How Roman armies instilled discipline

[greybeta]

So, I was reading up for my Roman history class. We're in the period when the Sullan Constitution is being ripped apart by Pompey and Crassus (the other two guys that will later form the first Triumvirate with Julius Caesar). The issue of how Roman armies kept discipline came up, and Crassus's solution was reinstituting the practice of decimation.

Decimation is where the Roman armies would kill off every tenth soldier, usually at the whim of a general who lost a battle. The unlucky soldiers were chosen by casting lots. That would have been bad enough, but the method of killing makes it even worse. Your own comrades would form a circle around you and stone you to death. This method of discipline was very effective because nobody wanted to be the guy in the middle. You either died fighting for Rome or at the hands of your friends.

This gives me a whole new meaning to feeling "decimated".

Comments

[wldntulk2knwwho.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't killing off a tenth of your army after every battle drastically reduce its size??

Aside from that, how far through the Roman Empire are you all going? It's over halfway through the semester and you all haven't gotten to the First Triumvirate yet?!

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Let's say you had 40,000 people. You'd only be losing 4000 in one decimation. And one decimation was usually good enough.

We're covering the period from Tiberius Gracchus to the height of Augustus. The first half covered why the Roman Republic was doomed. Now we'll see why with the First Triumvirate.