Page:The history of Rome. Translated with the author's sanction and additions.djvu/99

Rh sands" of footmen (milites), under the three leaders of division of the infantry (tribuni militum). To these there may perhaps have been added a number of light-armed, archers especially, fighting apart from the regular ranks. The general was ordinarily the king himself; as the cavalry had regularly a colonel of their own (magister equitum) appointed over them, it would appear that the king led mainly the infantry, and that this accordingly, as is probable also on other grounds, formed from the first the chief part of the armed force. Besides service in war, other personal burdens might devolve upon the burgesses; such as the obligation of undertaking the king's commissions in peace and in war (P. 68), and the tasks of tilling the king's lands or of constructing public buildings. How heavily in particular the burden of building the walls of the city pressed upon the community, is evidenced by the fact that the ring-walls retained the name of "tasks" (mœnia). There was no regular direct taxation, nor was there any direct regular expenditure on the part of the state. Taxation was not needed for defraying the burdens of the community, since the state gave no recompense for service in the army, for task-works or for public service generally; so far as there was such recompense at all, it was given to the person who