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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 216383" data-attributes="member: 1645">Chapter II -- Impatient for GlorySuetonius says that during his first posting to Spain, while gazing at a statue of Alexander the Great in Cadiz, Caesar was to lament to his associates that at his age Alexander had already conquered the entire world.I think most of us can empathize with that.  By the way, I couldn't help but think of the morning team on KROQ 106.7 FM (in LA), Kevin and Bean.  Anytime they mention something amazing that someone young has done, one of them says, "At that age I was still throwing rocks at my neighbor, Robbie Joyner."Caesar took a personal interest in the appointment of the legion's six tribunes, all young colonels in their late teens and twenties..."Young colonels in their late teens?  And here I thought a lieutenant in his early twenties was in over his head...It's a good thing we still have centurions to keep the men in check.  We just call 'em "sergeants" now.Tacitus tells of a centurion serving in the Balkans in the first century who was nicknamed 'Bring Another' by his troops, because when he broke a vine stick across the back of a legionary he was disciplining, as he regularly did, he would bellow, "Bring another!"SHARK already mentioned this great anecdote, but I had to repeat.  I'm getting a feel for SHARK's Hobgoblin Dog Soldiers.Roman legionaries averaged just five feet four in height...I still find this fascinating.  It's amusing to think that I'd be a giant even amongst the towering Germans.  "He's six feet tall!"After tough training and daily arms and formation drill, they were capable of marching twenty-five miles a day with a pack weighing up to a hundred pounds on their back.A 5'4" soldier weighs, what, 140 lbs?  150 lbs if he's quite muscular?  And he's marching 25 miles a day with a 100-lb pack?  More than two thirds his own weight?  Can that be right?Right from the start, skils the young men of the 10th brought with them to the legion were exploited.  Blacksmiths became armorers, carpenters built artillery and siege equipment, cobblers made military footwear, literate men became clerks.Exp1/Ftr1?While engaged in construction work, a legionary could stack his shield and javelin and remove his backpack and helmet, but otherwise he had to wear full armored jacket, sword, and dagger, on pain of death if caught improperly attired, to enable him to go into action immediately in the event of an enemy attack.These guys would fit right into a D&D party.  Notice though that they need a threat of death -- certain death from their own side -- to keep their armor on while working.I'm amazed that they could build a new fortified camp every night, but I guess soldiers in the field don't have much else they could be doing.Under the Roman army's rules of plunder, if a town was stormed, the spoils were divided among the legionaries.  But if a town surrendered, the fate of the spoils was decided by the generals...Interesting incentive structure!...money from the sale of captured fighting men went to the legionaries, while that from the sale of nonmilitary prisoners did not.I love these details.With wealthier Romans each owning up to twenty thousand slaves at their numerous estates...Excuse me?  Twenty thousand?  I thought the armies were big!As for the slave traders, theirs could be a perilous existance, camping in unprotected tents outside the fortified camps of the legions.  There are several first-century examples of unarmed camp followers being massacred in large number during enemy attacks on legion bases.I have to work this into an adventure.The Triumph was one of the hightest accolades a Roman general could receive, entitling him to a parade through the streets of Rome in a golden chariot followed by troops from his army and his spoils of war, receiving the cheers of the crowds lining the route of the procession.That is so much better than a few thousand gold pieces.</blockquote>

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