ROMAN MILITARY
COMMAND ORDERS
FORMATION ORDERS
Forma - Ad signa
Forma - Unos finis
Forma - Duo finis
Dirige Frontem - Dexter
Dirige Frontem- Sinister
Redi
Silentiurn
Noto - Animus Attentus
Mandata captate
Laxate
Ad laxare
Ordenem servate
Inspectus - Intra
Exi - Unge
Fere spectare - Transforma
Dimitto
Formation - Fall in
Forn one line
Form two lines
Dress ranks - Right
Dress ranks - Left
Front face
Silencel
Attentionl - Listen closely
Observe the orders
Parade rest
Rest in place
Keep your position
Inspection - open rear rank
Rear rank - close
Face to the rear - About face
Dismissed
MARCHING ORDERS
Ad agmine
Signo sequute
Ad gladium - clina
Ad scutum - clina
Agmen claudere - Transforma
Moveo
Accelera
Tarda
Ad dextram - depone
Ad senestram - depone
Form marching column
Follow the standard/leader
To the right - face
To the left - face
Counter march to the rear
Marchl
Speed up
Slow down
Right wheel - deploy
Left wheel - deploy
Sin pie - dex pie
Sin-sin-sin-dex-sin
Consiste
Left foot - right foot
Left-left-left-right-left
Halt!
BATTLE ORDERS
Ad aciem- Pugna - Celeriter
Form Battle Lines! - Battle! - Quickly!
Pila infige
Plant your pilum (upright)
Pila pone
Lay down your pile
Pila tolle
Pick up your pilum
Pila iace
Throw your pilum
Gladium stringe
Draw your sword
Gladium reconde
Sheath your sword
Parati - Oppugnare
Ready! - Charge!
Ad testudinem
Form the Testudo
Ad cuneum
Form the Wedge
Defendi altus
Defend high
Defendi inferius
Defend low
Defendi ad parati
Defend at the ready
Impetus
Attack!
Repulsus
Drive back, repulse!
Ave Caesar!
Hail Caesarl
Meus caparum Romanus-Ad Victoria! My Roman troops - To Victory!
Cum gratia
Centurio Marcus
Caesar Exhorts His Troops
(Ridpath illustration)
Ever since Julius Caesar led his army into Rome and made himself military dictator,
Roman emperors have relied on the military to secure their position and enforce their
will. Not one to hide his light under a bushel, the 76-year old Caesar Augustus (Julius
Caesar's adopted son) boasted of having used the military to impose a pax Romana
(Roman peace) on much of the Western world.
The whole of Italy of its own free will swore allegiance to me and...Africa, Sicily
and Sardinia swore the same oath of allegiance....I brought peace to the Gallic and
Spanish provinces as well as to Germany....I secured the pacification of the Alps
from the district nearest the Adriatic to the Tuscan sea....I added Egypt to the
empire....I recovered all the provinces beyond the Adriatic Sea towards the
east....I formed colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily and Macedonia.
Augustus' grandson Claudius extended the Empire to Britain and granted Roman
citizenship to qualified persons from any part of the Empire, an Empire that reached its
height during the reigns of the "five good emperors" (i.e., Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius). In the 2nd century A.D. there were 3 legions in
Britain, 1 in Spain, 4 along the Rhine, 11 along the Danube, 9 in the Near East and 2 in
North Africa. Roman legions defended the imperial frontiers from the Scottish border to
the deserts of Arabia, from the Danube to the Atlas mountains in northern Africa.
The imperial army consisted of some 300,00 men, half of whom made up the legions or
units that carried eagles as their standard. There were c.28 legions, with an average
strength of 5000, each made up of 10 cohorts of c.500 men. Cohorts were divided into 6
centuries, each numbering c.80 men under the command of a centurion. Almost all
infantry troops were recruited from the citizenry. (Generally, 100 to 200 of the troops
were cavalrymen.) Auxiliary units of colonial troops drawn from the provinces backed up
the legions. The auxiliary soldiers, who drew less than half the pay of the legionaries,
were granted citizenship on their discharge.
A legionary was protected by wooden shield, iron helmet and coat of iron mail and armed
with "pilum" or javelin that he hurled when closing in on the enemy and a "gladius" or
short sword used at close combat.
During the many interludes of peace in the first two centuries of the empire, the welltrained troops labored on public works, e.g., building and repairing bridges, aqueducts
and the great network of roads, all of which proverbially led to Rome.
The most prestigious (and best paid!) troops served in the praetorian guard, the legion
formed to protect the emperor. Caesar Augustus established this special guard, consisting
of 9 elite cohorts, each consisting of c.500 men and based in Rome with the sole function
of protecting the emperor. In 193 A.D. the praetorians assassinated Pertinax and declared
that the throne would be auctioned off to whoever offered them the biggest bonus. The
winner, Didius Julianus, was promptly overthrown after a reign of 66 days by Septimius
Severus (the first Roman emperor of North African origin), who promptly killed the
praetorians who had assassinated Pertinax and dismissed and exiled the remainder of the
praetorian guard.
Josephus wrote admiringly of the legionaries' excellence. "Their perfect discipline welds
the whole into a single body; so compact are their ranks, so alert their movements in
wheeling, so quick their ears for orders, their eyes for signals, their hands for tasks."
Ranking of Soldiers



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

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auxiliary -- drawn from Roman colonies or provinces
legionary -- the backbone of the Roman army
(librarius legionus -- divisional clerk; a sort of cushy clerical job)
signifer -- standard bearer
optio -- sergeant
cornicularius -- top sergeant
centurion -- the lowest commissioned rank
tribune -- generally a young aristocrat

legatus -- commander of a legion (like a general in charge of a division) who had
6 tribunes as subordinates; these officers were generally drawn from the senatorial
class)
Of all Roman emperors, Marcus Aurelius took the most "hands on" approach in military
affairs. Traveling from camp to camp on the far-flung frontiers, he personally led his
armies and even found time between battles to write his famous Meditations. Rome's
standing army remained unequaled for centuries.
The Romans were especially expert at clever and speedy field maneuvers and the ancient
art of siege warfare. Ramps, scaling ladders, mobile assault towers with galleries for
archers, crossbowmen, stone slingers and javelin hurlers, giant catapults called "ballistas"
or "onagers" capable of flinging projectiles 2000 feet or more and smaller catapults or
"scorpios" capable of hurling heavy rocks or bags of small stones or iron darts (i.e., the
ancient equivalent of shrapnel) were all part of their amazing bellicose weaponry.
The soldiers methodically built fortified camps at the end of each day's march to protect
against surprise attacks and serve as a refuges in case of defeat. The soldiers were so
good that the Romans even found them to be their best weapon at sea: they equipped their
galleys with a combination grappling hook/gangplank which both snared the enemy and
enabled the infantry to board. With these tactics and the best siege techniques of the
ancient world the Romans were able to best enemies ranging from Macedonian phalanx
to barbarian hordes, the Carthaginian navy to the fortress of Alesia.