Polybius, “The Roman Army”
(Polybius (c.200-after 118 BCE):
The discipline and dedication of the citizen-soldiers help
explain
As soon as the morning appears, those who have made the rounds carry the
tablets to the tribune. If they bring the full number back they are suffered to
depart without any question. But if the number be less than that of the guards,
the inscriptions are immediately examined, in order to discover from what
particular guard the tablet has not been returned. When this is known, the
centurion is ordered to attend and to bring with him the soldiers that were
appointed for that guard; that they may be questioned face to face with him who
made the rounds. If the fault be in the guard, he that made the rounds appeals
at once to the testimony of his friends who were present. Such evidence always
is demanded from him; and in case that he is not able to bring this proof, the
whole blame rests upon himself. The council is then
assembled; the cause is judged by the tribune, and the guilty person sentenced
to be bastinadoed. This punishment is inflicted in the following manner.
The tribune, taking a stick into his hand, gently touches the criminal; and
immediately afterwards all the soldiers of the legion attack him with sticks
and stones; so that the greatest part of those that are thus condemned are
destroyed immediately in the camp. If any one escapes, yet he is not saved. For
all return into his country is shut against him: nor would any of his friends
or kindred ever dare to receive him into their houses. Those, therefore, who
have once fallen into this misfortune are lost without
resource. The conductor of the rear, and the leader of the troops, if ever they
neglect to give the necessary notice in due time, the first to the inspectors
of the watch, and the second to the leader of the succeeding troop, are subject
also to this punishment. From the dread of a discipline so severe, and which
leaves no place for mercy, every thing that belongs to the guards of the night
is performed with the most exact diligence and care.
The soldiers are subject to the control of the tribunes, as these are to
that of the consuls. The tribunes have the power of imposing fines, and
demanding sureties, and of punishing with stripes. The same authority is
exercised by the prefects among the allies. The punishment of the bastinadoe is inflicted also upon those who steal any thing
in the camp; those who bear false testimony; who, in their youth, abuse their
bodies; and who have been three times convicted of one fault. These offenses
are punished as crimes. There are others that are regarded as the effects of
cowardice, and disgraceful to the military character. When a
soldier, for example, with a view of obtaining a reward, makes a report to the
tribunes of some brave action which he has not performed. When any one, through fear, deserts his station, or throws away his
arms in the time of engagement. For hence it happens that many, through
the dread of the allotted punishment, when they are attacked by much greater
numbers, will even encounter manifest destruction, rather than desert that post
which they had been ordered to maintain. Others again, when they have lost
their shield, or sword, or any other part of their arms in the time of action,
throw themselves precipitately into the very midst of the enemy; hoping either
to recover what they have lost, or to avoid by death the reproaches of their fellow-soldiers,
and the disgrace that is ready to receive them.
If it happens that many are at one time guilty of the same fault, and that
whole companies retire before the enemy, and desert their station; instead of
punishing all of them by death, an expedient is employed which is both useful
and full of terror. The tribune, assembling together all the soldiers of the
legion, commands the criminals to be brought forward: and, having sharply
reproached them with their cowardice, he then draws out by lot either five, or
eight, or twenty men, according to the number of those that have offended. For
the proportion is usually so adjusted, that every tenth man is reserved for
punishment. Those, who are thus separated from the rest by lot, are bastinadoed
without remission in the manner before described. The others are sentenced to
be fed with barley instead of wheat; and are lodged without the entrenchment,
exposed to insults from the enemy. As the danger, therefore, and the dread of
death, hangs equally over all the guilty, because no one can foresee upon whom
the lot will fall; and as the shame and infamy of receiving barley only for
their support is extended also alike to all; this institution is perfectly well
contrived, both for impressing present terror, and for the prevention of future
faults.
The method by which the young men are animated to brave all danger is also
admirable. When an action has passed in which any of the soldiers have shown
signal proofs of courage, the consul, assembling the troops together, commands
those to approach who have distinguished themselves by any eminent exploit. And
having first bestowed on every one of them apart the commendation that is due
to this particular instance of their valor, and recounted likewise all their
former actions that have ever merited applause, he then distributes among them
the following rewards. To him who has wounded an enemy, a javelin. To him who
has killed an enemy, and stripped him of his armor, if he be a soldier in the
infantry, a goblet; if in the cavalry, furniture for his horse; though, in
former times, this last was presented only with a javelin. These rewards,
however, are not bestowed upon the soldiers who, in a general battle, or in the
attack of a city, wound or spoil an enemy; but upon those alone who, in
separate skirmishes, and when any occasion offers, in which no necessity
requires them to engage in single contest, throw themselves voluntarily into
danger, and with design provoke the combat. When a city is
taken by storm, those who mount first upon the walls are honored with a golden
crown. Those also who have saved the lives of any of the citizens, or
the allies, by covering them from the enemy in the time of battle, receive
presents from the consul, and are crowned likewise by the persons themselves
who have thus been preserved, and who, if they refuse this office, are
compelled by the judgment of the tribunes to perform it.
Add to this, that those who are thus saved are bound, during the remainder
of their lives, to reverence their preserver as a father, and to render to him
all the duties which they would pay to him who gave them birth. Nor are the
effects of these rewards, in raising a spirit of emulation and of courage,
confined to those alone who are present in the army, but extended likewise to
all the citizens at home. For those who have obtained those presents, beside
the honor which they acquire among their fellow soldiers, and the reputation
which immediately attends them in their country, are distinguished after their
return, by wearing in all solemn processions such ornaments as are permitted
only to be worn by those who have received them from the consuls as the rewards
of their valor. They hang up likewise in the most conspicuous parts of their
houses the spoils which they have taken, as a monument and evidence of their
exploits. Since such, therefore, is the attention and
the care with which the Romans distribute rewards and punishments in their
armies, it is not to be thought strange that the wars in which they engage are
always ended with glory and success.