11-23-2005, 07:23 PM
Sorry Robert,
I didn't realise you were referring only to your third point.
I think sin-dex-sin is a real possibility but I also suspect that this has at least as much to do with the world I have grown up with as it has to do with real probabilities.
I do think, as I said above, that it is possible that marching armies in Roman times would have sung on the march, as I understand most armies did until well into the twentieth century. The song / songs Suetonius quotes which were sung during Caesar's triumph are likely to have been marching songs, given that they are quite rhythmic and may well have been sung by the soldiers as they marched rather than during any phases of standing still. This is supposition of course but is does tend to be true that massed rhythmic singing not only maintains morale but also regularises step. As I also suggested above, I think a series of correctly timed trumpet blasts from time to time could have helped to maintain a regular step which would otherwise be maintained by singing, the rhythmic knocking and jingling of equipment and the sight of the rising and falling shoulders of the men in front.
Crispvs
I didn't realise you were referring only to your third point.
I think sin-dex-sin is a real possibility but I also suspect that this has at least as much to do with the world I have grown up with as it has to do with real probabilities.
I do think, as I said above, that it is possible that marching armies in Roman times would have sung on the march, as I understand most armies did until well into the twentieth century. The song / songs Suetonius quotes which were sung during Caesar's triumph are likely to have been marching songs, given that they are quite rhythmic and may well have been sung by the soldiers as they marched rather than during any phases of standing still. This is supposition of course but is does tend to be true that massed rhythmic singing not only maintains morale but also regularises step. As I also suggested above, I think a series of correctly timed trumpet blasts from time to time could have helped to maintain a regular step which would otherwise be maintained by singing, the rhythmic knocking and jingling of equipment and the sight of the rising and falling shoulders of the men in front.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
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