Roman History, Books I-III by Titus Livius
page 79 of 338 (23%)
page 79 of 338 (23%)
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and forty of juniors.[42] All these were called the first class, the
seniors to be in readiness to guard the city, the juniors to carry on war abroad. The arms they were ordered to wear consisted of a helmet, a round shield, greaves, and a coat of mail, all of brass; these were for the defence of the body: their weapons of offence were a spear and a sword. To this class were added two centuries of mechanics, who were to serve without arms: the duty imposed upon them was that of making military engines in time of war. The second class included all those whose property varied between seventy-five and a hundred thousand asses, and of these, seniors and juniors twenty centuries were enrolled. The arms they were ordered to wear consisted of a buckler instead of a shield, and, except a coat of mail, all the rest were the same. He decided that the property of the third class should amount to fifty thousand asses: the number of its centuries was the same, and formed with the same distinction of age: nor was there any change in their arms, only the greaves were dispensed with. In the fourth class, the property was twenty-five thousand asses: the same number of centuries was formed; their arms were changed, nothing being given them but a spear and a short javelin. The fifth class was larger, thirty centuries being formed: these carried slings and stones for throwing. Among them the supernumeraries, the horn-blowers and the trumpeters, were distributed into three centuries. This class was rated at eleven thousand asses. Property lower than this embraced the rest of the citizens, and of them one century was made up which was exempted from military service. Having thus arranged and distributed the infantry, he enrolled twelve centuries of knights from among the chief men of the state. While Romulus had only appointed three centuries, Servius formed six others under the same names as they had received at their first institution. Ten thousand asses were given them out of the public revenue, to buy horses, and a number of widows |
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