§ 1. Justus Lipsius, book 5 of the Politics, chapter 8, openly condemns the crimes of our soldiery. He denies that among us there is any form of selection. Men purchase a soldier; they do not select one. At the sound of the drum there assemble men unknown to one another and ignorant—dregs of their cities who, through poverty and the greatest crimes, have the strongest bond with sin, accustomed to robberies and unaccustomed to wars. I, certainly, would wish the selection of our soldiers to be better. Yet it too was defective in ancient times, and frequently consisted of the worst men, certainly of unwilling men; nor is our own selection so thoroughly to be censured. Let us therefore consider the ancients.
First, it belonged not to volunteers but to men compelled to answer when their names were called. From this cause the entire Roman state experienced so many dissensions, since the sharpest weapon of the tribunes was to obstruct the levies, which they sometimes did at the utmost peril of the fatherland. Indeed, after the fashion of runaway slaves, they were even branded with marks burned into them. The workers in the imperial arms-factories were marked in the same manner, as the constitution of Arcadius and Honorius has it, Code, book 11. Great was the obligation of all who were marked. Julian enacted a law that they should not be admitted into monasteries before their periods of service had been completed. Soldiers and arms-workers were therefore servile; how, then, were they to fight for liberty?
Next, since they were unwillingly bound by the military oath, they fought more timidly and looked back toward home. But volunteers possess greater eagerness. The Roman state—or rather, its calamities—also taught this. In the Second Punic War, Livy, book 22, eight thousand slaves were purchased. Each was individually asked whether he wished to serve. That soldier was of great use and deservedly numbered among the Roman citizens.
The history which Livy recounts in book 24 is not unpleasant. Tiberius Gracchus had legions composed in great part of volunteers, who had already preferred for another year to earn liberty rather than demand it. Yet, when leaving winter quarters, he had perceived that in the column there was a murmur among men complaining whether they were never to serve as free men. He had written to the senate, not so much what they desired as what they had deserved: he had made use of their good and brave service up to that day, and nothing was lacking in them for the model of a regular soldier except liberty. He had been permitted concerning this matter to do whatever he judged to be for the state. Accordingly, before he joined battle with the enemy, he announced that the time had come for gaining that liberty for which they had long hoped. On the next day he would fight with standards brought together in an unobstructed and open field, where the matter could be conducted by true courage without any fear of ambushes. Whoever brought back the head of an enemy he would immediately order to be free; against whoever abandoned his place he would proceed with the punishment of a slave. Each man’s fortune was in his own hand. Not only would he himself be the author of their liberty, but so would the consul Marcus Marcellus and all the fathers, who, when consulted by him concerning their liberty, had given him authority. He then read the consul’s letter and the senate’s decree. At this a shout was raised with immense assent. They demanded the battle and fiercely pressed him to give the signal immediately. After announcing the battle for the following day, Gracchus dismissed the assembly. The soldiers were joyful, especially those for whom liberty was to be the recompense for service rendered in the space of a single day; they spent what remained of the day preparing their arms.
On the next day, when the signals began to sound, they were the first of all to assemble at the praetorium, ready and drawn up. At sunrise Gracchus led the forces into the battle line. Nor did the enemy delay the contest. They were seventeen thousand infantry, for the greatest part Bruttians and Lucanians, and twelve hundred cavalry, among whom very few were Italians, nearly all the others Numidians and Moors. They fought fiercely and for a long time; for four hours the battle inclined to neither side. Nothing hindered the Romans more than the fact that the heads of the enemy had been made the price of liberty. For whenever a man had vigorously slain an enemy, first he wasted time laboriously cutting off the head amid the crowd and confusion; then, with his right hand occupied in holding the head, every bravest fighter was absent, and the battle had been entrusted to the sluggish and timid. When the military tribunes reported this to Gracchus—that no enemy still standing was now being wounded, that they were butchering the fallen, and that human heads rather than swords were in the soldiers’ right hands—he ordered the signal to be given at once that they should cast away the heads and attack the enemy. Their valor was sufficiently clear and distinguished, and liberty would not be doubtful for vigorous men. Then the battle was renewed, and the cavalry was sent against the enemy. The volunteers, therefore—indeed, slaves—preserved the empire.
§ 2. Polybius explains the Roman levy in this manner: “When they are about to hold a levy, the consuls publicly proclaim the day upon which all Romans of military age must be present. They do this almost every year. When the day arrives and all the military youth has been assembled in the city and soon afterward on the Capitol, the junior tribunes divide themselves into four parts in the order in which they were appointed by the people or by the commanders. For four legions constitute among them the entire and principal division of the forces. They assign the first four of those appointed to the legion called the First, the next three to the Second, another four to the Third, and finally the last three to the Fourth. Of the senior tribunes they assign the first two to the First, the next three to the Second, the following two to the Third, and finally the last three to the Fourth. When a division of the tribunes of this kind has been made, so that all the legions now have an equal number of leaders, the tribunes of each legion sit apart and separately, and they draw the tribes by lot one at a time and summon whichever tribe the lot assigns. From it they choose four young men approximately equal in age and readiness. When these have been brought forward, the tribunes of the First Legion make the first choice, those of the Second the second, those of the Third the third, and those of the Fourth the last. When four men have again been brought forward, the tribunes of the Second Legion make the first choice, and so onward, while those of the First make the last. After this, when four have again been brought forward, the tribunes of the Third Legion choose first, while those of the Second choose last. Thus, because the choice always alternates and goes round in a circle, men of very nearly equal quality are taken for each legion.”
They conduct this on the Capitol because they needed to be protected by the sanctity of the place. They draw the tribes by lot lest any tribe appear to have been passed over or burdened. Within a tribe even the soldiers themselves were sometimes selected by lot because they refused the oath. When a commander was popular or military service lucrative, they gave their names voluntarily; so Livy, books 10 and 42. Yet what sort of soldiers were these whom they ordered to be led away in chains, Livy, book 3; whose necks they twisted, book 4, while the harshness of the levy was hated because of the injury and mutilation of bodies? This is what men call hunting with unwilling dogs. Indeed, they sometimes sold them; the consuls Valerius and Fabius did this, Livy, book 8. With such a soldier no one now would attack the enemy—or would be slain at the first assault.
But those slaves were not bad soldiers; they were vigorous among the foremost. What if Spartacus or Eunus had led their fellow slaves against barbarians? Would they not have been of the greatest value to the Roman state? For if they had possessed auxiliary forces and resources, they would have accomplished more than all the Romans. As it was, although all the other things were present, expenditure certainly was lacking. Flamininus said of Philopoemen: “He has hands and legs, but no belly,” for the resources for war were lacking to that great and vigorous man.
“But wicked men are selected.” I admit it. We also use the labor of wicked men to dig mines and construct walls, and their crimes are profitable to the state. Nor are wicked men of no usefulness when they wage wars. First, the cities are cleansed of useless and harmful dregs, and what is purer remains. Next, it is more advisable that wicked, restless men known for crimes should fall in battle than good and quiet men and upright citizens; by the lesser evil, therefore, the worse fall and the better remain, who can defend and preserve the cities. Nor is it true that they cannot be taught discipline. For just as conspicuously wicked men are sometimes the best craftsmen, sailors, and merchants, so too they are warriors. They can preserve the ranks, confront dangers, and endure adversity. Fear of the commander and habit make them bold; at times they even learn piety in war, when, having received good instructors in morals, they are admonished concerning salvation amid uncertain dangers.
§ 3. But if a choice were given, I would certainly prefer volunteers, and men whose circumstances at home are straitened. Those who answer the roll-call unwillingly, who hide in workhouses and cut off their own thumbs so that they may not be compelled to serve, who always look back toward home, where they prefer to live abundantly and delicately rather than be exposed to danger amid the labors of war—these do not please me. Hence came the veterans’ frequent complaints and riots over their discharge. Volunteers, however, have hope in war alone. The most powerful kings, who had the right to compel, nevertheless preferred to have volunteers. Xerxes, that great king, although he compelled so many peoples into wars, was anxious lest they give their names unwillingly, for they remembered that Greece had been fatal to the Persians. He therefore put on the fox-skin and sent men everywhere to spread the report that the leaders of Greece would betray their fatherland and that all were being summoned to spoils, not to a battle.
How great, indeed, was the harshness of levies, when Darius promised the old man Oeobazus, who asked exemption for one of his three sons, that he would leave him all three, and had them slain and cast before their father’s eyes. Herodotus, book 4. Xerxes was still more cruel toward a Lydian who was his host and who, of five sons, asked for one as a consolation for his old age. The tyrant cut him in two and placed him upon the road so that the army, passing between the parts, might be consecrated to the infernal gods by a funereal purification. At Rome the path to honors was closed to those who had not served, so greatly did men need to be enticed to military service.
§ 4. Indeed, recruiters were sometimes not far removed from danger when they conducted a levy of unwilling men. Livy, book 21, says that two peoples, dismayed by the harshness of the levy, caused fear of revolt. Triumvirs were sent through the countryside to compel men into military service, Livy, book 23; sometimes senators, as by Attius, and legates, as by Cato. Civilis, when he invites the Batavians to rebellion, certainly adduces the levy among its causes: “A levy presses upon us, by which children are separated from parents and brothers from brothers, as though for the last time.”
§ 5. One must labor especially at this: that reinforcements be sent every month. For thus, while a few are received little by little, they come with greater selectivity, and, mingled with the veterans, they learn the military art. In this way the Romans sustained their military strength, for daily even a victorious army becomes smaller. Nothing harms any forces more than time.
§ 6. The first principle of the levy concerns the people from which it is made. Vegetius, book 1, chapter 2, says: “The order of the subject demands that in the first part it be treated from which provinces or regions recruits ought to be selected. It is agreed that in every place both cowardly and vigorous men are born. Yet one people surpasses another in war, and the region of the heavens has very great influence upon the strength not only of bodies but also of minds. In this place I shall not omit those things which have been approved by the most learned men. They say that all nations neighboring the sun, dried by excessive heat, do indeed understand more but have less blood, and for that reason do not possess constancy and confidence for fighting hand to hand, because those who know themselves to possess little blood fear wounds. Northern peoples, on the contrary, removed from the sun’s heats, are indeed more unreflecting but, abounding in a copious supply of blood, are exceedingly ready for wars. Recruits, therefore, should be selected from more temperate regions, in whom there may both be a supply of blood sufficient for contempt of wounds and death and no lack of prudence, which both preserves order in camp and is of no small use in combat and counsels.”
I certainly shall not deny that the nature of a region is relevant to selecting a suitable soldier; yet history itself teaches that it is of slight importance. For lands once thought barbarous and unsuitable are now fruitful in the bravest men. Vegetius thinks those who are near the heats of the sun are timid because they possess little blood. I do not know how true this is. The Israelites were very brave men and were dried by the heat of the sun. The Carthaginians brought prudence and boldness into battles, yet they were scorched by the African sun; certainly, coming from the sun and the south, they defeated the Romans in the Italian winter, even in a pitched battle.
As for what Vegetius philosophizes concerning an abundance of blood, I do not know whether he would win the approval of philosophers, who locate courage and boldness not in much blood but in heat and spirits. Men fear wounds not so much because of the blood, which can easily be stanched, as because of mutilation and death.
Nor is it true that northern peoples are devoid of prudence and discipline in camp. It was so formerly, when they were barbarians; but now they are most steadfast in battle and most orderly in camp. Therefore the brave are to be selected from every nation and then formed and strengthened by discipline. For although those who inhabit a fertile land and the south are readily softened, there have nevertheless been many very brave men among them. Divine Scripture bears witness concerning the Anakim, Horites, and Zamzummim. Nor is what Lucan says of all men true, although it is true of many:
Whatever slopes toward the eastern regions and the warmth of the world, the clemency of the climate softens its peoples. There you see loose garments and the flowing coverings of men.
Yet they cast off ferocity and grow in cultivation and prudence. The Romans, indeed, despised the Syrians. When Scipio had heard of the diverse arms of Antiochus and the names of his armed troops, he said: “When I was at Chalcis, my host set diverse meats before me; and when I marveled at their abundance, he added that they all came from a domestic pig, but had been prepared in different ways. Thus their arms are diverse, but they themselves are all Syrians.”
But the Jewish War certainly taught that they are by no means to be despised if they are trained. They held dominion for a long time and far and wide, and exhausted both Greeks and Romans.
§ 7. Many are accustomed to ask whether a soldier should be selected from the city or from the countryside. Vegetius, book 1, chapter 3, decides it thus: “It follows that we should inquire whether a recruit from the fields or from cities is more useful. On this point I believe there could never have been doubt that the rustic common people are more suited to arms: they are nourished beneath the open sky and amid labor; enduring of the sun; neglectful of shade; ignorant of baths; unacquainted with delights; simple in mind; content with little; their limbs hardened to the endurance of every labor; and from the countryside accustomed to carry iron, dig a ditch, and bear a burden. Yet necessity sometimes demands that even city-dwellers be compelled to arms. When they have given their names to military service, let them first learn together to labor, run, carry a weight, and endure sun and dust; let them employ a spare and rustic diet; and let them remain now under the open sky, now under tents. Only then let them be trained in the use of arms; and if a longer expedition arises, they should be detained chiefly in country districts and kept far from the allurements of the city, so that in this way strength may be added both to their bodies and to their minds. Nor must it be denied that, after the city was founded, Romans proceeding from the city always went to war; but at that time they were weakened by no pleasures and no delights. The youth washed away in the Tiber the sweat collected by running and exercise on the Campus Martius. The same man was warrior and farmer; he changed only the kind of arms. This is so true that it is agreed the dictatorship was offered to Quinctius Cincinnatus, an excellent man, while he was plowing. Therefore it seems that the strength of the army should be supplied especially from the fields. Somehow, a man who knows fewer delights in life fears death less.”
The rustic soldier pleases me because he is better suited to labors. Yet in city-dwellers there are many qualities in which they surpass country youth: they possess a more exact and practiced intelligence and are more capable in all things. Since the smallest part of military service is accomplished by bodily strength and force, while all its highest matters require industry, prudence, and dexterity, and since city-dwellers are more readily educated for this, I would prefer them to be selected. This is now all the more necessary because the kind of arms in present use requires dexterity more than strength: they carry neither shields nor stakes and are not oppressed by so many labors. Rome had soldiers selected from farmers; Pliny says that they were the bravest men and most vigorous soldiers, and men who thought no evil. Cincinnatus the dictator was also summoned from the plow-handle, and Regulus, cultivator of a poor little field, is adduced in favor of country youth. But when I consider the matter more carefully, I see that there were distinguished commanders, but not very many; for that reason consulships were frequently repeated for the same men. Later, however, when nobles commanded, there were more commanders. Indeed, even in the earliest times many wealthy men conducted affairs vigorously; in the times of Sulla and Caesar, and throughout the entire period following the Second Punic War, they had innumerable very brave men, and those from wealthy and elegant city-dwellers.
§ 8. Vegetius approves the ancient age for enlistment, namely the beginning of puberty, because a man is more quickly imbued with instruction and more perfectly learns what he imbibes from boyhood; his body is more suited to exercise; and he has time to learn everything. Yet they scarcely selected anyone under seventeen years of age unless necessity compelled them, nor did they imbue a recruit older than forty-six with training. Therefore the levy should be instituted with the greatest care, for an army is never weak when the matter has been conducted with a good selection.
§ 9. They institute a levy in two ways. Either they draw the whole army together into one place and display all their strength, in order to strike terror into the enemy; or they display the individual legions and centuries, so that it may remain uncertain how great the multitude is. The latter is much more to be approved, because what is unknown keeps the enemy more anxious, while strength which has been displayed makes the enemy cautious, so that he turns to a stratagem or to foreign auxiliaries.
§ 10. A state which desires to train its citizens as warriors should form them in this manner from boyhood. Only let it preserve a measure; for so should the hardy soldier be trained that he does not cease to be a good citizen. The Spartans educated and hardened their own men to endurance of hunger, thirst, labors, pains, and blows. They especially inflamed them with desire for victory. Cicero, book 5 of the Tusculan Disputations: “Companies of young men at Sparta contend with one another with incredible exertion, with fists, heels, nails, and finally teeth, so that they expire before admitting that they have been conquered.” The elders sowed rivalries and suggested contests. Yet in this way they kindled hatreds and civil quarrels, and they obtained neither a great nor a lasting empire. They also gloried excessively in nobility. Agesilaus therefore acted more arrogantly than usefully when the allies complained that many of their own men but few Laconians were serving. He ordered them to sit down, then summoned craftsmen by the names of their trades. When it appeared that most of the allies were craftsmen but none of the Laconians were, this was then esteemed a great matter. Our own times, however, have taught that craftsmen become altogether excellent soldiers.