Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/42

18 ence of times and circumstances, their numbers were seldom much inferior to those of the legions themselves. Among the auxiliaries, the bravest and most faithful bands were placed under the command of prefects and centurions, and severely trained in the arts of Roman discipline; but the 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. Nor was the legion destitute of what, in Artillery, 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.

The camp of a Roman legion presented the appearance of a fortified city. 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 own troops would expose to the enemy a front of