empire.  You undertake to serve for twenty years, after which time you will receive an honourable discharge and either a sum of money—­at this date apparently about L50—­or a grant of land.  By ability and character you may rise from private soldier to centurion, that is to say, commander of a hundred, but in ordinary circumstances you can climb no further up the military ladder.  If at the end of your term you are still robust and are considered useful, you may, if you choose, continue to serve in a special detachment of “veterans,” with lighter duties and with exemption from common drill.  The Roman legions would thus be made up for the most part of troops from about 18 to 38 years of age, although a considerable number might be somewhat older.

A legion once formed had a perpetual existence; its vacancies were filled up as they occurred; and it is obvious that it must have consisted of respectable men of picked physique, mostly in the prime of life, and perfectly trained in all the qualities of a soldier.  When not on actual campaign they were drilled once a day, and the recruits twice.  They practised the hurling of spears and all the attitudes of attack with sword and pike, and of defence with the shield.  Now and then there was a review or a sham fight.  They learned how to fortify a camp, how to attack it or to defend it.  Every month they put on full armour, marched out with steady Roman tramp for ten miles and back again to camp for the sake of practice.  Meanwhile they were made useful in building the military roads, bridges, and walls.  Add to this the strict Roman discipline, and it is difficult to conceive of any training more capable of turning a body of 6000 men into a stubborn and effective fighting machine.  The half-naked German across the Rhine was physically as strong and as brave; the woad-dyed Celt of Britain was probably more dashing in his onset; the mounted Parthian across the Euphrates was more nimble in his movements; but neither German nor Celt cultivated the organisation or solidarity of action of the Roman, nor could the Parthian equal him for steady onward pressure or determined stand.

To each legion was given a number and also a name of its own, acquired by some distinguished feat or some conspicuous campaign, or adopted in vaunt or compliment.  Thus it might be the “Victorious” Legion, the “Indomitable,” or the “Spanish” Legion, or it might, for example, wear a crested lark upon its helmet and be called the Legion of the “Lark.”  The commander of the whole legion is a man of senatorial rank; its standard is a silver eagle on the top of a staff, commonly holding a thunderbolt in its claw.  To each legion there are ten regiments, called “cohorts,” averaging six hundred men, and every such regiment has its colonel, or, as the translation of the Bible calls Claudius Lysias, “its chief captain.”  The regiment in its turn consists of six companies or “hundreds,” with a “centurion” at the head of each, and every pair of hundreds, if not every company, possesses a standard of its own, consisting of a pole topped with large medallions, metal disks, wreaths, an open hand, and other emblems.