Military Decorations
A very excellent plan also is adopted for inducing
young soldiers to brave danger. When an
engagement has taken place and any of them
have showed conspicuous gallantry, the Consul
summons an assembly of the legion, puts forward those
whom he considers to have distinguished themselves in any
way, and first compliments each of them individually on his
gallantry, and mentions any other distinction he may have
earned in the course of his life, and then presents them with
gifts: to the man who has wounded an enemy, a spear; to
the man who has killed one and stripped his armour, a cup,
if he be in the infantry, horse-trappings if in the cavalry:
though originally the only present made was a spear. This
does not take place in the event of their having wounded or
stripped any of the enemy in a set engagement or the storming of a town; but in skirmishes or other occasions of that
sort, in which, without there being any positive necessity for
them to expose themselves singly to danger, they have done
so voluntarily and deliberately. In the capture of a town
those who are first to mount the walls are presented with a gold crown.
So too those who
have covered and saved any citizens or allies are distinguished
by the Consul with certain presents; and those whom they
have preserved present them voluntarily with a
crown, or if not, they are compelled to do so
by the Tribunes.
The man thus preserved, too, reverences
his preserver throughout his life as a father, and is bound to
act towards him as a father in every respect. By such incentives those who stay at home are stirred up to a noble
rivalry and emulation in confronting danger, no less than those
who actually hear and see what takes place. For the recipients of such rewards not only enjoy great glory among
their comrades in the army, and an immediate reputation at
home, but after their return they are marked men in all
solemn festivals; for they alone, who have been thus distinguished by the Consuls for bravery, are allowed to wear
robes of honour on those occasions: and moreover they place
the spoils they have taken in the most conspicuous places in
their houses, as visible tokens and proofs of their valour. No
wonder that a people, whose rewards and punishments are
allotted with such care and received with such feelings, should
be brilliantly successful in war.
The pay of the foot soldier is 5 1/3 asses a day; of the
centurion 10 2/3; of the cavalry 16. The infantry receive a
ration of wheat equal to about 2/3 of an Attic medimnus a
month, and the cavalry 7 medimni of barley, and 2 of wheat;
of the allies the infantry receive the same, the cavalry 1 1/3
medimnus of wheat, and 5 of barley. This is a free gift to
the allies; but in the cases of the Romans, the Quaestor stops
out of their pay the price of their corn and clothes, or any
additional arms they may require at a fixed rate.
