the
_classis_ or "levy." The rest were said to be _infra classem_, and were
only called upon to act as light troops. But military necessities
compelled the state to incorporate with the heavy-armed infantry
increasingly large contingents of the less wealthy citizens, who could not
provide themselves with the full equipment of those in the _classis_, but
who could form the rear ranks of the phalanx. As a result of this step the
citizens were ultimately divided into five orders or classes on the basis
of their property, and probably in raising the levy the required number of
soldiers of each class was drafted in equal proportions from the several
tribes. The first three classes constituted the phalanx, while the fourth
and fifth continued to serve as light troops (_rorarii_). Those who lacked
the property qualification of the lowest class were only called into
service in cases of great emergency. For such a system the taking of an
accurate census was essential, and it is more than likely that the office
of censor was instituted for this purpose. As we have seen, it was from
this organization of the people for military purposes that there developed
the Assembly of the Centuries.

The introduction of pay for the troops in the field at the time of the
siege of Veii both lessened the economic burden which service entailed
upon the poorer soldiers and enabled the Romans to undertake campaigns of
longer duration, even such as involved winter operations.

*The manipular legion.* How long the phalanx organization was maintained
we do not know: at any rate it did not survive the Samnite wars. In its
place appeared the legionary formation, in which the largest unit was the
legion of about four thousand infantry, divided into maniples of one
hundred and twenty (or sixty) men, each capable of manoeuvering
independently. This arrangement admitted of increased flexibility of
movement in broken country, and of the adoption of the _pilum_, or
javelin, as a missile weapon. Both the _pilum_ and the _scutum_, or oblong
shield, were of Samnite origin. While reorganizing their infantry, the
Romans strengthened the _equites_ and developed them as a real cavalry
force.

Apparently property qualifications no longer counted for much in the army
organization, as the men were assigned to their places in the ranks on the
basis of age and experience, and the state furnished the necessary weapons
to those who did not provide their own. By the third