praefects and centurions, and severely trained in the arts of Roman discipline; butthe far greater part retained those arms, to which the nature of their country, or their early habits of life, more peculiarly adapted them. By this institution, each legion, to whom a certain proportion of auxiliaries was allotted, contained within itself every species of
lighter troops, and of missile weapons; and was capable of encountering every nation, with the advantages of its respective arms and discipline. [58] Nor was the legion destitute of what, in modern language, would be styled a train of artillery. It consisted in ten military engines of the largest, and fifty-five of a smaller size; but all of which, either
in an oblique or horizontal manner, discharged stones and darts with irresistible violence. [59]
[Footnote 55: Such, in particular, was the
state of the Batavians. Tacit. Germania, c. 29.]
[Footnote 56: Marcus Antoninus obliged the vanquished Quadi and
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Marcomanni to supply him with a large body of troops, which he immediately sent into Britain. Dion Cassius, l. lxxi. (c. 16.)]
[Footnote 57: Tacit. Annal. iv. 5. Those who fix a regular proportion of as many foot, and twice as many horse, confound the auxiliaries of the emperors with the Italian allies of the republic.]
[Footnote 58: Vegetius, ii. 2. Arrian, in his order of march and battle
against the Alani.]
[Footnote 59: The subject of the ancient machines is treated with great
knowledge and ingenuity by the Chevalier Folard, (Polybe, tom. ii. p.
233-290.) He prefers them in many respects to our modern cannon and mortars. We may observe, that the use of them in the field gradually became more prevalent, in proportion as personal valor and military
skill declined with the Roman empire. When men were no longer found,
their place was supplied by machines. See Vegetius, ii. 25. Arrian.]
Chapter I: The Extent Of The Empire In The Age Of The Antonines.--Part III.
The camp of a Roman legion presented the appearance of a fortified city. [60] As soon as the space was marked out, the pioneers carefully levelled the ground, and removed every impediment that might interrupt its perfect regularity. Its form was an exact quadrangle; and we may
calculate, that a square of about seven hundred yards was sufficient for
the encampment of twenty thousand Romans; though a similar number of our
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own troops would expose to the enemy a front of more than treble that extent. In the midst of the camp, the praetorium, or general's quarters, rose above the others; the cavalry, the infantry, and the auxiliaries occupied their respective stations; the streets were broad and perfectly straight, and a vacant space of two hundred feet was left on all sides between the tents and the rampart. The rampart itself was usually twelve feet high, armed with a line of strong and intricate palisades, and defended by a ditch of twelve feet in depth as well as in breadth.
This important labor was performed by the hands of the legionaries themselves; to whom the use of the spade and the pickaxe was no less familiar than that of the sword or pilum. Active valor may often be the present of nature; but such patient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline. [61]
[Footnote 60: Vegetius finishes his second book, and the description of the legion, with the following emphatic words:--"Universa quae ix quoque belli genere necessaria esse creduntur, secum Jegio debet ubique portare, ut in quovis loco fixerit castra, arma'am faciat civitatem."]
[Footnote 61: For the Roman Castrametation, see Polybius, l. vi. with
Lipsius de Militia Romana, Joseph. de Bell. Jud. l. iii. c. 5. Vegetius,
i. 21--25, iii. 9, and Memoires de Guichard, tom. i. c. 1.]
Whenever the trumpet gave the signal of departure, the camp was almost instantly broke up, and the troops fell into their ranks without
delay or confusion. Besides their arms, which the legendaries scarcely considered as an encumbrance, they were laden with their kitchen furniture, the instruments of fortification, and the provision of many
days. [62] Under this weight, which would oppress the delicacy of a
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modern soldier, they were trained by a regular step to advance, in about six hours, near twenty miles. [63] On the appearance of an enemy, they threw aside their baggage, and by easy and rapid evolutions converted the column of march into an order of battle. [64] The slingers and archers skirmished in the front; the auxiliaries formed the first line,
and were seconded or sustained by the strength of the legions; the cavalry covered the flanks, and the military engines were placed in the rear.
[Footnote 62: Cicero in Tusculan. ii. 37, [15.]--Joseph. de Bell. Jud.
l. iii. 5, Frontinus, iv. 1.]
[Footnote 63: Vegetius, i. 9. See Memoires de l'Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. xxv. p. 187.]
[Footnote 64: See those evolutions admirably well explained by M.
Guichard Nouveaux Memoires, tom. i. p. 141--234.]
Such were the arts of war, by which the Roman emperors defended their extensive conquests, and preserved a military spirit, at a time when
every other virtue was oppressed by luxury and despotism. If, in the consideration of their armies, we pass from their discipline to their numbers, we shall not find it easy to define them with any tolerable accuracy. We may compute, however, that the legion, which was itself a body of six thousand eight hundred and thirty-one Romans, might, with its attendant auxiliaries, amount to about twelve thousand five hundred
men. The peace establishment of Hadrian and his successors was composed of no less than thirty of these formidable brigades; and most probably
formed a standing force of three hundred and seventy-five thousand men.
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Instead of being confined within the walls of fortified cities, which
the Romans considered as the refuge of weakness or pusillanimity, the legions were encamped on the banks of the great rivers, and along the frontiers of the barbarians. As their stations, for the most
part, remained fixed and permanent, we may venture to describe the distribution of the troops. Three legions were sufficient for Britain.
The principal strength lay upon the Rhine and Danube, and consisted of sixteen legions, in the following proportions: two in the Lower, and
three in the Upper Germany; one in Rhaetia, one in Noricum, four in Pannonia, three in Maesia, and two in Dacia. The defence of the Euphrates was intrusted to eight legions, six of whom were planted in Syria, and the other two in Cappadocia. With regard to Egypt, Africa, and Spain, as they were far removed from any important scene of war, a single legion maintained the domestic tranquillity of each of those great provinces. Even Italy
