Norman.

Escadrille N. 124, Secteur 24, June 29, 1916.


Dear Mamma,—Enclosed is a photograph of Victor
Chapman and myself, taken two days before his death. It is a
print of what is probably the last photograph taken of him. I
have sent one to Mr. Chapman.
We are too busy and short of pilots at our Escadrille to think
of taking a permission at present. Tout va bien. Bonnes
nouvelles de Freddy.
Your affectionate son,
Norman.

July 2, 1916.
Dear Mamma,—A few lines to tell you that tout va bien.
This letter will be taken over and mailed in New York by an
American Ambulance driver who dined with us last night.
To-day I am de garde all the morning—that is to say, from
dawn to noon. I must be by my avion ready to start as soon
as any Boches are signaled. None have been so far this
morning—worse luck!
Your affectionate son,
Norman.
Esc. 124, Secteur 24.
Esc. N. 124, Secteur 24, July 6, 1916.
Dear Governor,—Enclosed is a letter which speaks of
Freddy. The Escadrille is running well. St.-Saveur lunched at
our popole last week and wished to be remembered to you
and Mamma; de R⸺, who was on our team at Bagatille,
was here for lunch to-day with R⸺; both wish to be
remembered; de P⸺ came last week looking very fit and
will write to you shortly.
The aviaphone for my helmet arrived in good shape and I
have lent it to my captain, as I am riding at present a single-
seated aeroplane.
Your affectionate son,
Norman.
Memorandum of the bringing-down of his first German machine

Deauville, Sept. 2, 1916.


Dear Mamma,—I am down here with friends, passing part
of my permission. It is very pleasant and refreshing, the
change. One soon gets enough of Paris in summer and in
wartime. Here no one pays the slightest attention to the war.
There are few militaires—mostly civiles from Paris and their
amies. Good bathing,—golf in the afternoon—many good-
lookers, making the plage rather good fun.
Freddy is nearly through at Pau. He is now at the acrobacy
school learning to do stunts in the air. It is a part of the
training of a chasse pilot. I gave him some pointers before he
left and told him to do the least possible with the old machines
which are quite out of date and clumsy.
Monday I return to Paris and Tuesday back to the Front, my
eight days permission expiring on that day.
I was fortunate enough to run across a German the other
day who didn’t see me approaching. If you read the
communiqué aérien of the 23d or 24th you will find mention of
my Boche,—“un avion désemparé est tombé dans la forêt de
Spencourt.” Undoubtedly they will give me this time the
Médaille Militaire,—the chicest decoration in France. The
chief pleasure of having it will be the satisfaction of having
earned it many times and that my receiving it may please the
governor and you.
A bientôt, dear Mamma. Thanks for the socks and the
handkerchiefs.
Most affectionately,
Norman.

Escadrille Américaine, par Luxeuil-les-Bains,


Haute-Saône, September 24, 1916.
Dear little Mamma,—I am so afraid you will worry more
than ever when you hear of poor Kiffen Rockwell’s death. I
know how anxious you must be with the two of us over here.
Keep very busy, ride a lot, go out to dinners and get as many
other distractions as possible so that you will not have too
much time to think of us. As far as danger to us goes, we are
trying to take as few chances as possibly consistent with
playing the game.
Everybody tells me that Freddy is showing himself to be an
excellent pilot. Unfortunately he has not yet fully decided to
come with our Escadrille. He would prefer to go to another
which is commanded by St.-Saveur. I dare say he might be
happier if he did not come with us, but à point de vue of safety
it seems to me he would be better off with us. I could be a lot
of assistance to him, telling him all I have learned this spring
hunting Germans, and he would have an excellent mechanic
in Michel, who by the way, has been Rockwell’s mechanic
while waiting for Freddy’s arrival; and further, he could have
my machine to ride, which is the dernier cri in appareils de
chasse, with two machine guns. He would otherwise get one
as safe, but not so good for knocking down Boches. He would
have only one gun.
Did I write you that I had knocked down another Boche two
days before leaving the Verdun district? I enclose a clipping
giving the communiqué officiel, with mention also of my
Boche who fell at Dieppe.
Dear Mamma, I must stop writing now. We are going out to
try to avenge Rockwell. Don’t worry! I am doing my duty as
safely as I know how. With much love to you both,
Most affectionately,
Norman.

To his Mécanicien
Cher Michel,—En cas qu’un accident m’arrive—c’est à dire
que je suis tué, blessé ou que je reste chez les Boches—je
vous prie d’écrire quelques lignes à ces dames, les adresses
desquelles sont écrites sur les enveloppes (ci-incluses).
Dis leur que je t’avais dis d’écrire préférant qu’elles sachent
ce qu’il m’est arrivé plutôt que de rester dans l’angoisse au
sujet de mon sort.
Signe ton nom en mettant que tu avais été mon mécanicien
dévoué depuis mon arrivée sur le front.
Mes effets, papiers, lettres, etc., le tout, il faut mettre de
suite dans mes valises et les remettre personnellement à mon
frère.
Ci-inclus deux chèques comme cadeau en récompense du
boullot que vous et André ont fait si soigneusement sur les
appareils de Bibi et qui m’ont permis à gagner la Médaille
Militaire.
Ces chèques sont payables, à ma mort ou dans le cas que
je reste chez les Boches, à défaut de ce que cela m’arrive—
(espérons-le) à la démobilisation de vous deux.
En cas qu’un de vous devient civil avant l’autre, celui
devenu civil prends son chèque et le présente à la Banque—
où il sera payé.
Bonne poignée de main!
Norman Prince.
Esc. N 124, par Luxeuil-les-Bains, le 6 Septembre, 1916.

From his Mécanicien


Secteur 16, le 25 Octobre, 1916.
Monsieur et Madame Prince:—
Excusez-moi si je suis un peu en retard pour vous donner
quelques détails sur le malheur qui nous frappe en la perte de
Monsieur Norman.
Il m’avait laissé, juste huit jours avant sa chute fatale,
quelques enveloppes avec adresses écrites par sa main pour
que je vous écrive quelques mots ainsi qu’à quelques amis si
quelque chose lui arrivait. Je vous joins du reste la lettre qui
est un véritable souvenir.
Pauvre Monsieur Norman, les boches n’ont pas pu avoir
raison de lui et n’ont pas eu ce plaisir là.
Il a trouvé la mort après tant de combats affrontés, tant de
dangers, et il en est sorti avec les honneurs à son avantage.
Son dernier départ a été le 12 Octobre, avec son avion de
chasse Nieuport monté avec deux mitrailleuses et avec lequel
il avait abattu un boche le 10, deux jours avant: il est parti à 2
heures faire la protection d’un groupe d’avions de
bombardement très en avant dans les lignes ennemies. Il a
abattu un avion de chasse ennemi à 3 hrs. qui venait attaquer
le groupe et lui barrer la route. Comme toujours, faisant son
devoir avec conscience, il a attendu que tous les avions ont
repassé les lignes avant de rentrer lui-même et à la dernière
minute il pense à atterrir dans le champ d’aviation le plus près
vu que la nuit commençait à tomber.
Il était prêt à faire un atterrissage des plus normal, malgré
l’obscurité, quand le malheur a voulu qu’il touche un cable qui
était au bordure du champ, et dont il ne pouvait soupçonner la
présence et son avion est venu s’écraser sur le sol.
Il a été relevé et aussitôt transporté dans un Hôpital sans
une plainte et sans perdre un instant ses sens, causant avec
un de ses camarades d’escadrille.
Il avait deux jambes fracturées, la droite à la cuisse et la
gauche au-dessus la cheville. Il a été opéré aussitôt, non
sans recommander aux docteurs de bien s’assurer de ne pas
faire une jambe plus courte l’une que l’autre, car il faisait
beaucoup de sport.
On lui a arrangé ses deux jambes et tout était fini à minuit.

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