which was laid out with great regularity, and fortified
with ramparts and fosses. Within the confines of the camp the tents
were arranged in rows, with broad spaces for streets between them;
and in a central position, before a space which served the purpose
of a public square, the rich and ornamented pavilions of the
commander and chief, and of the other generals, rose above the rest,
like the public edifices of a city. The encampment of a Roman legion
was, in fact, an extended and populous city, only that the dwellings
consisted of tents instead of being formed of solid and permanent
structures of wood or stone.

[Illustration: ENCAMPMENT OF A ROMAN LEGION.]

Roman legions were encamped in this way in various places throughout
the empire, wherever the Senate thought proper to station them.
There were some in Syria and the East; some in Italy; some on the
banks of the Rhine; and it was through the instrumentality of the
vast force thus organized, that the Romans held the whole European
world under their sway. The troops were satisfied to yield
submission to the orders of their commanders, since they received
through them in return, an abundant supply of food and clothing, and
lived, ordinarily, lives of ease and indulgence. In consideration of
this, they were willing to march from place to place wherever they
were ordered, and to fight any enemy when brought into the field.
The commanders obtained food and clothing for them by means of the
tribute which they exacted from conquered provinces, and from the
plunder of sacked cities, in times of actual war. These armies were
naturally interested in preserving order and maintaining in general
the authority of law, throughout the communities which they
controlled; for without law and order the industrial pursuits of men
could not go on, and of course they were well aware that if in any
country production were to cease, tribute must soon cease too. In
reading history we find, indeed, it must be confessed, that a
fearful proportion of the narrative which describes the achievements
of ancient armies, is occupied with detailing deeds of violence,
rapine, and crime; but we must not infer from this that the
influence of these vast organizations was wholly evil. Such extended
and heterogeneous masses of population as those which were spread
over Europe and Asia, in the days of the Romans, could be kept
subject to the necessary restraints of social order only by some
very powerful