Chapter XVI: Part II: The Middle Ages and the Reformation. A.D. 1381-1593 (15)

ĔQUĬTES, horsemen. Romulus is said to have formed three centuries of equites; and these were the same as the 300 Celeres, whom he kept about his person in peace and war. A century was taken from each of the three tribes, the _Ramnes_, _Titienses_, and _Luceres_. Tarquinius Priscus added three more, under the title of Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres _posteriores_. These were the six patrician centuries of equites, often referred to under the name of the _sex suffragia_. To these Servius Tullius added twelve more centuries, for admission into which, property and not birth was the qualification. These twelve centuries might therefore contain plebeians, but they do not appear to have been restricted to plebeians, since we have no reason for believing that the six old centuries contained the _whole_ body of patricians. A property qualification was apparently also necessary by the Servian constitution for admission into the six centuries. We may therefore suppose that those patricians who were included in the six old centuries were allowed by the Servian constitution to continue in them, if they possessed the requisite property; and that all other persons in the state, whether patricians or plebeians, who possessed the requisite property, were admitted into the twelve new centuries. We are not told the amount of property necessary to entitle a person to a place among the equites, but it was probably the same as in the latter times of the republic, that is, four times that of the first class. [COMITIA, p. 105.] Property, however, was not the only qualification; for in the ancient times of the republic no one was admitted among the equestrian centuries unless his character was unblemished, and his father and grandfather had been born freemen. Each of the equites received a horse from the state (_equus publicus_), or money to purchase one, as well as a sum of money for its annual support; the expense of its support was defrayed by the orphans and unmarried females; since, in a military state, it could not be esteemed unjust, that the women and the children were to contribute largely for those who fought in behalf of them and of the commonwealth. The purchase-money for a knight’s horse was called _aes equestre_, and its annual provision _aes hordearium_. The former amounted, according to Livy, to 10,000 asses, and the latter to 2000.--All the equites, of whom we have been speaking, received a horse from the state, and were included in the 18 equestrian centuries of the Servian constitution; but in course of time, we read of another class of equites in Roman history, who did not receive a horse from the state, and who were not included in the 18 centuries. This latter class is first mentioned by Livy, in his account of the siege of Veii, B.C. 403. He says that during the siege, when the Romans had at one time suffered great disasters, all those citizens who had an equestrian fortune, and no horse allotted to them, volunteered to serve with their own horses; and he adds, that from this time equites first began to serve with their own horses. The state paid them, as a kind of compensation for serving with their own horses. The foot soldiers had received pay a few years before; and two years afterwards, B.C. 401, the pay of the equites was made three-fold that of the infantry. From the year B.C. 403, there were therefore two classes of Roman knights: one who received horses from the state, and are therefore frequently called _equites equo publico_, and sometimes _Flexumines_ or _Trossuli_, and another class, who served, when they were required, with their own horses, but were not classed among the 18 centuries. As they served on horseback they were called _equites_; and when spoken of in opposition to cavalry, which did not consist of Roman citizens, they were also called _equites Romani_; but they had no legal claim to the name of equites, since in ancient times this title was strictly confined to those who received horses from the state.--The reason of this distinction of two classes arose from the fact, that the number of equites in the 18 centuries was fixed from the time of Servius Tullius. As vacancies occurred in them, the descendants of those who were originally enrolled succeeded to their places, provided they had not dissipated their property. But in course of time, as population and wealth increased, the number of persons who possessed an equestrian fortune, also increased greatly; and as the ancestors of these persons had not been enrolled in the 18 centuries, they could not receive horses from the state, and were therefore allowed the privilege of serving with their own horses among the cavalry, instead of the infantry, as they would otherwise have been obliged to have done.--The inspection of the equites who received horses from the state belonged to the censors, who had the power of depriving an eques of his horse, and reducing him to the condition of an aerarian, and also of giving the vacant horse to the most distinguished of the equites who had previously served at their own expense. For these purposes they made during their censorship a public inspection, in the forum, of all the knights who possessed public horses (_equitatum recognoscere_). The tribes were taken in order, and each knight was summoned by name. Every one, as his name was called, walked past the censors, leading his horse. If the censors had no fault to find either with the character of the knight or the equipments of his horse, they ordered him to pass on (_traducere equum_); but if on the contrary they considered him unworthy of his rank, they struck him out of the list of knights, and deprived him of his horse, or ordered him to sell it, with the intention no doubt that the person thus degraded should refund to the state the money which had been advanced to him for its purchase.--This review of the equites by the censors must not be confounded with the _Equitum Transvectio_, which was a solemn procession of the body every year on the Ides of Quintilis (July). The procession started from the temple of Mars outside the city, and passed through the city over the forum, and by the temple of the Dioscuri. On this occasion the equites were always crowned with olive chaplets, and wore their state dress, the trabea, with all the honourable distinctions which they had gained in battle. According to Livy, this annual procession was first established by the censors Q. Fabius and P. Decius, B.C. 304; but according to Dionysius it was instituted after the defeat of the Latins near the lake Regillus, of which an account was brought to Rome by the Dioscuri.--It may be asked how long did the knight retain his public horse, and a vote in the equestrian century to which he belonged? On this subject we have no positive information; but as those equites, who served with their own horses, were only obliged to serve for ten years (_stipendia_) under the age of 46, we may presume that the same rule extended to those who served with the public horses, provided they _wished_ to give up the service. For it is certain that in the ancient times of the republic a knight might retain his horse as long as he pleased, even after he had entered the senate, provided he continued able to discharge the duties of a knight. Thus the two censors, M. Livius Salinator and C. Claudius Nero, in B.C. 204, were also equites, and L. Scipio Asiaticus, who was deprived of his horse by the censors in B.C. 185, had himself been censor in B.C. 191. But during the later times of the republic the knights were obliged to give up their horses on entering the senate, and consequently ceased to belong to the equestrian centuries. It thus naturally came to pass, that the greater number of the equites equo publico, after the exclusion of senators from the equestrian centuries, were young men.--The equestrian centuries, of which we have hitherto been treating, were only regarded as a division of the army: they did not form a distinct class or ordo in the constitution. The community, in a political point of view, was divided only into patricians and plebeians, and the equestrian centuries were composed of both. But in the year B.C. 123, a new class, called the _Ordo Equestris_, was formed in the state by the Lex Sempronia, which was introduced by C. Gracchus. By this law, or one passed a few years afterwards, every person who was to be chosen judex was required to be above 30 and under 60 years of age, to have either an equus publicus, or to be qualified by his fortune to possess one, and _not_ to be a senator. The number of judices, who were required yearly, was chosen from this class by the praetor urbanus. As the name of equites had been originally extended from those who possessed the public horses to those who served with their own horses, it now came to be applied to all those persons who were qualified by their fortune to act as judices, in which sense the word is usually used by Cicero. After the reform of Sulla, which entirely deprived the equestrian order of the right of being chosen as judices, and the passing of the Lex Aurelia (B.C. 70), which ordained that the judices should be chosen from the senators, equites, and tribuni aerarii, the influence of the order, says Pliny, was still maintained by the _publicani_, or farmers of the public taxes. We find that the publicani were almost always called equites, not because any particular rank was necessary in order to obtain from the state the farming of the taxes, but because the state was not accustomed to let them to any one who did not possess a considerable fortune. Thus the publicani are frequently spoken of by Cicero as identical with the equestrian order. The consulship of Cicero, and the active part which the knights then took in suppressing the conspiracy of Catiline, tended still further to increase the power and influence of the equestrian order; and “from that time,” says Pliny, “it became a third body (_corpus_) in the state, and, to the title of _Senatus Populusque Romanus_, there began to be added _Et Equestris Ordo_.” In B.C. 63, a distinction was conferred upon them, which tended to separate them still further from the plebs. By the Lex Roscia Othonis, passed in that year, the first fourteen seats in the theatre behind the orchestra were given to the equites. They also possessed the right of wearing the Clavus Angustus [CLAVUS], and subsequently obtained the privilege of wearing a gold ring, which was originally confined to the equites equo publico. The number of equites increased greatly under the early emperors, and all persons were admitted into the order, provided they possessed the requisite property, without any inquiry into their character, or into the free birth of their father and grandfather. The order in consequence gradually began to lose all the consideration which it had acquired during the later times of the republic.--Augustus formed a select class of equites, consisting of those equites who possessed the property of a senator, and the old requirement of free birth up to the grandfather. He permitted this class to wear the _latus clavus_; and also allowed the tribunes of the plebs to be chosen from them, as well as the senators, and gave them the option, at the termination of their office, to remain in the senate or return to the equestrian order. This class of knights was distinguished by the special title _illustres_ (sometimes _insignes_ and _splendidi_) _equites Romani_. The formation of this distinct class tended to lower the others still more in public estimation. In the ninth year of the reign of Tiberius, an attempt was made to improve the order by requiring the old qualifications of free birth up to the grandfather, and by strictly forbidding any one to wear the gold ring unless he possessed this qualification. This regulation, however, was of little avail, as the emperors frequently admitted freedmen into the equestrian order. When private persons were no longer appointed judices, the necessity for a distinct class in the community, like the equestrian order, ceased entirely; and the gold ring came at length to be worn by all free citizens. Even slaves, after their manumission, were allowed to wear it by special permission from the emperor, which appears to have been usually granted provided the patronus consented.--Having thus traced the history of the equestrian order to its final extinction as a distinct class in the community, we must now return to the equites equo publico, who formed the 18 equestrian centuries. This class still existed during the latter years of the republic, but had entirely ceased to serve as horse-soldiers in the army. The cavalry of the Roman legions no longer consisted, as in the time of Polybius, of Roman equites, but their place was supplied by the cavalry of the allied states. It is evident that Caesar in his Gallic wars possessed no Roman cavalry. When he went to an interview with Ariovistus, and was obliged to take cavalry with him, we are told that he did not dare to trust his safety to the Gallic cavalry, and therefore mounted his legionary soldiers upon their horses. The Roman equites are, however, frequently mentioned in the Gallic and civil wars, but never as common soldiers; they were officers attached to the staff of the general, or commanded the cavalry of the allies, or sometimes the legions.--After the year B.C. 50, there were no censors in the state, and it would therefore follow that for some years no review of the body took place, and that the vacancies were not filled up. When Augustus, however, took upon himself, in B.C. 29, the praefectura morum, he frequently reviewed the troops of equites, and restored the long neglected custom of the solemn procession (_transvectio_). From this time these equites formed an honourable corps, from which all the higher officers in the army and the chief magistrates in the state were chosen. Admission into this body was equivalent to an introduction into public life, and was therefore esteemed a great privilege. If a young man was not admitted into this body, he was excluded from all civil offices of any importance, except in municipal towns; and also from all rank in the army, with the exception of centurion. All those equites, who were not employed in actual service, were obliged to reside at Rome, where they were allowed to fill the lower magistracies, which entitled a person to admission into the senate. They were divided into six turmae, each of which was commanded by an officer, who is frequently mentioned in inscriptions as _Sevir equitum Rom. turmae_ I. II., &c., or commonly _Sevir turmae_ or _Sevir turmarum equitum Romanorum_. From the time that the equites bestowed the title of _principes juventutis_ upon Caius and Lucius Caesar, the grandsons of Augustus, it became the custom to confer this title, as well as that of sevir, upon the probable successor to the throne, when he first entered into public life, and was presented with an equus publicus. The practice of filling all the higher offices in the state from these equites appears to have continued as long as Rome was the centre of the government and the residence of the emperor. After the time of Diocletian, the equites became only a city guard, under the command of the praefectus vigilum; but they still retained, in the time of Valentinianus and Valens, A.D. 364, the second rank in the city, and were not subject to corporal punishment. Respecting the _Magister Equitum_, see DICTATOR.

ĔQUŬLĔUS or ĔCŬLĔUS, an instrument of torture, which is supposed to have been so called because it was in the form of a horse.

ĔRĂNI (ἔρανοι), were clubs or societies, established for charitable, convivial, commercial, or political purposes. Unions of this kind were called by the general name of ἑταιρίαι, and were often converted to mischievous ends, such as bribery, overawing the public assembly, or influencing courts of justice. In the days of the Roman empire friendly societies, under the name of _erani_, were frequent among the Greek cities, but were looked on with suspicion by the emperors, as leading to political combinations. The _gilds_, or fraternities for mutual aid, among the ancient Saxons, resembled the _erani_ of the Greeks.

ERGASTŬLUM, a private prison attached to most Roman farms, where the slaves were made to work in chains. The slaves confined in an ergastulum were also employed to cultivate the fields in chains. Slaves who had displeased their masters were punished by imprisonment in the ergastulum; and in the same place all slaves, who could not be depended upon or were barbarous in their habits, were regularly kept.

ĒRĪCĬUS, a military engine full of sharp spikes, which was placed by the gate of the camp to prevent the approach of the enemy.

ĔRŌTĬA or ĔRŌTĬDĬA (ἐρώτια or ἐρωτίδια), the most solemn of all the festivals celebrated in the Boeotian town of Thespiae. It took place every fifth year, and in honour of Eros, the principal divinity of the Thespians. Respecting the particulars nothing is known, except that it was solemnised with contests in music and gymnastics.

ESSĔDĀRĬI. [ESSEDUM.]

ESSĔDA, or ESSĔDUM (from the Celtic _Ess_, a carriage), the name of a chariot used, especially in war, by the Britons, the Gauls, and the Germans. It was built very strongly, was open before instead of behind, like the Greek war-chariot, and had a wide pole, so that the owner was able, whenever he pleased, to run along the pole, and even to raise himself upon the yoke, and then to retreat with the greatest speed into the body of the car, which he drove with extraordinary swiftness and skill. It appears also that these cars were purposely made as noisy as possible, probably by the creaking and clanging of the wheels; and that this was done in order to strike dismay into the enemy. The warriors who drove these chariots were called _essedarii_. Having been captured, they were sometimes exhibited in the gladiatorial shows at Rome, and seem to have been great favourites with the people. The essedum was adopted for purposes of convenience and luxury among the Romans. As used by the Romans, the essedum may have differed from the cisium in this; that the cisium was drawn by one horse (see cut, p. 90), the essedum always by a pair.

EUMOLPĬDAE (εὐμολπίδαι), the most distinguished and venerable among the priestly families in Attica. They were devoted to the service of Demeter at Athens and Eleusis, and were said to be the descendants of the Thracian bard Eumolpus, who, according to some legends, had introduced the Eleusinian mysteries into Attica. The high priest of the Eleusinian goddess (ἱεροφάντης or μυσταγωγός), who conducted the celebration of her mysteries and the initiation of the mystae, was always a member of the family of the Eumolpidae, as Eumolpus himself was believed to have been the first hierophant. The hierophant was attended by four _epimeletae_ (ἐπιμεληταί), one of whom likewise belonged to the family of the Eumolpidae. The Eumolpidae had on certain occasions to offer up prayers for the welfare of the state. They had likewise judicial power in cases where religion was violated. The law according to which they pronounced their sentence, and of which they had the exclusive possession, was not written, but handed down by tradition; and the Eumolpidae alone had the right to interpret it, whence they are sometimes called _Exegetae_ (ἐξηγηταί). In cases for which the law had made no provisions, they acted according to their own discretion. In some cases, when a person was convicted of gross violation of the public institutions of his country, the people, besides sending the offender into exile, added a clause in their verdict that a curse should be pronounced upon him by the Eumolpidae. But the Eumolpidae could pronounce such a curse only at the command of the people, and might afterwards be compelled by the people to revoke it, and purify the person whom they had cursed before.

EUPATRĬDAE (εὐπατρίδαι), descended from noble ancestors, is the name by which in early times the nobility of Attica was designated. In the division of the inhabitants of Attica into three classes, which is ascribed to Theseus, the Eupatridae were the first class, and thus formed a compact order of nobles, united by their interests, rights, and privileges. They were in the exclusive possession of all the civil and religious offices in the state, ordered the affairs of religion, and interpreted the laws human and divine. The king was thus only the first among his equals, and only distinguished from them by the duration of his office. By the legislation of Solon, the political power and influence of the Eupatridae as an order was broken, and property instead of birth was made the standard of political rights. But as Solon, like all ancient legislators, abstained from abolishing any of the religious institutions, those families of the Eupatridae, in which certain priestly offices and functions were hereditary, retained these distinctions down to a very late period of Grecian history.

EURĪPUS. [AMPHITHEATRUM.]

EUTHȲNĒ (εὐθύνη). All public officers at Athens were accountable for their conduct and the manner in which they acquitted themselves of their official duties. The judges in the popular court seem to have been the only authorities who were not responsible, for they were themselves the representatives of the people, and would therefore, in theory, have been responsible to themselves. This account, which officers had to give after the time of their office was over, was called εὐθύνη, and the officers subject to it, ὑπεύθυνοι, and after they had gone through the _euthyne_, they became ἀνεύθυνοι. Every public officer had to render his account within thirty days after the expiration of his office, and at the time when he submitted to the _euthyne_ any citizen had the right to come forward and impeach him. The officers before whom the accounts were given were at Athens ten in number, called εὔθυνοι or λογισταί, in other places ἐξετασταί or συνήγοροι.

ĒVŎCĀTI. [EXERCITUS.]

EXAUCTŌRĬTAS. [EXERCITUS.]

EXAUGŬRĀTĬO, the act of changing a sacred thing into a profane one, or of taking away from it the sacred character which it had received by inauguratio, consecratio, or dedicatio. Such an act was performed by the augurs, and never without consulting the pleasure of the gods, by augurium.

EXCŬBĬAE. [CASTRA.]

EXCŬBĬTŌRES, which properly means watchmen or sentinels of any kind, was the name more particularly given to the soldiers of the cohort who guarded the palace of the Roman emperor.

EXEDRA (ἐξέδρα), which properly signifies a seat out of doors, came to be used for a chamber furnished with seats, and opening into a portico, where people met to enjoy conversation; such as the rooms attached to a gymnasium, which were used for the lectures and disputations of the rhetoricians and philosophers. In old Greek the word λέσχη appears to have had a similar meaning; but the ordinary use of the word is for a larger and more public place of resort than the ἐξέδρα. [LESCHE.] Among the Romans the word had a wider meaning, answering to both the Greek terms, ἐξέδρα and λέσχη.

EXĒGĒTAE (ἐξηγηταί, interpreters) is the name of the Eumolpidae, by which they were designated as the interpreters of the laws relating to religion and of the sacred rites. [EUMOLPIDAE.] The name ἐξηγητής was also applied to those persons who served as guides (ciceroni) to the visitors in the most remarkable towns and places of Greece.

EXERCĬTŌRĬA ACTĬO, an action granted by the edict against the exercitor navis. By the term navis was understood any vessel, whether used for the navigation of rivers, lakes, or the sea. The exercitor navis is the person to whom all the ship’s gains and earnings (_obventiones et reditus_) belong, whether he is the owner, or has hired the ship (_per aversionem_) from the owner for a time definite or indefinite.

EXERCĬTUS (στρατός), army. (1) GREEK.

1. _Spartan Army._--In all the states of Greece, in the earliest as in later times, the general type of their military organisation was the _phalanx_, a body of troops in close array with a long spear as their principal weapon. It was among the Dorians, and especially among the Spartans, that this type was most rigidly adhered to. The strength of their military array consisted in the heavy-armed infantry (ὁπλίται). They attached comparatively small importance to their cavalry, which was always inferior. Indeed, the Thessalians and Boeotians were the only Greek people who distinguished themselves much for their cavalry; scarcely any other states had territories adapted for the evolutions of cavalry. The whole life of a Spartan was little else than either the preparation for or the practice of war. The result was, that in the strictness of their discipline, the precision and facility with which they performed their military evolutions, and the skill and power with which they used their weapons, the Spartans were unrivalled among the Greeks. The heavy-armed infantry of the Spartan armies was composed partly of genuine Spartan citizens, partly of Perioeci. Every Spartan citizen was liable to military service (ἔμφρουρος) from the age of twenty to the age of sixty years. They were divided into six divisions called μόραι, under the command or superintendence of a polemarch, each mora being subdivided into four λόχοι(commanded by λοχαγοί), each λόχος into two πεντηκοστύες (headed by πεντηκοστῆρες), each πεντηκοστύς into two ἐνωμοτίαι (headed by enomotarchs). The ἐνωμοτίαι were so called from the men composing them being bound together by a common oath. These were not merely divisions of troops engaged in actual military expeditions. The whole body of citizens at all times formed an army, whether they were congregated at head-quarters in Sparta, or a portion of them were detached on foreign service. The strength of a mora on actual service, of course, varied, according to circumstances. To judge by the name pentecostys, the normal number of a mora would have been 400; but 500, 600, and 900 are mentioned as the number of men in a mora on different occasions. When in the field, each mora of infantry was attended by a mora of cavalry, consisting at the most of 100 men, and commanded by an hipparmost (ἱππαρμοστής). Plutarch mentions squadrons (οὐλαμοί) of fifty, which may possibly be the same divisions. The cavalry seems merely to have been employed to protect the flanks, and but little regard was paid to it. The corps of 300 ἱππεῖς formed a sort of body-guard for the king, and consisted of the flower of the young soldiers. Though called horsemen, they fought on foot. A Spartan army, divided as above described, was drawn up in the dense array of the phalanx, the depth of which depended upon circumstances. An ἐνωμοτία sometimes made but a single file, sometimes was drawn up in three or six files (ζύγα). The enomotarch stood at the head of his file (πρωτοστάτης), or at the head of the right-hand file, if the enomotia was broken up into more than one. The last man was called οὐραγός. It was a matter of great importance that he, like the enomotarch, should be a man of strength and skill, as in certain evolutions he would have to lead the movements. The commander-in-chief, who was usually the king, had his station sometimes in the centre, more commonly on the right wing. The commands of the general were issued in the first place to the polemarchs, by these to the lochagi, by these again to the pentecosteres, by the latter to the enomotarchs, and by these last to their respective divisions. From the orderly manner in which this was done, commands were transmitted with great rapidity: every soldier, in fact, regulating the movements of the man behind him, every two being connected together as πρωτοστάτης and ἐπιστάτης. In later times the king was usually accompanied by two ephors, as controllers and advisers. These, with the polemarchs, the four Pythii, three peers (ὅμοιοι), who had to provide for the necessities of the king in war, the laphyropolae and some other officers, constituted what was called the _damosia_ of the king. The Spartan hoplites were accompanied in the field by helots, partly in the capacity of attendants, partly to serve as light-armed troops. The number attached to an army was probably not uniform. At Plataeae each Spartan was accompanied by seven helots; but that was probably an extraordinary case. One helot in particular of those attached to each Spartan was called his θεράπων, and performed the functions of an armourer or shieldbearer. Xenophon calls them ὑπασπισταί. In extraordinary cases, helots served as hoplites, and in that case it was usual to give them their liberty. A separate troop in the Lacedaemonian army was formed by the Sciritae (Σκιρῖται), originally, no doubt, inhabitants of the district Sciritis. The arms of the phalanx consisted of the long spear and a short sword (ξυήλη). The chief part of the defensive armour was the large brazen shield, which covered the body from the shoulder to the knee, suspended, as in ancient times, by a thong round the neck, and managed by a simple handle or ring (πόρπαξ). Besides this, they had the ordinary armour of the hoplite [ARMA]. The heavy-armed soldiers wore a scarlet uniform. The Spartan encampments were circular. Only the heavy-armed were stationed within them, the cavalry being placed to look out, and the helots being kept as much as possible outside. Preparatory to a battle the Spartan soldier dressed his hair and crowned himself as others would do for a feast. The signal for attack was given not by the trumpet, but by the music of flutes, and sometimes also of the lyre and cithara, to which the men sang the battle song (παιὰν ἐμβατήριος). The object of the music was not so much to inspirit the men, as simply to regulate the march of the phalanx. This rhythmical regularity of movement was a point to which the Spartans attached great importance.

2. _Athenian Army._--In Athens, the military system was in its leading principles the same as among the Spartans, though differing in detail, and carried out with less exactness; inasmuch as when Athens became powerful, greater attention was paid to the navy. Of the four classes into which the citizens were arranged by the constitution of Solon, the citizens of the first and second served as cavalry, or as commanders of the infantry (still it need not be assumed that the ἱππεῖς never served as heavy-armed infantry), those of the third class (ζευγῖται) formed the heavy-armed infantry. The Thetes served either as light-armed troops on land, or on board the ships. The same general principles remained when the constitution was remodelled by Cleisthenes. The cavalry service continued to be compulsory on the wealthier class. Every citizen was liable to service from his eighteenth to his sixtieth year. On reaching their eighteenth year, the young citizens were formally enrolled εἰς τὴν ληξιαρχικὸν γραμματεῖον, and received a shield and spear in a public assembly of the people, binding themselves by oath to perform rightly the duties of a citizen and a soldier. During the first two years, they were only liable to service in Attica itself, chiefly as garrison soldiers in the different fortresses in the country. During this period, they were called περίπολοι. Members of the senate during the period of their office, farmers of the revenue, choreutae at the Dionysia during the festival, in later times, traders by sea also, were exempted from military service. Any one bound to serve who attempted to avoid doing so, was liable to a sentence of ἀτιμία. The resident aliens commonly served as heavy-armed soldiers, especially for the purpose of garrisoning the city. They were prohibited from serving as cavalry. Slaves were only employed as soldiers in cases of great necessity. Of the details of the Athenian military organisation, we have no distinct accounts as we have of those of Sparta. The heavy-armed troops, as was the universal practice in Greece, fought in phalanx order. They were arranged in bodies in a manner dependent on the political divisions of the citizens. The soldiers of each tribe (φυλή) formed a separate body in the army, also called a tribe, and these bodies stood in some preconcerted order. It seems that the name of one division was τάξις, and of another λόχος, but in what relations these stood to the φυλή, and to each other, we do not learn. Every hoplite was accompanied by an attendant (ὑπηρέτης) to take charge of his baggage, and carry his shield on a march. Each horseman also had a servant, called ἱπποκόμος, to attend to his horse. For the command of the army, there were chosen every year ten generals [STRATEGI], and ten taxiarchs [TAXIARCHI], and for the cavalry, two hipparchs (ἵππαρχοι) and ten phylarchs (φύλαρχοι). Respecting the military functions of the ἄρχων πολέμαρχος, see the article Archon. The number of strategi sent with an army was not uniform. Three was a common number. Sometimes one was invested with the supreme command; at other times, they either took the command in turn (as at Marathon), or conducted their operations by common consent (as in the Sicilian expedition). The practice of paying the troops when upon service was first introduced by Pericles. The pay consisted partly of wages (μισθός), partly of provisions, or, more commonly, provision-money (σιτηρέσιον). The ordinary μισθός of a hoplite was two obols a day. The σιτηρέσιον amounted to two obols more. Hence, the life of a soldier was called, proverbially, τετρωβόλου βίος. Officers received twice as much; horsemen, three times; generals, four times as much. The horsemen received pay even in time of peace, that they might always be in readiness, and also a sum of money for their outfit (κατάστασις). As regards the military strength of the Athenians, we find 10,000 heavy-armed soldiers at Marathon, 8,000 heavy-armed, and as many light-armed at Plataeae; and at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war there were 18,000 heavy-armed ready for foreign service, and 16,000 consisting of those beyond the limits of the ordinary military age and of the metoeci, for garrison service. It was the natural result of the national character of the Athenians and their democratical constitution, that military discipline was much less stringent among them than among the Spartans, and after defeat especially it was often found extremely difficult to maintain it. The generals had some power of punishing military offences on the spot, but for the greater number of such offences a species of court-martial was held, consisting of persons who had served in the army to which the offender belonged, and presided over by the strategi. Various rewards also were held out for those who especially distinguished themselves for their courage or conduct, in the shape of chaplets, statues, &c. The Peltastae (πελτασταί), so called from the kind of shield which they wore [PELTA], were a class of troops of which we hear very little before the end of the Peloponnesian war. The Athenian general Iphicrates introduced some important improvements in the mode of arming them, combining as far as possible the peculiar advantages of heavy (ὁπλῖται) and light armed (ψιλοί) troops. He substituted a linen corslet for the coat of mail worn by the hoplites, and lessened the shield, while he doubled the length of the spear and sword. He even took the pains to introduce for them an improved sort of shoe, called after him Ἰφικρατίδες. This equipment proved very effective. The almost total destruction of a mora of Lacedaemonian heavy-armed troops by a body of peltastae under the command of Iphicrates was an exploit that became very famous. When the use of mercenary troops became general, Athenian citizens seldom served except as volunteers, and then in but small numbers. The employment of mercenaries led to considerable alterations in the military system of Greece. War came to be studied as an art, and Greek generals, rising above the old simple rules of warfare, became tacticians. Epaminondas was the first who adopted the method of charging in column, concentrating his attack upon one point of the hostile line, so as to throw the whole into confusion by breaking through it.

3. MACEDONIAN ARMY.--Philip, king of Macedonia, made several improvements in the arms and arrangement of the phalanx. The spear (σάρισσα or σάρισα), with which the soldiers of the Macedonian phalanx were armed, was 24 feet long; but the ordinary length was 21 feet, and the lines were arranged at such distances that the spears of the fifth rank projected three feet beyond the first, so that every man in the front rank was protected by five spears. Besides the spear they carried a short sword. The shield was very large and covered nearly the whole body, so that on favourable ground an impenetrable front was presented to the enemy. The soldiers were also defended by helmets, coats of mail, and greaves; so that any thing like rapid movement was impossible. The ordinary depth of the phalanx was sixteen files, though depths of eight and of thirty-two are also mentioned. Each file of sixteen was called λόχος. Two lochi made a _dilochia_; two dilochiae made a τετραρχία, consisting of sixty-four men; two tetrarchies made a τάξις; two τάξεις a σύνταγμα or ξεναγία, to which were attached five supernumeraries, a herald, an ensign, a trumpeter, a servant, and an officer to bring up the rear (οὐραγός); two syntagmata formed a pentacosiarchia, two of which made a χιλιαρχία, containing 1024 men; two chiliarchies made a τέλος, and two τέλη made a phalangarchia or phalanx in the narrower sense of the word, the normal number of which would therefore be 4096. It was commanded by a polemarch or strategus; four such bodies formed the larger phalanx, the normal number of which would be 16,384. When drawn up, the two middle sections constituted what was termed the ὀμφαλός, the others being called κέρατα or wings. The phalanx soldiers in the army of Alexander amounted to 18,000, and were divided not into four, but into six divisions, each named after a Macedonian province, from which it was to derive its recruits. These bodies are oftener called τάξεις than φάλαγγες by the historians, and their leaders taxiarchs or strategi. The phalanx of Antiochus consisted of 16,000 men, and was formed into ten divisions (μέρη) of 1600 each, arranged 50 broad and 32 deep. The phalanx, of course, became all but useless, if its ranks were broken. It required, therefore, level and open ground, so that its operations were restricted to very narrow limits; and being incapable of rapid movement, it became almost helpless in the face of an active enemy, unless accompanied by a sufficient number of cavalry and light troops. The light-armed troops were arranged in files (λόχοι) eight deep. Four lochi formed a σύστασις, and then larger divisions were successively formed, each being the double of the one below it; the largest (called ἐπίταγμα), consisting of 8192 men. The cavalry (according to Aelianus), were arranged in an analogous manner, the lowest division or squadron (ἴλη), containing 64 men, and the successive larger divisions being each the double of that below it; the highest (ἐπίταγμα) containing 4096. Both Philip and Alexander attached great importance to the cavalry, which, in their armies, consisted partly of Macedonians, and partly of Thessalians. The Macedonian horsemen were the flower of the young nobles. They amounted to about 1200 in number, forming eight squadrons, and, under the name ἕταιροι, formed a sort of body-guard for the king. The Thessalian cavalry consisted chiefly of the elite of the wealthier class of the Thessalians, but included also a number of Grecian youth from other states. There was also a guard of foot soldiers (ὑπασπισταί), whom we find greatly distinguishing themselves in the campaigns of Alexander. They seem to be identical with the πεζέταιροι, of whom we find mention. They amounted to about 3000 men, arranged in six battalions (τάξεις). There was also a troop called Argyraspids, from the silver with which their shields were ornamented. They seem to have been a species of peltastae. Alexander also organised a kind of troops called διμάχαι, who were something intermediate between cavalry and infantry, being designed to fight on horseback or on foot, as circumstances required. It is in the time of Alexander the Great, that we first meet with artillery in the train of a Grecian army. His _balistae_ and _catapeltae_ were frequently employed with great effect, as, for instance, at the passage of the Jaxartes.

(2) ROMAN. _General Remarks on the Legion._--The name _Legio_ is coeval with the foundation of Rome, and denoted a body of troops, which, although subdivided into several smaller bodies, was regarded as forming an organised whole. It was not equivalent to what we call a _regiment_, inasmuch as it contained troops of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and, when military engines were extensively employed, artillery also; it might thus, so far, be regarded as a complete _army_, but on the other hand the number of soldiers in a legion was fixed within certain limits, never much exceeding 6000, and hence when war was carried on upon a large scale, a single army, under the command of one general, frequently contained two, three, or more legions, besides a large number of auxiliaries of various denominations. The legion for many centuries was composed exclusively of Roman citizens. By the ordinances of Servius Tullius those alone who were enrolled in the five classes were eligible, and one of the greatest changes introduced by Marius (B.C. 107) was the admission of all orders of citizens, including the lowest, into the ranks. Up to the year B.C. 107, no one was permitted to serve among the regular troops of the state, except those who were regarded as possessing a strong personal interest in the stability of the commonwealth; but the principle having been at this period abandoned, the privilege was extended after the close of the Social War (B.C. 87) to nearly the whole of the free population of Italy, and by the famous edict of Caracalla (or perhaps of M. Aurelius), to the whole Roman world. Long before this, however, the legions were raised chiefly in the provinces; but it does not appear that the admission of foreigners not subjects was ever practised upon a large scale until the reign of the second Claudius (A.D. 268-270), who incorporated a large body of vanquished Goths, and of Probus (A.D. 276-282), who distributed 16,000 Germans among legionary and frontier battalions. From this time forward what had originally been the leading characteristic of the legion was rapidly obliterated, so that under Diocletian, Constantine, and their successors, the best soldiers in the Roman armies were barbarians. The practice of granting pensions for long service in the shape of donations of land was first introduced upon a large scale after the Mithridatic wars. Hence, when Augustus, in compliance with the advice of Maecenas, determined to provide for the security of the distant provinces, and for tranquil submission at home by the establishment of a powerful standing army, he found the public mind in a great degree prepared for such a measure, and the distinction between soldier and civilian unknown, or at least not recognised before, became from this time forward as broadly marked as in the most pure military despotisms of ancient or modern times. The legions were originally numbered according to the order in which they were raised. As they became permanent, the same numbers remained attached to the same corps, which were moreover distinguished by various epithets of which we have early examples in the _Legio Martia_, and the _Legio Quinta Alauda_. [ALAUDA.] Several legions bore the same number: thus there were four _Firsts_, five _Seconds_, and five _Thirds_. The total number of legions under Augustus was twenty-five, under Alexander Severus thirty-two, but during the civil wars the number was far greater.--The number of soldiers who, at different periods, were contained in a legion, does not appear to have been absolutely fixed, but to have varied within moderate limits. Under Romulus the legion contained 3000 foot soldiers. It is highly probable that some change may have been introduced by Servius Tullius, but, in so far as numbers are concerned, we have no evidence. From the expulsion of the Kings until the second year of the second Punic War, the regular number may be fixed at 4000 or 4200 infantry. From the latter period until the consulship of Marius the ordinary number may be fixed at from 5000 to 5200. For some centuries after Marius the numbers varied from 5000 to 6200, generally approaching to the higher limit. Amid all the variations with regard to the infantry, 300 horsemen formed the regular complement (_justus equitatus_) of the legion. When troops were raised for a service which required special arrangements, the number of horsemen was sometimes increased beyond 300. It must be observed, however, that these remarks with regard to the cavalry apply only to the period before Marius. We now proceed to consider the organisation of the legion at five different periods.

_First Period. Servius Tullius._ The legion of Servius is so closely connected with the Comitia Centuriata that it has already been discussed in a former article [COMITIA], and it is only necessary to repeat here that it was a phalanx equipped in the Greek fashion, the front ranks being furnished with a complete suit of armour, their weapons being long spears, and their chief defence the round Argolic shield (_clipeus_).

15 Manipuli of Hastati.
15 Manipuli of Principes.
Triarii proper } 15 triple
Rorarii } Manipuli of
Accensi } Triarii.]

_Second Period. The Great Latin War_, B.C. 340. Our authority for this period is Livy (viii. 8). The legion in B.C. 340 had almost entirely discarded the tactics of the phalanx. It was now drawn up in three, or perhaps we ought to say, in five lines. The soldiers of the first line, called _Hastati_, consisted of youths in the first bloom of manhood distributed into 15 companies or maniples (_manipuli_), a moderate space being left between each. The maniple contained 60 privates, 2 centurions (_centuriones_), and a standard bearer (_vexillarius_); two-thirds were heavily armed and bore the _scutum_ or large oblong shield, the remainder carried only a spear (_hasta_) and light javelins (_gaesa_), The second line, the _Principes_, was composed of men in the full vigour of life, divided in like manner into 15 maniples, all heavily armed (_scutati omnes_). The two lines of the _Hastati_ and _Principes_ taken together amounted to 30 maniples, and formed the _Antepilani_. The third line, the _Triarii_, composed of tried veterans, was also in 15 divisions, but each of these was triple, containing 3 manipuli, 180 privates, 6 centurions, and 3 vexillarii. In these triple manipuli the veterans or _triarii_ proper formed the front ranks; immediately behind them stood the _Rorarii_, inferior in age and prowess, while the _Accensi_ or supernumeraries, less trustworthy than either, were posted in the extreme rear. The battle array may be thus represented. The fight was commenced by the _Rorarii_, so called because the light missiles which they sprinkled among the foe were like the drops which are the forerunners of the thunder shower, who, running forwards between the ranks of the antepilani, acted as tirailleurs; when they were driven in they returned to their station behind the triarii, and the battle began in earnest by the onset of the hastati; if they were unable to make any impression they retired between the ranks of the principes, who now advanced and bore the brunt of the combat, supported by the hastati, who had rallied in their rear. If the principes also failed to make an impression, they retired through the openings between the maniples of the triarii, who up to this time had been crouched on the ground (hence called _subsidiarii_), but now arose to make the last effort (whence the phrase _rem ad triarios redisse_). No longer retaining the open order of the two first lines, they closed up their ranks so as to present an unbroken line of heavy-armed veterans in front, while the rorarii and accensi, pressing up from behind, gave weight and consistency to the mass,--an arrangement bearing evidence to a lingering predilection for the principle of the phalanx, and exhibiting, just as we might expect at that period, the Roman tactics in their transition state. It must be observed that the words _ordo_, _manipulus_, _vexillum_, although generally kept distinct, are throughout the chapter used as synonymous. Livy concludes by saying, that four legions were commonly levied, each consisting of 5000 infantry and 300 horse. We must suppose that he speaks in round numbers in so far as the infantry are concerned, for according to his own calculations the numbers will stand thus:--

Hastati 15 × 60 = 900
Principes 15 × 60 = 900
Triarii, &c. 15 × 3 × 60 = 2700
Centuriones = 150
Vexillarii = 75
---- 4725
4725