03-25-2013, 01:44 PM
I also like the idea, that the romans in late republic did not replenish legions with recruits, because they did not like to mess up the retirement process.
On the other hand just the normal mortality rate without battles would lead to losses of about 30-40% in 16 years, if we compare it to later centuries of comparable medical care. I also wonder, how the legion of Augustus could evolve into a huge bureaucracy in a few decades, if there was nothing comparable in the late republican legion. A feasible solution would have been, to pool veterans and recruits in different cohorts of a legion, which was obviously the rule in Vegetius times.
However, the sources show clearly, that some legions were tremendously understrength. Perhaps it was a mix of reasons and exceptions prove the rule? :?
On the other hand just the normal mortality rate without battles would lead to losses of about 30-40% in 16 years, if we compare it to later centuries of comparable medical care. I also wonder, how the legion of Augustus could evolve into a huge bureaucracy in a few decades, if there was nothing comparable in the late republican legion. A feasible solution would have been, to pool veterans and recruits in different cohorts of a legion, which was obviously the rule in Vegetius times.
However, the sources show clearly, that some legions were tremendously understrength. Perhaps it was a mix of reasons and exceptions prove the rule? :?
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas
