The mechanism of Roman line relief

[Justin Swanton]

The Livian maniple was 80 men for the hastati and principes (hastati has 60 heavy and 20 light troops, principes 80 heavy troops).  The 60-man triarii/rorarii/accensi maniple was called the 'ordo'.

Wouldn't each unit of triarii, accensi and rorarii be called a 'banner' (vexillum), and the total grouping of the three an 'ordo'? Could you remind me of the source for an 80-man maniple? Ta 

[Erpingham]

Hope that clarifies the matter.

Patrick

Excellent clarification, thanks.  As you know, the evolution of the Republican legion isn't exactly a specialism of mine .  There is a suggestion above that the line relief system remains in use through the republic into the Imperial period.  Obviously, the structure of the legion changes greatly. Do we have any evidence how line relief was adapted to these changes?

[Justin Swanton]

'Company' can be used to designate a maniple. Livy's reason for doing this could have been literary, a preference for using different terms to avoid the language becoming too monotone.

Ahem - Livy uses 'manipulus' and 'ordo' - and 'vexillum' for a grouping of three 'ordo' formations.  He does not use 'company'.  Only a translator into English can use 'company' to designate a maniple.

Let me insert the original latin words into the English translation:

[3] The Romans had formerly used small round shields; then, after they began to serve for pay, they made oblong shields instead of round ones; [4] and what had before been a phalanx, like the Macedonian phalanxes, came afterwards to be a line of battle formed by maniples [manipulatim = 'in a maniple-like fashion'], with the rearmost troops drawn up in a number of companies [ordines]. [5] The first line, or hastati, comprised fifteen maniples [manipuli], stationed a short distance apart; the maniple [manipulus] had twenty light—armed soldiers, the rest of their number carried oblong shields; moreover those were called "light—armed" who carried only a spear and javelins. [6] this front line in the battle contained the flower of the young men who were growing ripe for service. behind These came a line of the same number of maniples [manipulorum], made up of men of a more stalwart age; these were called the principes; they carried oblong shields and were the most showily armed of all. [7] this body of thirty maniples [manipulorum] they called antepilani, because behind the standards there were again stationed other fifteen companies [ordines], each of which had three sections [partes], the first section in every company [actually 'of each'] being known as pilus. [8] The company [ordo] consisted of three vexilla [vexillis] or "banners"; a single vexillum had sixty soldiers, two centurions, one vexillarius, or colourbearer; the company  [actually 'They'] numbered a hundred and eighty—six men. The first banner [vexillum] led the triarii, veteran soldiers of proven valour; the second banner [just 'the second'] the rorarii, younger and less distinguished men; the third banner [just 'the third'] the accensi, who were the least dependable, and were, for that reason, assigned to the rear most line.

[9] when an army had been marshalled in this fashion, the hastati were the first of all to engage. if the hastati were unable to defeat the enemy, they retreated slowly and were received into the intervals between the companies [ordinum] of the principes. The principes then took up the fighting and the hastati followed them. [10] The triarii knelt beneath their banners, with the left leg advanced, having their shields leaning against their shoulders and their spears thrust into the ground and pointing obliquely upwards, as if their battle—line were fortified with a bristling palisade. [11] if the principes, too, were unsuccessful in their fight, they fell back slowly from the battle—line on the triarii. (From this arose the adage, "to have come to the triarii," when things are going badly.) [12] The triarii, rising up after they had received the principes and hastati into the intervals between their companies [ordinum], would at once draw their companies [ordinibus] together and close the lanes, as it were; then, with no more reserves behind to count on, they would charge the enemy in one compact array.

One could say that from [9] onwards Livy uses 'company' to designate a file but it does seem to strain the meaning as he has used it so consistently up to now to designate a much larger body of men. Add to that the mention of intervals between the maniples - which the Triarii companies would have replicated in their own deployment - and the logical conclusion would be that the 'intervals between the companies' of [12] corresponds to gaps between one grouping of vexilla and the next.

[Patrick Waterson]

Sorry, Justin, you are quite right: three vexilla constitute an ordo, not the other way around!

I would however be very careful about placing any faith in a translator's use of 'company' for any of the formations involved, and in particular for the word 'ordo'.  Also, as previously mentioned, the Latin 'in intervalla ordinum' (genitive case: 'into the spaces of the ordines') is not what one would expect if subunits were retiring between subunits.  It does not say or mean 'into the intervals between the ordines' - that is a translator inference, and quite a loose one at that (and would read 'per intervalla inter ordines' or similar if it was intended to mean what the translator thought).

The first and primary meaning of 'ordo' in any Latin dictionary is 'row, line, order, series, succession' - I quote from my Smith's Latin Dictionary.  From this we get 'rank' in VIII.8.9 (just between ourselves I think my 'file' is a mistake here: 'rank' actually suffices).  I suspect Livy (or the earlier Republicans) used 'ordo' for the grouping of three vexilla because the three vexilla form a 'lineup' in order - a row, line, order, series or succession, so to speak.

Patrick

[Justin Swanton]

I would however be very careful about placing any faith in a translator's use of 'company' for any of the formations involved, and in particular for the word 'ordo'.  Also, as previously mentioned, the Latin 'in intervalla ordinum' (genitive case: 'into the spaces of the ordines') is not what one would expect if subunits were retiring between subunits.  It does not say or mean 'into the intervals between the ordines' - that is a translator inference, and quite a loose one at that (and would read 'per intervalla inter ordines' or similar if it was intended to mean what the translator thought).

The first and primary meaning of 'ordo' in any Latin dictionary is 'row, line, order, series, succession' - I quote from my Smith's Latin Dictionary.  From this we get 'rank' in VIII.8.9 (just between ourselves I think my 'file' is a mistake here: 'rank' actually suffices).  I suspect Livy (or the earlier Republicans) used 'ordo' for the grouping of three vexilla because the three vexilla form a 'lineup' in order - a row, line, order, series or succession, so to speak.

Patrick

I would suggest that the root meaning of 'ordo' is 'a spinning' or 'a weaving' (from ordior - to bind/fasten wool together, hence to weave), leading to the primary meaning of 'an arranging', 'an arrangement', 'an order(ing)'. All its derived meanings come from this root meaning, hence row, line, rank (common but not exclusive military meaning) of soldiers and other things, and also troop, band or company.

If the intervals between the 'manipulos' and 'ordines' was a normal part of their formation, then one could understand Livy using the genitive of possession: 'in intervalla ordinum' - 'in the companies' intervals', as opposed to an expression that would imply such gaps were not an integral part of the manipulos or ordines.

Having said that, I admit I'm not a Latinist. The basic question would be whether retiring through files is a better system than retiring through prearranged gaps between ordines/manipulos. We need to get a few hundred re-enactors together and try out the two systems.

[Justin Taylor]

You can also check out Trooping of the Colour where the bands move though one another.

[Mark G]

And what are the enemy doing while all this takes place?

it all seems far too theoretical and complicated to me - and it presupposes that the enemy remain pretty static, remaining compliant, and it relies upon the  ability of men to remain at sword thrust length while catching their breath after a bout of combat.

a better alternative seems to be to reject the notion of a single continuous line of battle (your green men), and instead look at charge and withdrawl tactics from each century.

Have you considered that alternative at all?

[Justin Swanton]

And what are the enemy doing while all this takes place?

it all seems far too theoretical and complicated to me - and it presupposes that the enemy remain pretty static, remaining compliant, and it relies upon the  ability of men to remain at sword thrust length while catching their breath after a bout of combat.

a better alternative seems to be to reject the notion of a single continuous line of battle (your green men), and instead look at charge and withdrawl tactics from each century.

Have you considered that alternative at all?

My hypothetical reconstruction makes the assumption that the troops are in combat with the enemy all the while, and must spare most of their attention to fighting, with just a little to backing out through relatively wide lanes.

One needs to keep in mind that fighting between infantry was not a continuous and furious hammer-and-tongs affair, Hollywood-style (just try taking a heavy stick, representing a sword, and wacking a tree without pause - see how long you can keep it up for). Sheer physical exhaustion would have obliged it to be a round of cautious sparring, followed by a marginal backing off to get a breather, followed by another round of sparring, and so on. In this manner an engagement could last for hours.

With this system I suggest that it would have been quite possible to do a line relief whilst engaged in combat. The line being relieved and the relieving line maintain their fighting formation and keep a continuous line before the enemy at all times. The retirement manoeuvre is slow and quite simple to execute - the Hastati simply pull out as a group  through the narrowing gaps between the principi, who themselves do their more complex file-by-file insertion into the gaps before having to deal with the enemy.

But like any theory it needs to be tested in real life.

[Patrick Waterson]

... There is a suggestion above that the line relief system remains in use through the republic into the Imperial period.  Obviously, the structure of the legion changes greatly. Do we have any evidence how line relief was adapted to these changes?

The main evidence we have is in Caesar's descriptions of his own campaigns and in Vegetius' quoted lineup.  Caesar makes at least two references to his 'third line', in Gallic War I.25, the fight against the Helvetii, when he has:

"the first and second line [prima et secunda acies], to withstand those who had been defeated and driven off the field; the third [tertia] to receive those who were just arriving"

One observes how in this battle the third line, not being needed to relieve the other two, is used as an independent formation to deal with an unexpected development.

and in Civil War III.94, the Battle of Pharsalus, when:

"Caesar, perceiving the victory so far advanced, to complete it, brought up his third line [tertiam aciem], which till then had not been engaged"

This line then replaces the troops engaged in active fighting, but Caesar does not go into details about how it was done.

Vegetius puts the ten cohorts of his legion into two lines, but once again we have no explicit description or usefully allusive phrase illuminating the nitty-gritty of the process.  He does however take pains to point out that:

"The eighth [cohort] is composed of five hundred and fifty-five foot and sixty-six horse, all selected troops, as it occupies the centre of the second line."

The point about this cohort being selected troops is that it is important for a contingent that will be moving into combat (otherwise all that would be required is that the men are of sufficient quality and training to keep their places and cheer).  To enter combat they would, in the absence of any mention of moving out to flank the enemy or other such manoeuvre, have to be be relieving the first line.

Ammianus' description of Argentoratum (when Julian thrashed the Alemanni in AD 357) has no discernible references to line relief.  Then again, the mid-4th-century AD legion was a shadow of its former establishment, and we know this by indirect references to strengths (e.g. at Amida seven legions and the town garrison had no more than 20,000 men between them) combined with the proliferation of numbers and titles of legions as encountered in Ammianus and detailed in the Notitia Dignitatum, a sort of guide to Imperial offices and troop dispositions that dates from the late 4th or early 5th century AD.

At the end of that spiel all we can really say is that we do not know the process in sufficient detail to be sure of exactly how it happened under the Republic or the Empire (though we do seem to be narrowing down the likely possibilities), only that it did take place up to the time when legions were both shrunken in establishment and multiplied in numbers in the 4th century AD (Constantine usually gets blamed for this).

Patrick

[Patrick Waterson]

I would suggest that the root meaning of 'ordo' is 'a spinning' or 'a weaving' (from ordior - to bind/fasten wool together, hence to weave), leading to the primary meaning of 'an arranging', 'an arrangement', 'an order(ing)'. All its derived meanings come from this root meaning, hence row, line, rank (common but not exclusive military meaning) of soldiers and other things, and also troop, band or company.

If the intervals between the 'manipulos' and 'ordines' was a normal part of their formation, then one could understand Livy using the genitive of possession: 'in intervalla ordinum' - 'in the companies' intervals', as opposed to an expression that would imply such gaps were not an integral part of the manipulos or ordines.

Having said that, I admit I'm not a Latinist. The basic question would be whether retiring through files is a better system than retiring through prearranged gaps between ordines/manipulos. We need to get a few hundred re-enactors together and try out the two systems.

Thinking about it, if a row of 'ordines' with gaps in between had been the norm, I would have expected Livy to use 'in intervalla aciei', into the intervals of the line of battle.

[Justin Swanton]

I suppose Livy could have put it several ways.  We are looking at what is the most likely interpretation without being able to say definitively 'file' or 'company'. 'in intervalla aciei' - if Livy had already mentioned the intervals in the previous section as being between ordos and manipulos, would it not make sense for him to mention them again as being of those ordos/manipulos?

[Justin Swanton]

You can also check out Trooping of the Colour where the bands move though one another.

That is on the parade ground. It would be a bit different on the battlefield, where the front line's tidy file formation has gone to heck after prolonged fighting, and all it can do is a simple group manoeuvre as a single body. This to my mind would favour retiring through gaps between maniples over retiring through files, the latter of which requires that the retirees have preserved their own file formation and can manoeuvre as files.

[Justin Taylor]

I will repeat, Roman drill as bloodless battles, fight battles as bloody drills.

Thats the whole point, without the training it does not work.

One needs to keep in mind that fighting between infantry was not a continuous and furious hammer-and-tongs affair, Hollywood-style (just try taking a heavy stick, representing a sword, and wacking a tree without pause - see how long you can keep it up for). Sheer physical exhaustion would have obliged it to be a round of cautious sparring, followed by a marginal backing off to get a breather, followed by another round of sparring, and so on. In this manner an engagement could last for hours.

One needs to keep in mind that that is the whole point of the Roman line relief system, replacing tired troops with fresh ones and of course they trained both with double weight swords and shields to develop stamina.

Yes I am a fan of real life as well.

[Mark G]

we certainly agree on there being pauses in fighting and backing off betwene fighting units during that engagement.

[Patrick Waterson]

Vegetius again:

"We are informed by the writings of the ancients that, among their other exercises, they had that of the post. They gave their recruits round bucklers woven with willows, twice as heavy as those used on real service, and wooden swords double the weight of the common ones. They exercised them with these at the post both morning and afternoon.

This is an invention of the greatest use, not only to soldiers, but also to gladiators. No man of either profession ever distinguished himself in the circus or field of battle, who was not perfect in this kind of exercise. Every soldier, therefore, fixed a post firmly in the ground, about the height of six feet. Against this, as against a real enemy, the recruit was exercised with the above mentioned arms, as it were with the common shield and sword, sometimes aiming at the head or face, sometimes at the sides, at others endeavouring to strike at the thighs or legs. He was instructed in what manner to advance and retire, and in short how to take every advantage of his adversary; but was thus above all particularly cautioned not to lay himself open to his antagonist while aiming his stroke at him." - Epitomai Rei Militari I.10

This exercise developed both technique and stamina.   The latter gave the Romans a significant advantage in protracted battles, e.g. at Vercellae in 101 BC where Catulus' troops easily outfought their gasping Cimbri opponents without even raising a sweat.  Regular conditioning makes a big difference even with men who are basically fit: one could view the Roman legionaries as military athletes, in a manner of speaking.

It also means we do not really need to posit frequent and regular pauses in Roman battles: that would have favoured the less fit side and allowed it to recover.  I cannot see sensible officers on the fitter side letting that happen.  Keep up the pressure, lads: they're weakening!

Patrick