Product Description

This edition offers a compact portrait, in peace and in war, of the ancient Roman army, one of history s most famous and successful military organizations. Twelve literary passages combine with nine epigraphic and other documents to show soldiers who don t merely fight: Between battles, they march, drill, camp, construct public works, eat, drink, and sometimes illegally marry and have children. At times, and invariably with bloodstained results, troops also involved themselves in Roman politics. With selections from a variety of sources and a time span ranging from the First Punic War to the reign of M. Aurelius, this compact reader is like no other currently available.