Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/624

562 projected beyond the front, and formed that bristling mass of spears which gave the phalanx its formidable appearance. The proportion of peltastai, cavalry, and irregular troops attached to the grand phalanx varied slightly, but as a rule the total about equalled that of the phalanx. Of these, the peltastai would form one-half, the cavalry and irregular troops about a quarter each. Thus the total strength of a grand phalanx and its auxiliaries o,mounted to about 32,000 men, and Alexander s army at Arbela was formed of two such. The Macedonian phalanx was the crowning point of Greek military organisation, and therefore has been described at some length; but a still greater military power was already rising in the West, before whose legions the phalanx itself collapsed, and to this it is now time to turn.

The early or legendary period of Roman history is enveloped in a darkness which hides the rise and first development of those institutions which ultimately gave to Rome the empire of the world. Her earliest military organisation is attributed to Romulus, who grouped the great families or clans (&quot; gentes &quot;) in three tribes ; each required to furnish 1000 foot soldiers and 100 cavalry, and in the force so raised is traced the. origin of the Roman legion. But it- is to Servius Tullius that the legend assigns the great classification, lasting to the time of the Ca3sars, according to which the burdens and duties of military service were determined. The whole popula tion was numbered and divided, according to wealth, into six classes ; the class determining the amount of war-tribute to be paid by the citizen, his position in the army, and the armour he had to ,provide. The legionary infantry, Triarii, Principes, Hastati, were usually drawn from the first four classes; the light troops, &quot; V elites&quot; from the fifth; while the sixth and poorest class was exempted from all military service and from the tribute. For voting purposes and for enrolment these classes were subdivided into centuries; and a certain number of special centuries of &quot; equites &quot; were formed from the patricians and most wealthy citizen s, who were required to provide horses as well as armour, and formed the cavalry of the legion. Every five years a fresh census was held, and the classification according to property revised. Liability to service commenced at the age of seventeen, and lasted until forty-six ; and no Roman citizen could aspire to any office until he had served ten years in the infantry or five in the cavalry. The manner of raising the annual levy of troops is minutely described by Polybius. Immediately after the election of the consuls, twenty-four military tribunes were chosen from among the citizens of longest and most distinguished service. The consuls having published the day on which all persons liable to service were to assemble at the capital, the mili tary tribunes were apportioned to the several legions. The magistrates then proceeded to choose from the different tribes, in order determined by lot, those most fit for mili tary service, and sent them, in groups corresponding to the number of legions, before the military tribunes, who selected in turn for their several legions till the required numbers were raised. The conscripts then took the mili tary oath, sacramentum, and were dismissed until the appointed muster-day, when the legion was formed and organised. The youngest and poorest were made Velites, the next in age Hastati, the most powerful were selected for the Principes, and the oldest or richest reserved for the Triarii. The legion was commonly composed of 600 Triarii, 1200 Principes, 1200 Hastati, and 1200 Yelites, with 300 cavalry, making a total strength of 4500 ; the number of Velites, however, often varied considerably. When the classification was completed, the three classes of Triarii, Principes, and Hastati were divided into ten manipuli or companies each, and the cavalry into ten turmoe or troops ; while the Velites were distributed among the thirty manipuli. A first and second centurion was then chosen and appointed to each manipulus ; and these again chose each two &quot; ensigns &quot; from their manipuli. The centurions ranked among themselves according to the class to which they belonged ; thus a centurion of Triarii ranked above one of Principes or Hastati, and the first centurion of each class commanded the whole of his class or one of the lines of battle of the legion. Originally Roman citizens only, belonging to the five upper classes, were admitted in the army, and the soldier equipped him self at his own cost, and received no pay. Afterwards, the socii or allies of Rome were included in her armies, and in the. time of Polybius a consular army consisted usually of two legions, or 9000 Roman soldiers and about the same number of allies or socii. But under the pressure of the great Punic wars the consular armies were often doubled : at Cannae two double consular armies, or nearly 80,000 men, were brought together ; and at one period of the second Punic war as many as 23 legions were raised. The system of payment, too, dating from the prolonged siege of Veii, removed the reasons for exempting the poor from military service, and they were included in the levies, though usually detailed to the navy as an inferior service. Finally, when civil wars had shaken the old institutions, and everything was sacrificed to faction and party spirit, even slaves and criminals were enrolled, and the whole character of the army was changed. Other causes also tended to the same result. The system of raising the consular armies annually, and disbanding them at the con clusion of each campaign, required to be modified when distant wars were undertaken : legions were kept perma nently under arms, and recruited annually by levies sent from Rome ; ambitious generals found excuses for not dis banding the armies to which they owed their power, and by degrees a standing army was established; and these changes in the character of the army were accompanied by corresponding changes in its organisation and tactics. The distinction between the three ranks became gradually effaced, and the three corresponding manipuli were merged in the cohort. The legion was no longer divided into three lines and thirty manipuli, but into ten cohorts, and its force was raised from 4000 to 6000 men. The manner of fighting, too, was gradually changed, and the Roman soldier learned to trust less to his sword and heavy pilum, only useful at close quarters, and more to javelins and warlike instruments. The turning-point in Roman military art is commonly fixed about the time of Marius, to whom the change in the organisation, as well as in the composition, of the Roman armies is attributed. But the evil effects did not make themselves felt immediately, and the legions, whose actions under Caesar shed the brightest lustre on the Roman arms, were organised on the new system. So long as discipline and the old military spirit remained, the Roman armies retained their superiority, whatever their tactics. This spirit was too deeply implanted to die out soon ; and when ever men arose worthy to command them, the Roman soldiery regained its reputation. But under a succession of weak and profligate emperors all discipline was lost : the legions, degenerated into a feeble militia, sold the empire which they were incapable of defending, and ulti mately fell. an easy prey to the rude and daring barbarians of the North. The Roman armies owed their long and remarkable 