Page:Frontinus - The stratagems, and, the aqueducts of Rome (Bennet et al 1925).djvu/333

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STRATAGEMS, IV. i. 46-11. 4

When the consul Quintus Petihus had been killed in battle by the Ligurians, the Senate decreed that that legion in whose ranks the consul had been slain should, as a whole, be reported " deficient " ; ^ that its year's pay should be withheld, and its wages reduced. 2

II. On the Effect of Discipline

When, during the Civil War, the armies of Brutus and Cassius were marching together through Mace- donia, the story goes that the army of Brutus arrived first at a stream which had to be bridged, but that the troops of Cassius were the first in constructing the bridge and in effecting a passage. This rigorous discipline made Cassius's men superior to those of Brutus not only in constructing miHtary works, but also in the general conduct of the war.^

Wlien Gaius Marius had the option of choosing a force from two armies, one of which had served under Rutilius, the other under Metellus and later under himself, he preferred the troops of Rutilius, though fewer in number, because he deemed them of trustier discipline.^

Bv improving discipline, Domitius Corbulo with- stood the Parthians with a force of only two legions and a very few auxiliaries.^

Alexander of Macedon conquered the world, in the face of innumerable forces of enemies, by means of forty thousand men long accustomed to discipline under his father Philip.^

  • 334 B.C. Cf. Livy xxxv. 14 ; Justin, xi. 6 ; Plut. Alex.

15. The numbers vary in the ilifiFereut authors.

287

289