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[577]
And when he had considered that the Roman power became invincible,
chiefly by their readiness in obeying orders, and the constant exercise
of their arms, he despaired of teaching these his men the use of their
arms, which was to be obtained by experience; but observing that their
readiness in obeying orders was owing to the multitude of their officers,
he made his partitions in his army more after the Roman manner, and appointed
a great many subalterns. He also distributed the soldiers into various
classes, whom he put under captains of tens, and captains of hundreds,
and then under captains of thousands; and besides these, he had commanders
of larger bodies of men. He also taught them to give the signals one to
another, and to call and recall the soldiers by the trumpets, how to expand
the wings of an army, and make them wheel about; and when one wing hath
had success, to turn again and assist those that were hard set, and to
join in the defense of what had most suffered. He also continually instructed
them ill what concerned the courage of the soul, and the hardiness of the
body; and, above all, he exercised them for war, by declaring to them distinctly
the good order of the Romans, and that they were to fight with men who,
both by the strength of their bodies and courage of their souls, had conquered
in a manner the whole habitable earth. He told them that he should make
trial of the good order they would observe in war, even before it came
to any battle, in case they would abstain from the crimes they used to
indulge themselves in, such as theft, and robbery, and rapine, and from
defrauding their own countrymen, and never to esteem the harm done to those
that were so near of kin to them to be any advantage to themselves; for
that wars are then managed the best when the warriors preserve a good conscience;
but that such as are ill men in private life will not only have those for
enemies which attack them, but God himself also for their antagonist.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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