Lacertus Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 By what means the discipline was maintained in Roman legions? How were legioners punished for minor infringements? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost_Warrior Posted May 19, 2005 Report Share Posted May 19, 2005 I think they were. As far as I know, centurions would happily beat the crap out of any legionary that stepped out of line (they had that vine stick for a reason ya' know) and I'm sure most of the higher ups were just as bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbow Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 If you fell asleep on duty, one of the potential punishments involved the rest of your contubernia being ordered to beat you to death. One centurion was nicknamed 'Fetch Another', due to the regularity with which he broke his vinestick on the backs of his men. Thought to be rarely used and more of a deterrent, the death penalty could be given for desertion, mutiny, or insubordination. Length of service, rank, previous conduct, etc, were taken into consideration. Even allowances were made for young recruits. Decimation was also used (extremely rarely) for entire units by the drawing of lots, and the unlucky 10 percent were beaten or clubbed to death by their own unit. Mutinous legions could be disbanded. Minor punishments were corporal punishment (castigatio), monetary fine, (pecunaria multa), added duty (munerum indictio), relegation to an inferior service (militiae mutatio), reduction in rank (gradus deiectio) or dishonourable discharge from service (missio ignominiosa). Jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerfectimusPrime Posted May 20, 2005 Report Share Posted May 20, 2005 The one greatest advantages of discipline was that the legions could form complex formations fast, and act perfectly as a unit not as a individual warrior like in many ''barbarian'' armies. The legionaries probably knew every phase in the battle, because they were drilled so hard... ''It would be fair enough to call their drills bloodless battles and their battles bloody drills.'' - Josephus, a captured jewish leader who later gained a Roman citizenship. Discipline had other great advatages in battle like perfectly timed charges, relativly easy out-flankings... Also the stabbing style battle took alot of discipline to work well. The discipline was not just enforced by the centurions, but their second-in-command, optios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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