Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/105

* LEGHORN. city of Italy in Tuscany, on the Mediterranean, capital of the Province of Leghorn, 11.3 miles by rail southeast of Genoa, 208 miles northwest of Rome, C2 miles west of Florence (ilap: Italy, E 4). In 1551 it had only 749 inhabitants; but now the only Italian cities surpassing or rivaling it commercially are Genoa and Naples. The city has broad, straight, well-paved streets, large public squares, and splendid boulevards. The main street, on which are all the principal shops, is the Via Vittorio Emanuele, running east from the harbor and crossing the broad Vittorio Emanuele Square, in which is an equestrian sta- tue of King Victor Emmanuel by Rivalta. In (jaribaldi .Square is a moninnent to the great patriot; in Carlo Alberto Square are colossal statues of Ferdinand III. and Leopold II., the last Grand Dukes of Tuscany: in Cavour Square is a marble statue of the statesman; in ilicheli Square a statue of Ferdinand I., Grand Duke of Tuscany. Besides the seven- teenth-century cathedral there are twenty-three churches (among them Evangelical, English, Greek, .rmenian. Waldensian, Scottish), and a handsome synagogue founded in 1581. The most interesting public building is the royal castle. There are several good hotels and a num- ber of sea-bathing establishments with cafes and terraces. Leghorn's popularity as a bath- ing resort is constantly growing, and during the season, from July loth to September loth, many of the villas along the shore to the south are occupied by English and Americans. Elec- tric cars connect the railway station with the bathing establishments and with the suburban siuiimer resorts of Ardenza and Antignano. The new race-track near Ardenza is one of the best in Italy, ilontenero, two and a half miles from Ardenza, is a resort for pilgrims, having an image of the Jladonna much esteemed by sailors. The water-supply comes from the hills of Co- lognole. thirteen miles away, and is stored in an immense reseiToir. Educational institutions are the Royal JIarine Academy, the Royal Com- mercial ilarine Institute, a lyceum. a gymna- sium, and a public library with 00.000 volumes. Charitable institutions are two pest-houses, a great hospital, founded in lfi22, an asylum for foundlings, and an orphan asylum. Leghorn is the seat of a bishop, and of an American and other foreign consuls. The inner harbor (Porto Vecehio or Mediceo) admits vessels of small draught only: the outer harbor (Porto Xuovo). added in 1854. is pro- tected by a semicircular mole five-eighths of a mile long, with lighthouses at both ends. From them is to be had a comprehensive view of the city and of the islands of Elba, Gorgona, and Capraja. On a rocl<y island in the outer harbor is a lighthouse (Faro) erected in 1303. Numer- ous canals intersect the to^vn, and a ship canal connects the harbor with the Arno, which flows into the Mediterranean nine miles north. Leg- horn has regular steamship communication with Genoa, Corsica, Malta, the Levant, ilarseilles, and Hamburg. The tonnage of vessels entered in 1885 and 1900 was 1,434;000 and 1,839.954 re- spectively. The principal exports are cotton, wool, and raw silk to the Levant; other exports are olive oil. wine, candied fruit, borax and boracic acid, tartar, soap, hemp, hides, quick- silver, furniture, and marble. The principal imports are grain and petroleum from Russia 93 LEGION. via the Black Sea; other imports are spirits, sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, hides, and coal. The value of the exports and imports in I'JUO was $9,700,000 and .$16,000,000 respectively. The armored vessels of the Italian navy are built at the works of the Orlando Brothers. Among the manufactures are glass, porcelain, coral ornaments, and chemical products. There are iron-foundries. Population, in 1881 (commune), 97.t;i5; in 1901, 98,321. Leghorn became im- portant only after the decay of the neighboring city of Porto Risano, the harbor of which is now entirely filled up. It came into the possession of Florence in 1421, was fortified by Alessandro de' Medici, and was declared a free port (the first in the Mediterranean) by the Grand Duke Cosimo I. Consult Vivoli, Aiinali di Liionii (Leghorn, 4 vols., 1842). LEGION (Lat. legio, properly a 'levy,' 'choice,' from legere, 'to choose,' 'select,' Gk. Xdytif, lec/eiii, to choose). The tactical unit of the Roman army. In early Rome, the army con- sisted ipso facto of all the citizens, i.e. patri- cians, capable of bearing arms. Thus it was an irregular force that could be summoned to com- bat in time of need by the chief. Romulus is said to have organized a force consisting of 3000 milites, or anned infantrymen, and 300 celeres, or horsemen (knights) ; these were furnished in equal numbers (one thousand mililes and one hundred celeres) hj each of the three tribes, Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres, into which the citi- zens were divided, and commanded severally by the trihunus militum and the Irihumis cclerum. It was King Servius Tullius, however, accord- ing to the tradition of the ancients, who first or- ganized the army on a substantial military basis. In accordance with the democratic reforms of the time, the warriors were not drawn exclusive- ly from the patriciate ; the lower classes also, or proletarii, were permitted to bear arms. The itiniores, or younger men, from seventeen to forty-six, formed the backbone of the army, and bore the brunt of actual fighting in the field ; the seiiiores, elder men, from forty-six to sixty, de- fended the city, and took the field in times of pressing need. They fought in the form of the ph(ila)ijc, or solid body, without any regular di- vision into battalions, except on the basis of age and rank described above; a system that was maintained imtil the beginning of the fourth century B.C., when a new reform is said to have been organized by Camillus (B.C. 390). This new system had for its basis the legio, or army corps, two of which formed the ejcereitus con- siilaris. or consular aimy. The legion was com- manded by six trihuni militum, always mem- bers of the nobility, who took turns, by the day or tlie month, in the actual command. Legions were always enrolled for a single year's campaign, and dismissed at the end of the season. The war- riors were compelled to furnish their own equip- ment, except that the proletarii were equipped by the State. With the gradual conquest of Italy, however, and the numerous wars with nations beyond the sea, this system of annual citizen soldiei-y became impossible, and war tended to become a profession. The army, as organized on the legionary sys- tem of the Republic, was divided as follows : the legion consisted normally of 4200 infantry and 300 cavalry; the infantry body (aside from the proletarii)' -v^as divided into thirty maniples, and