The army moved more rapidly as it was not encumbered with
baggage. Every time that a Roman army halted for camp, a surveyor
traced a square enclosure, and along its lines the soldiers dug a deep
ditch; the earth which was excavated, thrown inside, formed a bank
which they fortified with stakes. The camp was thus defended by a
ditch and a palisade. In this improvised fortress the soldiers erected
their tents, and in the middle was set the Praetorium, the tent of the
general. Sentinels mounted guard throughout the night, and so
prevented the army from being surprised.
=The Order of Battle.=--In the presence of the enemy the soldiers did
not form in a solid mass, as did the Greeks. The legion was divided
into small bodies of 120 men, called maniples because they had for
standards bundles of hay.[123] The maniples were ranged in quincunx
form in three lines, each separated from the neighboring maniple in
such a way as to manoeuvre separately. The soldiers of the maniples of
the first line hurled their javelins, grasped their swords, and began
the battle. If they were repulsed, they withdrew to the rear through
the vacant spaces.
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