05-08-2011, 04:36 AM
Quote:I appreciate I am playing devil’s advocate, but I think with some cause.I believe Cato the Elder is known to have written a Tactica. Pliny the Elder wrote de iaculatione equestri ("About Cavalry Shooting") and Vegetius cites ordinances of Trajan or Hadrian among his sources.
If a military step was in fact a syncopated step, it would be easy to learn. But I don’t know when it was adopted. Was it used by the early Imperial army?
I’m sure their weapons drill was excellent. Also their discipline, valour or whatever was better than most of their opponents. And they certainly had an order of march.
But compared to the manuals of mid 3rd century onwards, where are the manuals of the early Imperial period? Of course they may not have survived, but did they ever exist?
I was intrigued by a passage in Josephus which someone posted a year or so ago, where a rebel leader told his men "I can't teach you to fight like Romans fast enough, but I can teach you to drill as well as them in time." But the various changes in forum software make it hard to find.
Nullis in verba
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.