15 - Beacon Lights of History - Ancient Achievements by John Lord

In the third installment of the Beacon Lights of History series, Lord delves into the remarkable achievements of the ancient world, exploring pivotal developments in law, the fine arts, and science. He brings to life iconic figures such as Cicero and Cleopatra, revealing their enduring impact on history. Summary by KHand.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section fifteen of Beacon Lights of History, Volume three, Ancient
Achievements by John Lord. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain recording by k Hand The Military Art Part two.
The main dependence of the legion was on the infantry,
which wore heavy armor, consisting of helmet, breastplate, greaves on
the right leg and on the left arm a buckler

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four feet in length and two and a half in width.
The helmet was originally made of leather or untanned skin,
strengthened and adorned by bronze or gold, and surmounted by
a crest which was often of horse hair and so
made as to give an imposing look. The crests served
not only for ornament but to distinguish the different centurions.
The breastplate or curess was generally made of metal, and

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sometimes was highly ornamented. Chain mail was also used. The
greaves were of bronze or brass, with a lining of
leather or felt, and reached above the knees. The shield
worn by the heavily armored infantry was not round like
that of the early Greeks, but oval or oblong adapted
to the shape of the body, such as was adopted
by Philip and Alexander, and was made of wood or

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wicker work. The weapons were a light spear, a pillum
or javelin over six feet long terminated by a steel point,
and a short cut and thrust sword with a double edge.
Besides the armor and weapons of the legionary, he usually
carried on the marches provisions for two weeks, three or
four stakes used in forming the palisade of the camp,
beside various tools, altogether a burden of sixty or eighty

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pounds per man. The legion was drawn up eight deep
and three feet intervened between rank and file, which disposition
gave great activity and made it superior to the Macedonian fealanx,
the strength of which depended on sixteen ranks of long
pikes wedged together. The general period of service for the
infantry was twenty years, after which the soldier received a
discharge together with a bounty in money or land. The

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cavalry attached to each legion consisted of three hundred men,
who originally were selected from the leading men in the state.
They were mounted at the expense of the state and
formed a distinct order. The cavalry was divided into ten squadrons.
To each legion was attached also a train of ten
military engines of the largest size and fifty five of
the smaller, all of which discharged stones and darts with

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great effect. This train corresponded with our artillery. The Roman legion,
whether it was composed of four thousand men as in
the early ages of the Republic or six thousand as
in the time of Augustus, was divided into ten cohorts,
and each cohort was composed of hastati raw troops, principayes,
trained troops, tirrari veterans, and velites light troops or skirmishers.

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The soldiers of the first line, called Heshtati, consisted of
youths in the bloom of manhood, who were distributed into
fifteen companies or in maniples. Each company contained sixty privates,
two centurions, and a standard bearer. Two thirds were heavily
armed and bore the long shield. The remainder carried only
a spear in light javelins. The second line, the principes,

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was composed of men men in the full vigor of life,
divided also into fifteen companies, all heavily armed and distinguished
by the splendor of their equipments. The third body, the Triari,
was composed of tried veterans in fifteen companies, the least
trustworthy of which were placed in the rear. These formed
three lines. The Valetes were large armed troops employed on

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outpost duty and mingled with the horsemen. The Hastati were
so called because they were armed with the hasta or spear.
The Princi pays for being placed so near to the front,
and the Triari from having been arrayed behind the first
two lines. As a body of reserve. The Triari were
armed with the pillum, thicker and stronger than the Grecian lands,
four and a half feet long of wood, with a

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barbed head of iron, so that the whole length of
the weapon was six feet nine inches. It was used
either to throw or thrust with, and when it pierced
the enemy's shield, the iron head was bent, and the spear,
owing to the twist in the iron, still held to
the shield. Each soldier carried two of these weapons and
threw the heavy pilum over the heads of their comrades
in front in order to break the enemy's lines. In

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the time of the Empire, when the legion was modified.
The infantry wore cuirasses and helmets and carried a sword
and tagger. The select infantry were armed with a long
spear and a shield, the rest with a pylum. Each
man carried a saw, a basket, a mattock, a hatchet,
a leather strap, a hook, a chain, and provision for
three days. The equites cavalry wore helmets and curesses, like

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the infantry, having a broad sword at the right side
and in the hand a long pole a buckler swung
at the horse's flank. They were also furnished with a
quiver containing three or four javelins. The artillery were used
both for hurling missiles in battle and for the attack
on fortresses. The tormentum, which was an elastic instrument, discharged
stones and darts, and was held in general use until

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the discovery of gunpowder. In besieging a city, the ram
was employed for the destroying the lower part of a wall,
and the balista, which discharged stones, was used to overthrow
the battlements. The ballista would project a stone weighing from
fifty to three hundred pounds. The aires or battering ram
consisted of a large beam made of the trunk of
a tree, frequently one hundred feet in length, to one

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end of which was fastened a mace of iron or
bronze resembling and formed the head of a ram. It
was often suspended by ropes from a beam fixed transversely
over it, so that the soldiers were relieved from supporting
its weight and were able to give it a rapid
and forcible swinging motion back and forth. When this machine
was further perfected by rigging it upon wheels and constructing

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over a roof so as to form a testudo, which
protected the besieging party from the assaults of the besieged.
There was no tower so strong nor wall so thick
as to resist a long continued attack. The great length
of the beam enabling the soldiers to work across the
defensive ditch, and as many as one hundred men being
often employed upon it. The Romans learned from the Greeks

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the art of building this formidable engine, which was used
with great effect by Alexander, but was still greater by
Titus in the Siege of Jerusalem. It was first used
by the Romans the siege of Syracus. The venea was
a sort of roof under which the soldiers protected themselves
when they undermined walls. The heliopolis, also used in the
attack on cities, was a square tower furnished with all

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the means of assault. This also was a Greek invention,
and the one used by Demetrius at the siege of
Rhodes b. C. Three O six was one hundred and
thirty five feet high and sixty eight wide, divided into
nine stories. The tourists a tower of the same class
was used both by Greeks and Romans, and even by Asiatics.

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Mithridates used one at the siege of Sisicus, one hundred
and fifty feet in height. These most formidable engines were
generally made of beams of wood, covered on three sides
with iron and sometimes with raw heights. They were higher
than the walls and all other fortifications of a besieged place,
and divided into stories pierced with windows. In and upon
them were stationed archers and slingers, and in the lower

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story was a battering ram. The soldiers in the tourists
were also provided with scaling landers, sometimes on wheels, so
that when the the top of the wall was cleared
by means of the tourists, it might be scaled by
means of the latters. It was impossible to resist these
powerful engines, except by burning them, or by undermining the
ground upon which they stood, or by overturning them with
stones or iron shod beams hung from a mast on

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the wall, or by increasing the height of the wall,
or by erecting temporary towers on the wall beside them.
Thus there was no ancient fortification capable of was standing
a long siege. When the besieged city was short of
defenders or provisions, with forces equal between the combatants, an
attack was generally a failure, for the defenders had always
a great advantage. But when the number of defenders was

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reduced or when famine pressed, the skill and courage of
the assailants would ultimately triumph. Some ancient cities made a
most obstinate resistance, like Tarentum, like Carthage, which stood a
siege of four years, like Numantia in Spain, and like Jerusalem.
When cities were of immense sized population resources, like Rome
when besieged by Alaric, it was easier to take them

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by cutting off all ingress and egress so as to
produce famine. Tire was taken by Alexander only by cutting
off the harbor. Cyrus could not have taken Babylon by assaults,
since the walls were of such enormous height and the
ditch was too wide for the use of battering rams.
He resorted to an expedient of which the blinded inhabitants
of that doomed city never dreamed, which rendered their impregnable

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fortifications useless. Nor probably would the Romans have prevailed against
Jerusalem had not famine decimated and weakened its defenders. Fortified cities,
though scarcely ever impregnable, were yet more in use in
ancient than modern times, and greatly delayed the operations of
advancing armies. And it was probably the fortified camp of
the Romans, which protected an army against surprises and other misfortunes,

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that gave such permanent efficacy to the legions. The chief
officers of the legion were the tribunes, and originally there
was one in each legion from the three tribes the Ramnes,
Lusaries and Tities. In the time of Polybius, the number
in each legion was six. Their authority extended equally over
the whole legion, but to prevent confusion, it was custom

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for them to divide into three sections of two, and
each pair undertook the routine duties for two months out
of six. They nominated the centurions and assigned each to
the company to which he belonged. These tribunes at first
were chosen the commanders in chief by the kings and consuls,
But during the palmy days of the Republic, when the
patrician power was preeminent, they were elected by the people,

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that is, the citizens. Later they were named half by
the Senate and half by the consuls. No one was
eligible to this great office who had not served ten
years in the infantry or five in the cavalry. The
tribunes were distinguished by their dress from the common soldier.
Next in rank to the tribunes, who corresponded to the
rank of brigadiers and colonels. In our times were the centurions,

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of whom there were sixty in each legion. Men who
were more remarkable for calmness and sagacity than for courage
and daring valor, men who would keep their posts at
all hazards. It was our duty to drill the soldiers,
to inspect arms, clothing, and food, to visit the sentinels,
and regulate the conduct of the men. They had the
power of inflicting corporal punishment. They were chosen for many
solely until the later ages of the Empire, when their

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posts were bought. As is the case to some extent
today in the English army, the centurions were of unequal rank,
those of the triari before those of the principes, and
those of the principes before those of the Heshtati. The
first centurion of the first maniple of the Triari stood
in rank next to the tribunes and had a seat
in military councils. His office was very lucrative to his

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charge was entrusted the egle of the legion. As a
centurion might rise from the ranks by regular gradation through
the different maniples of the Hestati, principays, and triari, there
was great inducement headed out to the soldiers. It would, however,
appear that the centurion received only twice the pay of
the ordinary lesionary. There was not, therefore so much difference
in rank between a private and a captain as there

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is in our day. There were no aristocratic distinctions in
the ancient world so marked as those existing in the modern.
In the Roman Legion. There was nevertheless a regular gradation
of rank, although there were but few distinct offices. The
gradation was determined not by length of service, but for
merit alone, of which the tribunes were the sole judges. Hence,
the tribune and Roman legion had more power than that

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of a modern colonel. As the tribunes named the centurions,
so the centurions appointed their lieutenants, who were called sub centurions.
Still below these were two sub officers or sergeants, and
the decanus or corporal to every ten men. There was
a change in the constitution and disposition of the legion
after the time of Marius until the fall of the Republic.

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The legions were thrown open to men of all grades.
They were all armed and equipped alike. The lines were
reduced to chew, with a space between every two cohorts,
of which there were five in each line. The young
soldiers were placed in the rear. The distinction between hastati,
principayes and terrari ceased. The velts disappeared, their work being
done by the foreign mercenaries. The cavalry ceased to be

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part of the legion and became a distinct body, and
the military was completely severed from the rest of the state. Formerly,
no one could aspire to office who had not completed
ten years of military service. But in the time of Cicero,
a man could pass through all the great dignities of
the state with a very limited experience of military life.
Cicero himself did military service in but one campaign. Under

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the emperors, there were still other changes. The regular army
consisted of legions and supplementa, the latter being subdivided into
the Imperial Guards and the auxiliary troops. The auxiliaries soci
consisted of troops from the states in alliance with Rome,
were those compelled to furnish subsidies. The infantry of the
allies was generally more numerous than that of the Romans,

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while the cavalry was three times as numerous. All the
auxiliaries were paid by the state. Their infantry received the
same pay as Roman infantry, but their cavalry received only
two thirds of what was paid to the Roman cavalry.
The common foot soldier received in the time of Polybius
three and a half asses a day, equal to about
three cents, the horsemen three times as much. The praetorian

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cohorts received twice as much as the lesionaries. Julius Caesar
allowed about six asses a day as the pay of
the legionary, and under Augustus the daily pay was raised
ten asses, little more than eight cents per day. Demitian
raised the stipends still higher. The soldier, however, was fed
and clothed by the government. The Pratorian Cohort was a
select body of troops instituted by Augustus to protect his person,

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and consisted of ten cohorts, each of one thousand men
chosen from Italy. This number was increased by Vitellius to
sixteen thousand, and they were assembled by Tiberius in a
permanent camp which was strongly fortified. They had peculiar privileges,
and when they had served sixteen years, received twenty thousand
sesterces or more than one hundred pounds sterling. Each praetorian

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had the rank of a centurion in the regular army,
like the bodyguard of Louis the fourteenth. They were all
gentlemen and formed gradually a great power, like the Janisars
of Constantinople, and frequently disposed of the Purple itself. Our
notice of the Roman legion would be incomplete without some
description of the camp in which the soldier virtually lived.
A Roman army never halted for a single night without

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forming a regular intrenement capable of holding all the fighting men,
the beast of burden, and the baggage. During the winter months,
when the army could not retire into some city, it
was compelled to live in the camp, which was arranged
and fortified according to a uniform plan, so that every
company and individual had a place assigned. We could not
tell when this practice of intrenchment began. It was matured gradually,
like all other things pertaining to all arts. The system

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was probably brought to perfection during the Wars with Hannibal.
Skill in the choice of ground, giving facilities for attack
and defense, and for procuring water and other necessities, was
of great account with the generals. An area of about
five thousand square feet was allowed for a company of infantry,
and ten thousand feet for a troop of thirty dragoons.
The form of a camp was an exact square, the

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length of each side being two thousand and seventeen feet.
There was a space of two hundred feet between the
ramparts and the tents to facilitate the marching in and
out of soldiers, and to guard the cattle and booty.
The principal street was one hundred feet wide and was
called Principia. The defenses of the camp consisted of a
ditch the earth from which was thrown inward, and of
strong palisades of wooden stakes dri and into the top

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of the earthwork so formed. The ditch was sometimes fifteen
feet deep, and the vallum or ramparts ten feet in height.
When the army encamped for the first time, the tribunes
administered an oath to each individual, including slaves, to the
effect that they would steal nothing out of the camp.
Every morning at daybreak, the centurions and the equites presented

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themselves before the tents of the tribunes, and the tribunes,
in like manner, presented themselves before the praetorian to learn
the orders of the consoles, which through the centurions, were
communicated to the soldiers. Four companies took charge of the
principal streets to see it was properly cleaned and watered.
One company took charge of the tent of the tribune.
A strong guard attended to the horses and another fifty

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men stood beside the tent of the General, that he
might be protected from op danger and secret treachery. The
valetes mounted guard the whole night and day along the
whole extent of the vallum, and each gate was guarded
by ten men. The equites were entrusted with the duty
of acting as sentinels during the night, and most ingenious
menasures were adopted to secure their watchfulness and fidelity. The
watchword for the night was given by the commander in chief.

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On the first signal being given by the trumpet, the
tents were all struck and the baggage packed. At the
second signal, the baggage was placed upon the beast of burden,
and at the third the whole army began to move.
Then the Herald, standing at the right hand of the general,
demands thrice if they are ready for war, to which
they all respond with loud and repeated cheers that they
are ready, and for the most part, being filled with
martial ardor anticipate the question and raise their right hands

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on high with a shout. From what has come down
to us of Roman military life, it appears to have
been full of excitement toiled danger and hardship. The pecuniary
rewards of the soldier were small. He was paid in glory.
No profession brought so much honor as the military, and
it was from the undivided attention of a great people
to this profession that it was carried to all the
perfection which could be attained. Before the great invention of

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gunpowder changed the art of war. It was not the
number of men employed in the Roman armies which particularly
arrests attention, but the genius of organization which controlled and
the spirit which animated them. The Romans loved war, but
so reduced it to a science that it required comparatively
small armies to conquer the world. Sulla defeated Mithradates with
only thirty thousand men, while his adversary marshaled against him

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over one hundred thousand. Caesar had only ten legions to
effect the conquest of Gaul, and none of these were
of Italian origin. At the great decisive Battle of Pharsalia,
when most of the available forces of the Empire were
employed on one side or the other, Pompey commanded a
legionary army of forty five thousand men, and his cavalry
amounted to seven thousand more, but among them were included

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the flower of the Roman nobility. The auxiliary force has
not been computed, although it was probably numerous. In the
same battle, Caesar had under him only twenty two thousand
legionnaires in one thousand cavalry, but every man in both
armies was prepared to conquer or die. The forces were
posted on the open plain, and the battle was really
a hand to hand and a counter in which the soldiers,
after hurling their lances, fought with their swords chiefly. And

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when the cavalry of Pompey rushed upon the legionnaires of Caesar,
no blows were wasted on the mailed panaeopoli of the
mounted Romans, but were aimed at the face alone, as
that only was unprotected. The battle was decided by the coolness, bravery,
and discipline of Caesar's veterans. Inspired by the genius of
the greatest general of antiquity, less than one hundred thousand men,
in all probability were engaged in one of the most

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memorable conflicts which the world has seen. Thus it was
by blended art and heroism that the Roman legions prevailed
over the armies of the ancient world, but this military
power was not gained in Assay. It took nearly two
hundred years after the expulsion of the kings to regain
supremacy over the neighboring people, and another century to conquer Italy.
The Romans did not contend with regular armies until they

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were brought into conflict with the King of Epirus and
the phalanx of the Greeks, which improved their military tactics
and introduced between the combatants those mutual regards of civilized nations,
which teach men to honor their adversaries, to spare the vanquished,
and to lay aside wrath when the struggle is ended.
After the consolidation of Roman power in Italy, it took
but one hundred and fifty years more to complete the

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conquest of the world of Northern Africa, Spain, Gaul, Ellyria, Epirus, Greece, Macedonia,
Asia Minor Pontus, Syria, Egypt, Bithynia, Cappadacea, Pergamus, and the
islands of the Mediterranean. The conquest of Carthage left Rome
without arrival in the Mediterranean and promoted intercourse with the Greeks.

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The Illyrian Wars opened to the Romans the road to
Greece and Asia, and destroyed the pirates of the Adriatic.
The invasion of Sisalpine Gaul now that part of Italy
which is north of the Apennines, protected Italy from the
invasion of barbarians. The Macedonian war against Philip put Greece
under the protection of Rome, and that against Antiochus laid
Syria at her mercy. When these kingdoms were reduced to provinces,

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the way was opened to further conquests in the East,
and the Mediterranean became a Roman lake. But these conquests
introduced luxury, wealth, pride, and avarice, which degrade while they elevate.
Successful war created great generals and founded great families, increased
slavery and promoted inequalities. Meanwhile, while the great generals struggled
for supremacy, civil wars followed in the train of foreign conquests. Marius, Sola, Pompeii, Caesar, Antony,

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Augustus sacrificed the state to their own ambitions. Good men
lamented and protested and hid themselves. Cato Cicero Brutus spoke
in vain. Degenerate morals kept pace with civil contests. Rome
reveled in the spoils of all kingdoms and countries, was
intoxicated with power, became cruel and tyrannical, and after sacrificing
the lives of citizens to fortunate generals, yielded at last

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her liberties and imperial despotism began its reign. War had
added empire, but undermined prosperity. It had created a great
military monarchy, but destroyed liberty. It had brought wealth, but
introduced inequalities. It had filled the city with spoils, but
sown the vices of self interest. The machinery remained perfect,
but life had fled It. Henceforth became the labor of

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emperors to keep together their vast possessions with this machinery,
which at last wore out, since it was neither genius
to repair it nor patriotism to work it. It lasted
three hundred years, but was broken to pieces by the
barbarians authorities. Wilkinson is the best authority pertaining to Egyptian armies.
The highest authority in relation to the construction of an

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army is Polybius, contemporary with Scipio, when Roman discipline was
most perfect. The eighth chapter of Livy is also very
much prized. Salmasius and Lepsius wrote learned treatises. Tacitus, Sallust Livy, Dion, Cassius,
pleionean Caesar, reveal incidentally much that we wish to know,
the last, giving us the liveliest idea of the military

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habits and tactics of the Romans. Gibbon gives some important facts.
The subject of ancient machines is treated by Fulrd's commentary
attached to his translation of Polybius. Josephus describes with great
vividness the Siege of Jerusalem. Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities is
full of details in everything pertaining to the weapons, the armor,

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the military engines, the rewards and punishments of the soldiers.
The articles Exertus in Smith's Dictionary and Army in the
Encyclopedia Britannica give a practical summary of the best writers.
End of section fifteen