CHAP. XCII.-EUROPE continued. MILITARY AFFAIRS OF THE ROMANS. DIVISON OF THE ARMY. THE IMPERIAL EAGLE. MUSIC. ARMS. DRESS. 1. You know that the Romans were almost continually engaged in wars. Their military affairs, therefore, occupied the attention of the most distinguished citizens. According to the Roman laws, every free-born citizen was a soldier, and bound to serve in the army at any period from the age of seventeen to that of forty-six. 2. The Roman forces were divided into legions, each of which originally consisted of three thousand foot soldiers, and three hundred horsemen, but afterwards varied in strength from between four and five thousand men to between six and seven thousand. The standard of the legion was the imperial eagle. 3. This was made of gilt metal, was borne on a spear by an officer of rank, and was regarded by the soldiers with reverence which approached to devotion. The cavalry carried pennons, on which the initials of the emperor or of the legion were embroidered in letters of gold. a 4. The only instrument of martial music among the Romans was the brazen trumpet. Some of the soldiers were armed with light javelins, and others with a heavier weapon of a similar description. All, however, carried shields and short swords, which they wore on the right side. 5. They were dressed in a metal cuirass, with an undercovering of cloth, which was generally red, and hung loose to the knee. On the head they wore brazen helmets ornamented with flowing tufts of horse-hair. The uniform of the generals was an open scarlet mantle. 6. The cavalry wore a coat of mail, of brazen or steel scales, or of chain-work, sometimes plated with gold. Under this they wore a close garment which reached to their buskins. They rode without stirrups, and their saddles were merely cloths folded to suit the convenience of the rider. The discipline of the army was maintained with great strictness and severity. 7. Rewards of various kinds were held out to those who distinguished themselves by an extraordinary exploit. A particular kind of crown, called a mural crown, was presented to him who, in the assault, first scaled the ramparts of a town. 8. A soldier who saved his comrade's life in battle was entitled to the civic crown, which was thought a distinction of the highest honour. It was composed of oaken boughs. The general who conquered in a battle was decorated with a laurel wreath. 9. But the highest ambition of every Roman commander was to obtain a triumph. This was the gift of the senate, and was only granted on occasions of splendid victory. When it was decreed, the general returned to Rome, and was appointed to the supreme command of the city on the day of his entry. 10. A sculptured arch was erected, under which the procession was to pass, and scaffoldings were raised for spectators in all the public squares and streets. The procession moved at daylight from beyond the walls of the city. 11. A band of cavalry, with military music, took the lead. They were followed by a train of priests in their sacred robes, with attendants leading to sacrifice a hecatomb or hundred of the whitest oxen. Next came chariots laden with spoils, the arms and standard of the conquered, followed by long trains of the captives conducted by lictors. 12. Loud notes on the trumpet then announced the approach of the victor, dressed in a robe of purple, crowned with laurels, and bearing a sceptre of ivory. He rode in a splendid car drawn by four horses, preceded by the Roman eagle, guarded by a troop of cavalry. 13. The most distinguished officers of the army, in their richest dress and trappings, surrounded him; a band of children clothed in white followed, flinging clouds of perfumes and flowers in the air, and singing hymns of praise to the conqueror. 14. Last of all came the victorious army, their weapons wreathed with laurel, and their burnished armour gleaming in the sunshine. Countless multitudes of the citizens lined the streets, and every window and every scaffolding shone with beauty. The procession was greeted on all sides by loud acclamations; joy and revelry reigned in the city, and a scene was displayed of magnificence and gorgeousness not to be paralleled in modern times. QUESTIONS.-1. What is said of the military affairs? 2. Divisions of the army? 3. Standard? Pennons? 4. Instruments of martial music? Weapons? 5. Dress of the soldiers? Generals? 6. Dress of the cavalry? 7. Rewards of the army? Crowns? 9. Describe the triumph of a victorious general. CHAP. XCIII.-EUROPE continued. ABOUT NAVAL AFFAIRS. THE WAR GALLEY. COMMERCE. SHOWS OF WILD BEASTS. EXHIBITIONS OF GLADIATORS. 1. THE first vessel of the Roman navy is said to have been built after the model of a Carthaginian galley, taken in war. Their ships were roughly and slightly constructed, and though very large, unfit to contend with boisterous and tempestuous weather. 2. They were clumsy and ill-fashioned, with a high stern and sides, and rowed with two or three tiers of oars on different decks. The prows of the ship were armed with iron, usually carved into the shape of some animal's head; this was done in order to enable the vessel to disable or sink the enemy's ship; the upper deck was surmounted with a moveable turret, from which the soldiers could throw their weapons with advantage. 3. The merchant ships of the Romans were of a size corresponding with the purposes for which they were intended. Before the discovery of the magnet, by which the mariner can now direct his course in safety over the pathless waves, navigation was necessarily confined to the coast. These coasting vessels were considered large if they reached the burden of fifty tons. 4. Rome was long supplied with the products of the East by the merchants of the maritime states of the Mediterranean. It was not till the conquest of Egypt by Augustus, that the trade became exclusively her own. Of this commerce Alex andria was the centre. 5. The principal exports into Italy from India consisted of drugs and spices; of cotton cloths and muslins, from the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar; of silk from China; and of large quantities of diamonds and pearls from Bengal, and the pearl fisheries near Cape Comorin. From Persia and Arabia they procured the richest carpets, silks, and embroidered stuffs, together with rice and sugar. 6. The first Amphitheatre erected in Rome, for the shows of wild beasts and gladiators, was a mere temporary building of wood, probably erected by Julius Cæsar. The Flavian amphitheatre, better known by the name of Coliseum, was commenced in the reign of Vespasian, and is supposed to have been large enough to contain upwards of eighty thousand persons. 7. The wild beasts were secured in dens round the arena or open space in the centre, which was strongly fenced, and surrounded by a canal, to guard the spectators against their |