The Historians' History of the World 05

But, further, let it be supposed that the enemy will come down into this plain. Yet, if he brings not his whole army at once to receive the attack of the phalanx; or if, in the instant of the charge, he withdraws himself a little from the action, it is easy to determine what will be the consequence from the present practice of the Romans. For we now draw not our discourse from bare reasoning only, but from facts which have lately happened. When the Romans attack the phalanx in front, they never employ all their forces, so as to make their line equal to that of the enemy; but lead on a part only of their troops, and keep the rest of the army in reserve. Now, whether the troops of the phalanx break the line that is opposed to them, or whether themselves are broken, the order peculiar to the phalanx is alike dissolved. For if they pursue the fugitives, or if, on the other hand, they retreat and are pursued, in either case they are separated from the rest of their own body. And thus there is left some interval or space, which the reserve of the Roman army takes care to seize, and then charges the remaining part of the phalanx, not in front, but in flank, or in the rear. As it is easy then to avoid the times and circumstances that are advantageous to the phalanx, and as those, on the contrary, that are disadvantageous to it can never be avoided, it is certain that this difference alone must carry with it a decisive weight in the time of action.

To this it may be added, that the troops of the phalanx also are, like others, forced to march and to encamp in every kind of place; to be the first to seize the advantageous posts; to invest an enemy, or be invested; and to engage also in sudden actions, without knowing that the enemy was near. These things all happen in war, and either tend greatly to promote, or sometimes wholly determine the victory. But, at all such times, the Macedonian order of battle either cannot be employed, or is employed in a manner that is altogether useless.

For the troops of the phalanx, as must be evident, lose their strength when they engage in separate companies, or man with man. The Roman order, on the contrary, is never attended, even upon such occasions, with any disadvantage. Among the Romans every single soldier, when he is once armed and ready for service, is alike fitted to engage in any time and place, or upon any appearance of the enemy; and preserves always the same power, and the same capacity of action, whether he engages with the whole of the army, or only with a part; whether in separate companies, or singly man against man. As the parts, therefore, in the Roman order of battle, are so much better contrived for use than those in the other, so the success also in action must be greater in the one than the other.

If I have been rather long in examining this subject, it was because many of the Greeks, at the time when the Macedonians were defeated, regarded that event as a thing surpassing all belief; and because many others also may hereafter wish to know in what particular respects the order of phalanx is excelled by the arms and the order of battle of the Romans.f

Roman Trophies

THE SENATE

The chief officers both in state and army were continually liable to change, but there was a mighty power behind them, which did not change. This was the senate. The importance of this body can hardly be overstated. All the acts of the Roman republic ran in the name of the senate and people, as if the senate were half the state, though its number was but three hundred.

The senate of Rome was perhaps the most remarkable assembly that the world has ever seen. Its members held their seats for life; once senators always senators, unless they were degraded for some dishonourable cause. But the senatorial peerage was not hereditary. No father could transmit the honour to his son. Each man must win it for himself.[66]