450 
t E G 
fome refpects fafer than in the harbour itfelf. The road 
for a mile or two feaward is very good, though with no 
fecurity againft winds or corfairs. The light-houfe, 
where every night thirty burning lamps are contained in 
one lantern, hands on a Tingle rock.in the fea ; and not 
far from it, on the main land, is the lazaretto, where qua¬ 
rantine is performed by perlons and goods coming from 
places fufpected of infection. On the 28th of June, 1796, 
this city was taken pofleflion of by the French under the 
command of Bonaparte. Leghorn is 47 miles weft-fouth- 
velt of Florence, and 140 north-north-weft of Rome. 
Lat 43. 32. N. Ion. 10. 16. E. 
Leghorn hats have long been an article of importation 
with us. In the year 1805, Mr. William Corfton received 
a gold medal from the Society of Arts for his manufacture 
of,tbem here. This is undoubtedly an invention of great 
importance to this country 5 as we are told that the im¬ 
portation of this article of drefs, during the ten years pre- 
vioufly to Mr. Corfton’s method of manufacture, would 
furnifh employment for 5000 female children and young 
women, and give cultivation to two thoufand acres an¬ 
nually of very poor land, toraife the ftraw, unfit for other 
culture; and thus diffufe the means of fupport and hap- 
pinefs to many hundreds of poor families, by the healthy 
and productive employment it will afford their children. 
LEGIBLE, adj. [legjbilis, Lat.] Such as may be read. 
-—You obferve lome clergymen with their heads held 
down within an inch of the cufhion, to read what is 
hardly legible. Swift. —Apparent; difcoverable.—People’s 
opinions of themfelves are legible in their countenances. 
Thus a kind imagination makes a bold man have vigour 
and enterprise inTis air and motion; it Itamps value and 
fignificancy upon his face. Collier. 
LEGIBLY, adv. In fuch a manner as may be read. 
LEGIF'EROUS, adj. [from the Lat. lex, a law, and 
Jcro, to bring.] Making laws; giving laws. Not uj'ed. 
Baiky. 
LEGINEU', a town of Pruflia, in the province of Er- 
meland : twenty-two miles fouth-eaft of Ileilfberg. 
LE'GIO, a town of Galilee, from which Jerome de¬ 
termines the diftances of the places in Galilee; not a bare 
encampment, though the name might originally be ow¬ 
ing to that circumltance. It lay fifteen miles to the weft 
of Nazareth, between Mount Tabor and the Mediterra¬ 
nean. Now thought to be Legune. 
LE'GION, f. [legio , Lat.] A body of Roman foldiers. 
—The mod remarkable piece in Antoninus’s pillar is, the 
figure of Jupiter Pluvius fending rain on the fainting 
army of Marcus Aurelius, and thunderbolts on his ene- 
-mies, which is the greateft confirmation poffible of the 
ftory of the Chriftian legion. Addifon. —A military force: 
She to foreign realms 
Sends forth her dreadful legions. Phillips. 
Any great number.—The partition between good and 
evil is broken down ; and, where one fin has entered, le¬ 
gions will force their way through the fame breach. Rogers. 
Not in the legions 
Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn’d. Skakefpeare. 
The word legion comes from the Latin legere, to choofe ; 
fcecaufe, when the legions were raifed, they made choice of 
fuch of their youths as were the moft proper to bear arqas. 
The number of foldiers and officers of which the legion 
confifted, was different at different times; but it is im- 
poffible to determine the precife time and manner of their 
alteration. In the time of Romulus, the inftitutor of this 
corps, each legion contained 3000 foot, and 300 equites, 
or horfe; thefe were divided into three bodies, which 
make as many orders of battle; each body confiding of 
ten companies, or manipules, ranged at fome diftance 
from each other, though in the fame front. Each body 
had two general officers to command it, called tribunes ; 
-and each manipuk, two centurions. Under the confuls, 
the legion confifted of 4000 or 4200 foot-foldiers, who 
LEO 
made four bodies, commanded by a conful, or One of hia 
lieutenants ; and each legion had its fhare of cavalry, 
which was 300. About the year of Rome 412, it was 
compofed of 5000 foot ; which was the number of a le¬ 
gion during Julius Csefar’s wars with the Gauls. Under 
Auguftus,each legion confifted of 6100 foot and 726 horfe j. 
after his death, they were reduced to 5000 foot aud 600 
horfe. Under Tiberius, the legion was railed again to 6000 
foot and 600 horfe. In the time of Septinnus Severus, 
the legion was compofed of 5000 men : under the follow¬ 
ing emperors, it was the fame as it had been under Au- 
gulfus. In the time of Marius, thole four divifions of 
the legion which had taken place under the confuls, were 
united'into one, and augmented; and cohorts were ap¬ 
pointed from five to fix hundred men, each under the 
command of a tribune. Each cohort conlilted of three 
companies of manipules, each manipule of two centuries ; 
and the legion was divided into ten cohorts, who made 
as many diltimft battalions, difpoled in three lines; fo 
that the legion, then, conlilted of 6000 men. Ili- 
dore tells us, that the legion confiited of 6000 men, and 
was divided into fixty centuries, thirty manipules, twelve 
cohorts, and two hundred troops. According to the 
French academy, the legion confiited of 6000 toot and 
725 horfe. The legion confiited of four forts of foldiers, 
who differed in their age, arms, and names: they were 
called velites, hajlati, principes , and triarii. Till the de- 
ftruftion at Carthage, thele were citizens of Rome ; but, 
after the focial war, the freedom of the city was granted 
to other towns in Italy, and legionary troops were railed, 
which were called Roman, becaufe, as they lhared the 
privilege of Roman citizens, they were incorporated in 
the republic. 
The legions were by far the moft confiderable part of 
the Roman army; their numb^, in the time of Auguftus, 
was thirty-three; they were compofed at that time wholly 
of Roman citizens. The ftandard borne by the legions 
was various ; at firft, a wolf, in honour of that which 
fuckled Romulus; afterwards a hog, by reafon, fays 
Feltus, war is only undertaken with a view to peace, 
which was concluded by facrificing a hog ; fometimes they 
bore the minotaur, to remind their generals, that their 
defigns were to be kept fecret, and inacceffible as the mi¬ 
notaur in the labyrinth ; they alfo bore a horfe, a boar, 
&c. Pliny tells us, that Marius was the firft who changed 
all thefe for the eagle, being a reprefentation of that bird 
in filver, holding lometimes a thunderbolt in its claws. 
The Roman eagle ever after remained in ufe, though Tra¬ 
jan made ufe of the dragon. 
The different legions were diftinguilhed, according to 
the order in which they were raifed, into firft, fecond, and 
third, &c. by the names of the emperors who formed 
them, into legio Augufta, Claudia, Flavia, Trajana, &c. 
by the provinces where they had ferved, as legio Parthica, 
Macedonica, &c. and by fome famous exploit or difplay 
of valour. 
The arms of the Roman troopers confifted of a helmet, 
an oblong ffiield, light boots, and a coat of mail. A ja¬ 
velin, and a long broad-fword, were their principal wea¬ 
pons of offence. The ufe of lances and of iron maces 
they feem to have borrowed from the barbarians. Confi¬ 
derable levies were regularly made by the Romans among 
the provincials ; and many dependent princes and com¬ 
munities, difperfed round the frontiers, were permitted, 
for a while, to hold their freedom and fecurity by the te¬ 
nure of military fervice. Even fele<ft troops of hoftiie 
barbarians were compelled or perfuaded to confume their 
valour in remote climates, and for the benefit of the ftate. 
All thefe were included under the general name of auxi¬ 
liaries-, and their number was feldom inferior to that of 
the legions themfelves. In their march, the legionaries 
carried their arms, and alfo kitchen-furniture, inltruments 
of fortification, and provifion for many days. Thus la¬ 
den, they advanced by a regular ftep, to which they were 
trained, near twenty miles in about fix hours. On the 
appearance 
