18 MILITARY SCIENCES. 



sometimes a long thong was fastened to the spear, so that it might be 

 drawn back after projection ; but in that case the spear was barbed (pi. 3, 

 fig. 28): 3, a shield of wood covered with leather ; it was round, and three feet 

 in diameter {pi. l,fig' 13). The head covering was a cap of wolf-skin or 

 cow-hide, in the form of a helmet; metal helmets the velites had not. The 

 rest of the infantry, the hastati, principes, and triarii, carried a shield ; its 

 form was very various, and equally so its style of decoration ; but the usual 

 dimensions were four feet, or four feet four inches high, by two feet six inches 

 wide in the middle, so that the bearer could be entirely concealed behind it. 

 They were a rounded oblong, as in pi. S,fig. 48, or an oval, cut off at top and 

 bottom {fig. 46), or hexagonal {fig. 45), or the same breadth from top to 

 bottom, and concave, as if cut from a hollow cylinder {fig. 47). At first, the 

 shield was of doubled leather only ; afterwards of wicker-work, covered with 

 copper-plate ; and finally of tough wood, with a covering of leather or metal ; 

 or, indeed, cast entirely of metal, and even of gold or silver. 



The shield of jointed wood, when covered only with leather, had always 

 an ij^on rim to turn ofl:' the blows ; and in the centre a raised piece, the boss, 

 for the better glancing of arrows and stones. The shields were in part 

 painted, sometimes by cohorts uniformly, in part decorated with raised 

 metal ornaments ; and \yere often very costly when belonging to the higher 

 officers. The soldier had further two spears ; one of them strong, either 

 round or square, and two and a half inches in diameter, so that it filled the 

 hand ; the small one was a javelin, and almost like an arrow ; the shaft of 

 each was about six feet long, and the head had branches running back the 

 whole length of the shaft, to strengthen it against blows and fracture. 

 Sometimes, though seldom, the spear had two heads {pi. 3, fig. 48). The 

 helmet was of leather at first, studded with metal, and of the simplest form, 

 with a neck-piece and crest {fig. 36). Afterwards the helmet was made 

 entirely of metal, and often very splendid ; it had neck-piece and cheek- 

 pieces, but no visor, like the Greek helmet ; the crest was adorned with an 

 erect plume, usually of purple feathers {fig. 37); frequently with a red 

 comb also, a crest of hair, or a horse's mane. The cuirass wastof metal or 

 leather, and reached from the breast to the girdle. The arms, from the 

 shoulder half way to the elbow, were likewise covered with metal plates. 

 The cuirass was set with scales or rings, or interwoven with chains ; there 

 were even some ver}^ fine ones made entirely of rings, and covering nearly 

 the whole body ; generally the form and adornment of the cuirass were 

 very various, and regulated only by the means and taste of him to whom it 

 belonged. PI. 3 shows various forms of the cuirass ; fig. 41 is the cuirass 

 of a Roman emperor, of silver inlaid with gold, and with purple fittings ; 

 fig. 40 is the cuirass of a general officer, also richly bedecked ;fig. 42 shows 

 the front, and fig. 43 the back of the plate-mail cuirass of a triarius ; fig. 

 44 a scale cuirass of Trajan's time. The poorer soldiers wore, instead of a 

 cuirass, only a breast-plate, broader above than below. The greaves were 

 like the Grecian, but gave way afterwards to half-boots, which were often 

 set with scales of metal. The sword, which up to the time of Vespasian 

 was carried on the right thigh, where, after its removal to the left side, its 

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