Quarum rerum scientiam et exerdtium oporteat
The Necessity of Constant Discipline
Augustus serves as a model for the diligent training of those under one's care, emphasizing that virtue is acquired through habit and early instruction.
It is necessary to have soldiers, and they are not permitted to be idle; and regarding Augustus, he had his own men trained in wool-working. Scipio Africanus was quite right—as Julius Frontinus reports in his book on Stratagems—when, upon seeing a soldier's shield decorated with excessive elegance, he remarked that he wasn't surprised the man had taken such care with it, since he clearly found more protection in the shield than in his sword. But you won't be able to endure their arrogance unless you possess a greater degree of patience. For no amount of modesty will be able to keep you from laughing at their foolishness. Who is happier or greater than Octavian Augustus? Although he didn't father his own children, he adopted them; and even though their noble blood and hereditary wealth might have been enough to bring them glory and abundance, he still had them trained with such diligence as if they could never hold onto their own property or acquire anything new except through virtue. Therefore, he had them trained in military rank, running, and jumping; he taught them how to swim, how to strike with both a cutting and a thrusting motion, how to throw missiles and stones by hand or with a sling, and how every battle should either be withstood or initiated. For a wise and diligent commander knows that a jar will long retain the scent with which it was first imbued when new, and that what is learned in childhood is absorbed not only more quickly but also more perfectly.
The Physicality of Military Readiness
Military excellence is found in agility, strength, and practical skill rather than mere size or appearance.
Furthermore, military agility—jumping and running—should be compared and tempered before the body grows sluggish with age. Speed, once it's mastered and strengthened through exercise, makes a soldier effective. It doesn't matter much if other signs of excellence are present, or whether soldiers are tall or short; it's more useful for them to be strong than large. Pyrrhus is said to have told his recruiter, "You choose the big ones; I'll make them strong." It's well known that while Greece was celebrating the solemn games at the tomb of Archemorus, Tydeus surpassed Capaneus, because greater virtue resided in a small body. Sallust records that Pompey the Great used to compete in jumping with the agile, in running with the swift, and in lifting with the strong. For he could not have been a match for Sertorius otherwise, unless he had prepared himself and his soldiers through frequent exercises for battle; the art of retreating, attacking, and leaping is no small matter, and by its benefit, that caution is maintained so that a soldier rises against an enemy to strike a blow in such a way that he leaves no part of himself open to being struck. Swimming is also a very useful exercise, since in a land or naval battle, no one can foresee what necessity might demand, and it's not easy for anyone to escape danger using a skill they haven't learned.
Labor as a Guard Against Vanity
Diligence in manual labor and modest dress are presented as essential virtues that prevent the corruption of character in both soldiers and leaders.
The use of missiles is also of the greatest importance, by which an enemy is wounded or terrified from a distance, and through the exercise of these, strength increases in the arms, and skill and practice in throwing are acquired. Constant meditation on such rigorous exercise ensured that those who had been diligently trained in peacetime could act effectively in the tumult of war, remaining fearless. It is also read that the aforementioned Augustus had his daughters trained in wool-working so that, if fortune were to cast them into extreme poverty beyond their expectations, they could support their lives through the skill of their hands once their resources had been reduced. For they possessed not only the art but also the practice and habit of spinning, weaving, using a needle, and shaping, forming, and assembling garments. Certainly, a man who didn't allow his daughters to be idle would never permit soldiers to be idle, as their profession is defined by labor. Nor do I believe he would boast of a softer style of dress for soldiers, when his own daughter wouldn't dare approach him unless he were wearing a more severe expression and a more honorable habit. Lucan commends Cato in a brief tribute, and in describing the Roman military, he adds among other things that, whereas it had been precious for him to be dressed in fine clothes, he had put on a rough toga over his limbs in the manner of a Roman Quirite. He surely wouldn't have said this if the custom of wearing a coarser toga hadn't come from the habit of the Quirites.
The Critique of Modern Softness
The author laments the contemporary decline of military discipline, where vanity and contempt for law have replaced the rugged honor of the past.
But today, those who wear soft clothing are found in the houses of kings—or rather, in their camps—marching off to war as if they were dressed for a wedding. They defend themselves using the great privileges of the ancient military, and they imitate it most of all in their ignorance of the law. This would be tolerable enough if they didn't hold both divine and human laws in equal contempt, so that whether you like it or not, that line from the satirist keeps coming to mind: 'I am Dinomaches,' he puffs; 'I am a man of honor.' Fine; as long as poor old Baucis doesn't taste any worse when she sings her rustic songs to a man with his belt undone.
Read the original Latin
habere milites, et quod eos otiari non licet; et de Augusto, quiJUias suasfecit institui in lanijicio. Egregie quidem Scipio Affricanus, sicut in libro Stratagemmatum lulius Frontinus refert, cum scutum elegantius cuiusdam uidisset omatum, dixit non mirari se quod tanta cura oraasset, in quo plus praesidii quam in gladio haberet. Sed nec fastum illomm perferre poteris, nisi fueris patientiae grandioris. Nam ut ineptias eoram non rideas nuUa modestia poterit cohibere. Quis Octauiano Augusto felicior aut maior? Filios, etsi non genuerit, adoptauit, quibus etsi sufficere posset claras sanguis ad gloriam et bona hereditaria magis ad copiam quam ad usum, ea tamen diligentia instituti sunt ac si sua retineri uel aliena adquiri nequaquam possint nisi per uirtutem. Eos ergo ad gradum militarem et cursum et saltum fecit exercitari, usumque natandi et caesim et punctim feriendi et iaciendi missilia et lapides ' manu uel funda docuit et qualiter bellum omne aut sustineri debeat aut inferri. Nouit enim prudentissimus et diligens imperator quia quo semel est imbuta recens seruabit odorem testa diu, et quod non tantum celerius sed etiam perfectius imbuuntur quae discuntur a pueris.
Deinde militaris alacritas saltus et cursus ante comparanda est et temperanda quam corpus etate pigrescat. Velocitas enim, quae percepta est et firmata est exercitio, strenuum efficit bellatorem. Nec multum refert si cetera probitatis concurrant insignia, proceri sint an staturae breuioris; utilius enim est milites fortes esse quam grandes. Delectori suo fertur dixisse Pirrus: Tu grandes elige, ego eos fortes reddam. Ad tumulum Archemori dum ludos solennes Grecia celebraret, Tideum Capaneo praestitisse percelebre est quia maior in exiguo regnabat corpore uirtus. De exercitio Magni Pompeii memorat Salustius quod cum alacribus saltu, cum uelocibus cursu, cum ualidis uecte certabat. Neque enim ille aliter potuisset par esse Sertorio, nisi se et milites suos frequentibus exercitiis praeparasset a ad praelia, Recedendi, assultandi, insiliendi ars non mediocris est, cuius beneficio illa seruatur cautela ut miles ad inferendum uulnus sic insurgat in hostem ut eidem ex aliqua parte non pateat ad plagam. Exercitium natandi percommodum est, cum in terrestri praelio uel nauali, quid cui necessitas paret, nemini perspicuum sit, nec est promptum quempiam arte, quam non didicit, a periculis expediri.
Missilium quoque usus est maximus, quibus hostis eminus leditur aut terretur, et exercitio eorum lacertis robur accrescit et iaculandi peritia atque usus adquiritur. Hoc autem tanti exercitii assidua meditatio conferebat ut in tumultu bellico utiliter uersarentur intrepidi qui in pace fuerant tam studiose instructi. Filias quoque legitur praefatus Augustus sic in lanificio fecisse institui ut, si praeter spem eas in extremam paupertatem fortuna proiecisset, uitam possent arte deductis facultatibus exhibere. Nam et nendi, texendi et acum exercendi uestesque formandi fingendi et componendi non modo artem sed usum habebant et consuetudinem. Vtique qui otia non indulgebat uirginibus, nequaquam permittebat milites otiari, quorum professio instituta est ad laborem. Nec credo eum de molliori habitu militum gloriari, ad quem nisi seueriori uultu et honestiori habitu accedere filia non audebat. Lucanus breui quodam praeconio Catonem commendat et militiam Romanorum adiciens inter cetera quod ei uestiri fuerat pretiose hirtam membra super Romani more Quiritis induxisse togam. Quod profecto non diceret, nisi durioris togae usus de Quiritum consuetudine processisset.
Sed modo qui moUibus uestiuntur, in domibus regum sunt, immo in castris, et sic ad bella procedunt quasi ad nuptias dealbati. Magnis antiquae militiae priuilegiis se tuentur quam in eo imitantur plurimum quod iura ignorant. Et hoc quidem tolerabile esset, nisi aeque diuinas et humanas contempnerent leges, ut uelis nolis satiricum illud tibi frequenter occurrat: 'Dinomaches ego sum' suffla; 'Sum candidus.' Esto; dum non deterius sapiat pannucia Baucis, cum bene discincto cantauerit ozima uemae.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
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John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
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