bind him to the stake." All became
motionless, more through fear than discipline, astounded by so cruel an
order, each looking on the axe as if drawn against himself. Therefore
when they stood in profound silence, suddenly, when the blood spouted
from his severed neck, their minds recovering, as it were, from a state
of stupefaction, then their voices arose together in free expressions of
complaint, so that they spared neither lamentations nor execrations: and
the body of the youth, being covered with the spoils, was burned on a
pile erected outside the rampart, with all the military zeal with which
any funeral could be celebrated: and Manlian orders were considered with
horror, not only for the present, but of the most austere severity for
future times.

8. The severity of the punishment however rendered the soldiers more
obedient to the general; and besides that the guards and watches and the
regulation of the posts were every where more strictly attended to, such
severity was also profitable in the final struggle when they came into
the field of battle. But the battle was very like to a civil war; so
very similar was every thing among the Romans and Latins, except with
respect to courage. The Romans formerly used targets; afterwards, when
they began to receive pay, they made shields instead of targets; and
what before constituted phalanxes similar to the Macedonian, afterwards
became a line drawn up in distinct companies. At length they were
divided into several centuries. A century contained sixty soldiers, two
centurions, and one standard-bearer. The spearmen (hastati) formed the
first line in fifteen companies, with small intervals between them: a
company had twenty light-armed soldiers, the rest wearing shields; those
were called light who carried only a spear and short iron javelins.
This, which constituted the van in the field of battle, contained the
youth in early bloom advancing towards the age of service. Next followed
men of more robust age, in the same number of companies, who were called
principes, all wearing shields, and distinguished by the completest
armour. This band of thirty companies they called antepilani, because
there were fifteen others placed behind them with the standards; of
which each company consisted of three divisions, and the first division
of each they called a pilus. Each company consisted of three ensigns,
and contained one hundred and eighty-six men. The first ensign was at
the h