07-15-2013, 06:19 PM
I think that one of the main problems to be addressed is that if the legionaries had more than one pilum and for some reason they did not throw it, what happened next? They had to draw their swords, they obviously would have no free hand to hold the second pilum. Where would they put it? Laying on the ground? Very improbable...
The translations provided above by Mark Graef frequently used the words "laid aside," which could mean the men simply dropped them at their feet or passed them off to someone else. For the former, I don't consider this improbable, as a "useless" weapon is a hindrance and I can't see carrying one around or going through some complicated gesture when simply dropping it works, unless otherwise ordered to by senior officers. Why pila would not be used is a different story. For the latter, the situation would dictate. If time was available and one wanted to hold onto their pila for future use, they could be handed off to a ranker in the back of the formation, calones in the rear, or just planted in the ground in hope that infantry in the second line would pick them up. How many pila could one calo carry?
Should they do so, then if the line pushed forward, servants should collect them but if the line retreated as was more than common among Romans? They surely would not want hundreds of perfectly battle-worthy pila just laying there for the enemy to pick up.
Its about priorities. In addition to the hundreds of dropped pila littering the battleground in front of a repulsed century/maniple/cohort, there would also hundreds of pieces of other weaponry, ie. spent arrows, spears and javelins sticking out of the ground cast by the enemy, Roman shields dropped by the wounded, swords that were dropped and lost, not to mention fallen comrades that mates were unable to be recover. If you were in command, what would be the priority for policing? If you were the enemy commander and just repulsed the Roman line, would you stop to police the battlefield or just continue the attack using initiative and momentum?
The translations provided above by Mark Graef frequently used the words "laid aside," which could mean the men simply dropped them at their feet or passed them off to someone else. For the former, I don't consider this improbable, as a "useless" weapon is a hindrance and I can't see carrying one around or going through some complicated gesture when simply dropping it works, unless otherwise ordered to by senior officers. Why pila would not be used is a different story. For the latter, the situation would dictate. If time was available and one wanted to hold onto their pila for future use, they could be handed off to a ranker in the back of the formation, calones in the rear, or just planted in the ground in hope that infantry in the second line would pick them up. How many pila could one calo carry?
Should they do so, then if the line pushed forward, servants should collect them but if the line retreated as was more than common among Romans? They surely would not want hundreds of perfectly battle-worthy pila just laying there for the enemy to pick up.
Its about priorities. In addition to the hundreds of dropped pila littering the battleground in front of a repulsed century/maniple/cohort, there would also hundreds of pieces of other weaponry, ie. spent arrows, spears and javelins sticking out of the ground cast by the enemy, Roman shields dropped by the wounded, swords that were dropped and lost, not to mention fallen comrades that mates were unable to be recover. If you were in command, what would be the priority for policing? If you were the enemy commander and just repulsed the Roman line, would you stop to police the battlefield or just continue the attack using initiative and momentum?
