When
an entire body of troops mutinied, the general separated the guilty
into groups of ten and drew by lot one from every group to be
executed. This was called decimation (from decimus, the tenth). The
others were placed on a diet of barley-bread and made to camp outside
the lines, always in danger of surprise from the enemy. The Romans
never admitted that their soldiers were conquered or taken prisoners:
after the battle of Cannae the 3,000 soldiers who escaped the carnage
were sent by the senate to serve in Sicily without pay and without
honors until the enemy should be expelled from Italy; the 8,000 left
in the camp were taken by Hannibal who offered to return them for a
small ransom, but the senate refused to purchase them.
=Colonies and Military Roads.=--In the countries that were still only
partially subject, Rome established a small garrison. This body of
soldiers founded a town which served as a fortress, and around about
it the lands were cut into small domains and distributed to the
soldiers. This is what they called a Colony. The colonists continued
to be Roman citizens and obeyed all commands from Rome.
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