_Of Military Affairs._
According to the Roman constitution, every free-born citizen was a
soldier, and bound to serve if called upon, in the armies of the state
at any period, from the age of seventeen to forty-six.
When the Romans thought themselves injured by any nation, they sent one
or more of the priests, called _feciales_, to demand redress, and if it
was not immediately given, thirty-three days were granted to consider
the matter, after which war might be justly declared; then the feciales
again went to their confines, and having thrown a bloody spear into
them, formally declared war against that nation.
The levy of the troops, the encampment, and much of the civil
discipline, as well as the temporary command of the army, was intrusted
to the military tribunes, six of whom were appointed to each legion.
During the early period of the republic, the standing army in time of
peace usually consisted of only four legions, two of which were
commanded by each consul, and they were relieved by new levies every
year, the soldiers then serving without any pay beyond their mere
subsistence. But this number was afterwards greatly augmented, and the
inconvenience of raw troops having been experienced, a fixed stipend in
money was allowed to the men, and they were constantly retained in the
service.
The legion usually consisted of three hundred horse, and three thousand
foot: the different kinds of infantry which composed it were three, the
_hastati_, _principes_, and _triarii_. The first were so called because
they fought with spears: they consisted of young men in the flower of
life, and formed the first line in battle. The _principes_ were men of
middle age who occupied the second line. The _triarii_ were old soldiers
of approved valor, who formed the third line.
There was a fourth kind of troops, called _vel{)i}tes_ from their
swiftness and agility: these did not form a part of the legion, and had
no certain post assigned them, but fought in scattered parties, wherever
occasion required, usually before the lines.
The imperial eagle was the common standard of the legion; it was of gilt
metal, borne on a spear by an officer of rank, styled, from his office,
_aquilifer_, and was regarded by the soldiery with the greatest
reverence. There were other ensigns, as A. B. C. D. in the frontispiece.
The only musical instruments used in the Roman army, were brazen
trumpets of different forms, adapted to the various duties of the
service.
The arms of the soldiery varied according to the battalion in which they
served. Some were equipped with light javelins, and others with a
missile weapon, called _pilum_, which they flung at the enemy; but all
carried shields and short swords of that description, usually styled cut
and thrust, which they wore on the right side, to prevent its
interfering with the buckler, which they bore on the left arm.
The shield was of an oblong or oval shape, with an iron boss jutting out
in the middle, to glance off stones or darts; it was four feet long and
two and a half broad, made of pieces of wood joined together with small
plates of iron, and the whole covered with a bull's hide.
They were partly dressed in a metal cuirass with an under covering of
cloth; on the head they wore helmets of brass, either fastened under the
chin, with plates of the same metal, or reaching to the shoulders, which
they covered and ornamented on the top with flowing tufts of horse hair.
The light infantry were variously armed with slings and darts as well as
swords, and commonly wore a shaggy cap, in imitation of the head of some
wild beast, of which the skirt hung over their shoulders. The troops of
the line wore greaves on the legs and heavy iron-bound sandals on the
feet. These last were called _caligae_, from which the emperor Caius
Caesar obtained the name of Caligula, in consequence of having worn them
in his youth among the soldiery.
The cavalry were armed with spears and wore a coat of mail of chain
work, or scales of brass or steel, often plated with gold, under which
was a close garment that reached to their buskins. The helmet was
surmounted with a plume, and with an ornament distinctive of each rank,
or with some device according to the fancy of the wearers, and which was
then, as now in heraldry, denominated the crest. This term was _crista_,
derived from the resemblance of the ornament to the comb of a cock.
The Romans made no use of saddles or stirrups, but merely cloths folded
according to the convenience of the rider.
Among the instruments used in war were towers consisting of different
stories, from which showers of darts were discharged on the townsmen by
means of engines called _catapultae_, _balistae_, and _scorpiones_.
But the most dreadful machine of all was the battering ram: this was a
long beam like the mast of a ship, and armed at one end with iron, in
the form of a ram's head, whence it had its name. It was suspended by
the middle, with ropes or chains fastened to a beam which lay across two
posts, and hanging thus equally balanced, it was violently thrust
forward, drawn back, and again pushed forward, until by repeated strokes
it had broken down the wall.
The discipline of the army was maintained with great severity; officers
were exposed to degradation for misconduct, and the private soldier to
corporal punishment. Whole legions who had transgressed their military
duty were exposed to decimation, which consisted in drawing their names
by lot, and putting every tenth man to the sword.
The most common rewards were crowns of different forms; the mural crown
was presented to him who in the assault first scaled the rampart of a
town; the castral, to those who were foremost in storming the enemy's
entrenchments; the civic chaplet of oak leaves, to the soldier who saved
his comrade's life in battle, and the triumphal laurel wreath to the
general who commanded in a successful engagement. The radial crown was
that worn by the emperors.
When an army was freed from a blockade, the soldiers gave their
deliverer a crown called _obsidionalis_, made of the grass which grew in
the besieged place; and to him who first boarded the ship of an enemy, a
naval crown.
But the greatest distinction that could be conferred on a commander, was
a triumph; this was granted only by the senate, on the occasion of a
great victory. When decreed, the general returned to Rome, and was
appointed by a special edict to the supreme command in the city; on the
day of his entry, a triumphal arch was erected of sculptured masonry,
under which the procession passed.
First came a detachment of cavalry, with a band of military music
preceding a train of priests in their robes, who were followed by a
hecatomb of the whitest oxen with gilded horns entwined with flowers;
next were chariots, laden with the spoils of the vanquished; and after
them, long ranks of chained captives conducted by files of lictors. Then
came the conqueror, clothed in purple and crowned with laurel, having an
ivory sceptre in his hand; a band of children followed dressed in white,
who threw perfumes from silver censors, while they chanted the hymns of
victory and the praises of the conqueror. The march was closed by the
victorious troops, with their weapons wreathed with laurel; the
procession marched to the temple of Jupiter, where the victor descended
and dedicated his spoils to the gods.
When the objects of the war had been obtained by a bloodless victory, a
minor kind of triumph was granted, in which the general appeared on
horseback, dressed in white, and crowned with myrtle, while in his hand
he bore a branch of olive. No other living sacrifice was offered but
sheep, from the name of which the ceremony was called an ovation.
In consequence of the continual depredations to which the coast of Italy
was subject, the Romans commenced the building of a number of vessels,
to establish a fleet, taking for their model a Carthaginian vessel,
which was formerly stranded on their coast.
Their vessels were of two kinds, _naves onerariae_, ships of burden, and
_naves longae_, ships of war: the former served to carry provisions, &c.:
they were almost round, very deep, and impelled by sails.
The ships of war received their name from the number of banks of oars,
one above another, which they contained: thus a ship with three banks of
oars was called _triremis_, one with four, _quadriremis_, &c.; in these,
sails were not used.