Ordinarily with four legions (16,800 men) there were enrolled 20,000
archers and 40,000 horse from the allies. In the Second Punic War, in
218 B.C., 26,000 citizens and 45,000 allies were drawn for service.
Thus the Roman people, in making war, made use of its subjects as well
as of its citizens.
=Military Exercises.=--Rome had no gymnasium; the future soldiers
exercised themselves on the parade-ground, the Campus Martius, on the
other side of the Tiber. There the young man marched, ran, leaped
under the weight of his arms, fenced with his sword, hurled the
javelin, wielded the mattock, and then, covered with dust and with
perspiration, swam across the Tiber. Often the older men, sometimes
even the generals, mingled with the young men, for the Roman never
ceased to exercise. Even in the campaign the rule was not to allow the
men to be unoccupied; once a day, at least, they were required to take
exercise, and when there was neither enemy to fight nor intrenchment
to erect, they were employed in building roads, bridges, and
aqueducts.
=The Camp.=--The Roman soldier carried a heavy burden--his arms, his
utensils, rations for seventeen days, and a stake, in all sixty Roman
pounds.
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