Search -
The Old Roman World; The Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization
The Old Roman World The Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization Author:John Lord General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1873 Original Publisher: C. Scribner and company Subjects: Rome -- Civilization Rome History / Ancient / General History / Ancient / Greece History / Ancient / Rome Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be... more » typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: Chat L] Military Grenius. 58 The Roman soldier was trained to march twenty miles a day, under a burden of eighty pounds; yea, Thepirit to swim rivers, to climb mountains, to penetrate man soldier- forests, and to encounter every kind of danger. He was taught that his destiny was to die in battle. He expected death. He was ready to die. Death was his duty, and his glory. He enlisted in the armies with little hope of revisiting his home. He crossed seas and deserts and forests with the idea of spending his life in the service of his country. His pay was only a denarius daily, equal to about sixteen cents of our money. Marriage was discouraged or forbidden. He belonged to the state, and the state was exacting and hard. He was reduced to abject obedience, yet he held in his hand the destinies of the empire. And however insignificant was the legionary as a man, he gained importance from the great body with which he was identified. He was the servant and the master of the state. He had an intense esprit de corps. He was bound up in the glory of his legion. Both religion and honor bound him to his standards. The golden eagle which glittered in his front was the object of his fondest devotion. Nor was it possible to escape the penalty of cowardice or treachery, or disobedience. He could be chastised with blows by his centurion ; his general could doom him to death. Never was the seventy of military discipline relaxed. Military exercises were incess...« less