DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22272#0048
30
GLASGOW ARCBLEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
treatise on the art of war, is still more definite and detailed in
his account1 of the same subject, contained in two separate
1 Vegetius, Epitoma Rei Militaris
(ed. Lang, Leipsic, 1885), lib. i.,
cap. 24.
Castrorum autem diversa triplexque
munitio est. Nam si nimia necessitas
non prerait, caespites ciroumciduntur e
terra et ex his velut murus instruitur
altus tribus pedibus supra terrain ita ut
in ante sit fossa de qua levati sunt
caespites ; deinde tumultuaria fossa fit
lata pedes novem et alta pedes vii.
Sed ubi vis acrior imminet hostium,
tunc legitima fossa ambitum convenit
munire castrorum ita ut xii. pedes lata
sit et alta sub linea, sicut appellant,
pedes novem. Supra autem saepibus
nine inde factis, quae de fossa levata
fuerit, terra congeritur et crescit in
altum iiii. pedes. Sic fit ut sit xiii.
alta et xii. lata; supra q nam sudes de
lignis fortissimis quas milites portare
consueverunt praefiguntur. Ad quod
opus ligones rastra qualos aliaque uten-
silium genera habere convenit semper
in promptu.
Also lib. iii., cap. 8. . .
Tribus autem modis [qui rem militarem
studiosius didicerunt definiunt] castra
muniri posse. Priraum in unius
noctis transitum et itineris occupa-
tionem leviorem, cum sublati caespites
ordinantur et aggerem faciunt, supra
quern valli, hoc est sudes vel tribuli
lignci, per ordinem digeruntur. Caespes
autem circumciditur ferramentis qui
herbarum radicibus eontinet terram, fit
altus semissem, latus pedem, longus
pedem semis. Quod si terra solutior
fuerit, ut ad similitudinem lateris
caespes non possit abscidi, tunc opere
tumultuario fossa percutitur lata pedes
quinque, alta tres, cui mtrinsecus agger
excrescit, ut sine metu securus requies-
cat exercitus. Stativa autem castra
aestate vel hieme, hoste vicino, majore
cura ac labore firmantur. Nam singulae
centuriae, dividentibus campidoctoribus
et principiis, accipiunt pedaturas et
scutis vel sarcinis suis in orbem circa
propria signa dispositis, ciucti gladio
fossam aperiunt latam aut novem aut
undccim aut tredecim pedibus vel, si
major adversariorum vis metuitur,
Vegetius, i., cap. 24.
The fortification of camps is of three
different kinds. If the urgency is not
too pressing, sods are cut from the
ground, and from them a structure like
a wall is made 3 feet high above ground,
so that in front there is the fosse from
which the sods were lifted. Then a
"tumultuary" (or hasty) fosse is made
9 feet wide and 7 feet deep. But where
a very fierce attack of the enemy is
imminent, then it is proper to fortify
the circuit of the camp with a " legiti-
mate " (or regulation) fosse, which
should be 12 feet broad and 9 feet deep
below the "line," as they call it. Then
above this, by the use of stakes set on
each side, the earth which was taken up
from the fosse is heaped up and grows
to a height of 4 feet. Thus it is made
so as to be 13 feet high and 12 feet
broad, upon which stakes of very stout
wood, which the soldiers used to carry,
are set pointing forward. For which
work it is proper to have spades,
mattocks, baskets, and other kinds of
utensils always in readiness.
iii., cap. 8. . . . Those who have
carefully studied the art of war state
expressly that camps can be fortified in
three methods. Firstly, for a stay of
one night and a slight occupation
during a march, when sods are taken up
and built in rows, and make an agger
upon which the valli (or pales), that is
stakes, or else wooden tribuli (or cal-
trops) are planted in a row. The sod,
which holds together the earth by the
roots of grasses, is cut with iron tools.
It is made half a foot thick, one foot
broad, and a foot and a half long. But
if the soil is so very loose that the sod
cannot be cut to the shape of a brick,
then with " tumultuary " work a fosse
is cut 5 feet broad and 3 feet deep, from
which an agger is thrown up on the
inner side, so that without apprehension
the army may rest secure. But sta-
tionary camps, whether in summer or
winter when the enemy is at hand, are
strengthened with more care and labour.
For each "century" (or body of 100
men) takes its pedatura (or allotted
number of feet) marked off by the com-
manders and drillmasters, and with
GLASGOW ARCBLEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
treatise on the art of war, is still more definite and detailed in
his account1 of the same subject, contained in two separate
1 Vegetius, Epitoma Rei Militaris
(ed. Lang, Leipsic, 1885), lib. i.,
cap. 24.
Castrorum autem diversa triplexque
munitio est. Nam si nimia necessitas
non prerait, caespites ciroumciduntur e
terra et ex his velut murus instruitur
altus tribus pedibus supra terrain ita ut
in ante sit fossa de qua levati sunt
caespites ; deinde tumultuaria fossa fit
lata pedes novem et alta pedes vii.
Sed ubi vis acrior imminet hostium,
tunc legitima fossa ambitum convenit
munire castrorum ita ut xii. pedes lata
sit et alta sub linea, sicut appellant,
pedes novem. Supra autem saepibus
nine inde factis, quae de fossa levata
fuerit, terra congeritur et crescit in
altum iiii. pedes. Sic fit ut sit xiii.
alta et xii. lata; supra q nam sudes de
lignis fortissimis quas milites portare
consueverunt praefiguntur. Ad quod
opus ligones rastra qualos aliaque uten-
silium genera habere convenit semper
in promptu.
Also lib. iii., cap. 8. . .
Tribus autem modis [qui rem militarem
studiosius didicerunt definiunt] castra
muniri posse. Priraum in unius
noctis transitum et itineris occupa-
tionem leviorem, cum sublati caespites
ordinantur et aggerem faciunt, supra
quern valli, hoc est sudes vel tribuli
lignci, per ordinem digeruntur. Caespes
autem circumciditur ferramentis qui
herbarum radicibus eontinet terram, fit
altus semissem, latus pedem, longus
pedem semis. Quod si terra solutior
fuerit, ut ad similitudinem lateris
caespes non possit abscidi, tunc opere
tumultuario fossa percutitur lata pedes
quinque, alta tres, cui mtrinsecus agger
excrescit, ut sine metu securus requies-
cat exercitus. Stativa autem castra
aestate vel hieme, hoste vicino, majore
cura ac labore firmantur. Nam singulae
centuriae, dividentibus campidoctoribus
et principiis, accipiunt pedaturas et
scutis vel sarcinis suis in orbem circa
propria signa dispositis, ciucti gladio
fossam aperiunt latam aut novem aut
undccim aut tredecim pedibus vel, si
major adversariorum vis metuitur,
Vegetius, i., cap. 24.
The fortification of camps is of three
different kinds. If the urgency is not
too pressing, sods are cut from the
ground, and from them a structure like
a wall is made 3 feet high above ground,
so that in front there is the fosse from
which the sods were lifted. Then a
"tumultuary" (or hasty) fosse is made
9 feet wide and 7 feet deep. But where
a very fierce attack of the enemy is
imminent, then it is proper to fortify
the circuit of the camp with a " legiti-
mate " (or regulation) fosse, which
should be 12 feet broad and 9 feet deep
below the "line," as they call it. Then
above this, by the use of stakes set on
each side, the earth which was taken up
from the fosse is heaped up and grows
to a height of 4 feet. Thus it is made
so as to be 13 feet high and 12 feet
broad, upon which stakes of very stout
wood, which the soldiers used to carry,
are set pointing forward. For which
work it is proper to have spades,
mattocks, baskets, and other kinds of
utensils always in readiness.
iii., cap. 8. . . . Those who have
carefully studied the art of war state
expressly that camps can be fortified in
three methods. Firstly, for a stay of
one night and a slight occupation
during a march, when sods are taken up
and built in rows, and make an agger
upon which the valli (or pales), that is
stakes, or else wooden tribuli (or cal-
trops) are planted in a row. The sod,
which holds together the earth by the
roots of grasses, is cut with iron tools.
It is made half a foot thick, one foot
broad, and a foot and a half long. But
if the soil is so very loose that the sod
cannot be cut to the shape of a brick,
then with " tumultuary " work a fosse
is cut 5 feet broad and 3 feet deep, from
which an agger is thrown up on the
inner side, so that without apprehension
the army may rest secure. But sta-
tionary camps, whether in summer or
winter when the enemy is at hand, are
strengthened with more care and labour.
For each "century" (or body of 100
men) takes its pedatura (or allotted
number of feet) marked off by the com-
manders and drillmasters, and with