Legion

in Roman warfare, a body of infantry. It corresponded roughly to the Greek phalanx and to the modern battalion. In Caesar's time the legion contained about 3,600 men. It was divided into ten cohorts of 360 each. Each cohort was divided into three maniples of 120 men each. Each maniple was divided into two centuries. Each legion was commanded by a lieutenant and six tribunes. These officers and their attendants were usually men of social standing. Each century was commanded by a centurion, chosen usually from the ranks. The first centurion was intrusted with the silver eagle. It was the standard of the legion. In camp, it was kept in a little shrine. Its loss in battle was the deepest disgrace that a legion could incur. Each maniple had also its standard. Orders were given by means of ensigns and by signals on wind instruments. There were three of these instruments, a funnel-shaped trumpet about three feet long with a deep tone, a large curved horn with a shriller note, and the shell horn with a hoarse note, pitched above that of the trumpet. Each legion was accompanied by a separate baggage train carrying tents, mills for grinding grain, artillery, extra weapons, and supplies of food.

In ordinary battle array, a legion was drawn up in three lines. The soldiers stood about three feet apart. Four cohorts stood in the first line in ranks from eight to ten men deep. About fifty paces in the rear, three cohorts were posted, and behind them again, three more cohorts. When the legion went into action the second line pressed forward. As soon as the first line fell, or became weary, the soldiers of the first line fell back behind their comrades for shelter; only in case of emergency was the third line brought into action. In his Commentaries Caesar speaks of using the third on one occasion to repel an attack of the Helvetii who fell unexpectedly upon his rear. Six legions, side by side in battle array, presented a front of about a mile or a mile and a half in length according to the size of the legions. It was not customary to reinforce a legion with new recruits. The older the legion, the smaller, therefore, it became.

The soldiers of the legion were recruited from the citizens of Rome, not from foreign mercenaries. Each soldier was clad in an undyed, thick, woolen tunic, reaching to his knees. He carried a cloak which served him, also, as a blanket. On his feet, he wore half boots or sandals with heavy soles. They were fastened by means of straps passing over the instep. As to defense, the legionary soldier wore a metal helmet, ornamented with a crest and a heavy cuirass or coat of leather, strengthened with strips of metal or metal scales. He carried also a rectangular or oval shield strengthened with leather and a rim of metal. For offense he carried a heavy pike or javelin. It had a square wooden handle four feet long with an iron point about two feet in length. Its total length was about six feet. It weighed about as much as an ordinary musket. The skillful soldier was able to hurl it and spit a man at a distance of about seventy-five feet. A second weapon was the sword,--a short two-edged pointed weapon adapted for thrusting, rather than for striking. Every fifteen days, an allowance of about thirty pounds of whole wheat was issued to each soldier. This he was expected to grind in a handmill and to prepare in person, either in the form of a paste or in unleavened bread. On the march, he made up his wheat, his cooking utensils, his blanket, and his tent stakes into a tight bundle, weighing from fifty to sixty pounds. When going into battle these impedimenta, as they were well called, were left in a pile under guard.

The legionary soldiers received a salary in Caesar's time of about six and one-fourth cents a day. The centurions received double wages. Caesar won great favor with his soldiery by making the pay twice this sum. Even then it amounted to but about forty-five dollars a year. This was equivalent to nearly ten times that sum at the present time. See Phalanx