"If we follow the ancient practice, the proper time for
enlisting youth into the army is at their entrance into the
age of puberty... A sufficient time is also required for his instruction in the different branches of the service. It is no easy matter to train the horse or foot archer, or to form the
legionary soldier to every part of the drill, to teach him not to quit his post, to keep ranks, to take a proper aim and throw his missile weapons with force, to dig
trenches, to plant
palisades, how to manage his
shield, glance off the blows of the enemy, and how to parry a stroke with dexterity. We find the ancients very fond of procuring the tallest men they could for the service, since the standard for the
cavalry of the wings and for the
infantry of the first legionary cohorts was fixed at six feet, or at least five feet ten inches. These requirements might easily be kept up in those times when such numbers followed the profession of arms and before it was the fashion for the flower of Roman youth to devote themselves to the civil offices of state. But when necessity requires it, the height of a man is not to be regarded so much as his strength... The young soldier, therefore, ought to have a lively eye, should carry his head erect, his chest should be broad, his shoulders muscular and brawny, his fingers long, his arms strong, his waist small, his shape easy, his legs and feet rather nervous than fleshy.... On the careful choice of soldiers depends the
welfare of the
Republic, and the very essence of the Roman Empire and its power is so inseparably connected with this charge, that it is of the highest importance not to be entrusted indiscriminately, but only to persons whose fidelity can be relied on." ==Training==