Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/828

750  1em  CAMP,. While the Greeks, depending more upon the advantages of situation, adapted the form of their encampment to the nature of the ground selected, the Romans laid out theirs according to a fixed and definite plan, modified only by the numbers for whom accommoda tion had to be provided. Its form and arrangement in the best days of the republic are minutely and clearly described by Polybius, the companion in many wars of the younger Scipio. Plan of a Roman Camp. A Roman camp of the Polybiar, type was intended primarily to accommodate a consular army, consisting of two legions, each of 4200 infantry and 300 cavalry, with the ordinary contingent of &quot; socii,&quot; amounting in all to 10,800 foot and 1800 horse and for this purpose it was pitched in the form of a square, each side of which extended 2017 Roman feet in length. This square was divided into two unequal portions by a perfectly straight road called the &quot; principia,&quot; 100 feet in breadth, running parallel with the front and rear of the camp, and forming at its ex tremities in the sides AC and BD of the camp two gates, the &quot; porta priucipalis dcxtra&quot; and the &quot; porta principals sinistra.&quot; In what may be called the upper and smaller portion, determining the arrangement of the rest of the camp, stood the &quot; preetorium &quot; (P), or general s tent, so situated as to have a commanding view in all directions. 1QO feet.of clear ground on every side left the &quot; praetorium &quot; in the centre of a square, whose sides, each 200 feet in length, were carefully traced parallel to the sides of the camp. To the right and left of the &quot;prsetorium,&quot; at F and Q, were the &quot; forum,&quot; or market-place, and the &quot; qusestorium, &quot; or paymaster s tent. Further to the right and left, at (p, q), (p, q), (r, s), (r, s), were stationed the cavalry and infantry that formed the bodyguard of the consul and quaestor. Fifty feet in front of the &quot; prsetorium,&quot; along the line forming the upper boundary of the &quot; principia,&quot; were the tents of the twelve tribunes of the legions, six to the right and six to the left of the &quot; praetorium,&quot; opposite their respective legions. In the prolongation of the same line were probably stationed the &quot; prtefecti sociorum.&quot; Passing from the upper to the lower division, or to what was called the front of the camp, we cross the &quot; principia,&quot; the great thoroughfare of the army, where the standards of the legion were placed round the altars of the gods. This part of the camp, i.e., between the &quot; principia &quot; and the side CD, was allotted to the main body of the army. It was intersected transversely in the middle by a street 50 feet broad, the &quot; via quintana,&quot; as well as longitudinally by what were called the &quot;via)&quot; or streets of the camp. Each of the latter was also 50 feet in breadth, and the central &quot; via &quot; formed the boundary between the two legions, which were placed symmetrically to the right and left on each side. The &quot;equites,&quot; &quot; triarii,&quot; &quot; principes,&quot; and &quot; hastati &quot; of the legion were stationed in the spaces numbered (1, 1 ), (2, 2 ), (3, 3 ), (4, 4 ), each of the spaces devoted to the cavalry containing, within an area of 10,000 square feet, one squadron of thirty men and horses, while in the same area there were quartered of the &quot; principes &quot; and &quot; hastati &quot; two &quot; maniples&quot; or divisions of sixty men each. Each of the spaces where the &quot; triarii &quot; were stationed was only half this area, and devoted to one &quot;maniple&quot; of sixty men. Spaces (5, 5 ), (6, 6 ) were assigned to the cavalry and infantry of the allies, of whom, however, a part was quartered in the upper camp. The &quot; velites &quot; (light-armed troops) were probably distributed proportionally among the three divisions of the infantry. Between the tents and outer wall of the camp there was an &quot; intervallum &quot; all round, 200 feet broad, by which ample room was given for the passage of the legions in and out, and which also served as a receptacle for booty, as well as to increase the distance of the troops from the enemy. The camp was provided with four gates (1) &quot;porta principalis dextra,&quot; and (2) &quot;porta priucipalis sinistra,&quot; at the extremities of the &quot; principia ; &quot; (3), &quot; porta praetoria,&quot; on the side nearest the &quot; pnetorium,&quot; and in the very centre of that side ; (4), &quot; porta decumana,&quot; in the centre of the side opposite. The fortifications con sisted of a fosse or ditch (fossa 9 feet deep and 12 feet wide, the earth from which, as it was dug out, being thrown to the inside, formed, with the addition of turf and stone, a mound (ac/ger on the summit of which were fixed stout wooden stakes (sudes). Such was the general outline of the Polybian camp ; but when, under the emperors, changes were made in the con stitution of the army, and organization by cohorts was introduced, the form and disposition of a Roman camp underwent modifications that resulted in what has been called the Hyginian camp, from Hyginus, a land surveyor who flourished under Trajan and Hadrian, and who has given an account of its arrangement in his day. The principal points of contrast with the Polybian camp were, that the form was now oblong and did not occupy half so much space, that the troops were stationed in cohorts round the rampart so as to enclose the whole body of foreigners and baggage, and that the fortification was much less substantial. The ordinary entrenchments thrown up from day to day by a Roman army while on the march were but slight j 