The Camp
The success of Roman arms in hostile and barbarous countries was largely due to the custom of guarding against surprise by making fortified camps. The summer camp (
castra aestiva) and the winter camp (
castra hiberna) seem to have been alike in all essential features. In the latter, however, more provision was made for the comfort and convenience of the men. Instead of tents, huts of timber and earth, thatched with straw or covered with hides, here provided for them. The camp was regularly in the form of a square, often with rounded corners, but the lay of the land necessitated many variations from the regular plan (see Fig.
119). Of all the camps of Caesar that have been discovered, but one, that on the Aisne (
Bk. ii. 5), approaches a square form. The site was chosen with great care, and was always on high ground and near wood and water. An ideal spot was the slope of a hill with some kind of natural defence on the sides and rear, and with sufficient ground in front for the array of the legions. Such a position would give the Romans an opportunity for their favorite onslaught
e superior loco (cf.
Bk. ii. 8;
Bk. v. 50).
A small force of soldiers under centurions was sent ahead to select the site for the camp and stake it out. Two bisecting lines were drawn at right angles to each other to mark the four gates (see Fig.
119): the
porta praetoria, facing the enemy; the
porta decumana, in the rear; the
porta principalis dextra, on the right side; the
porta principalis sinistra, on the left. Between the gates on the right and left ran a broad street, the
via principalis. The forward half of the camp was allotted to the soldiers, the rear half to the officers and their attendants. All about the inside of the fortifications ran a broad space, at least one hundred feet wide, left vacant for baggage, evolutions of troops, and to protect the tents within from missiles that the enemy might hurl over the walls. Near the middle of the camp was an open square
(
praetorium), in which stood the general's tent (
tabernaculum ducis). Before this was the altar on which he sacrificed, and on the left was a sodded mound of earth (
tribunal or
suggestus; cf.
Bk. vi. 3), from which he pronounced judgment and addressed the assembled soldiers. The full details of the interior arrangement of Caesar's camp are not known; but every officer, every cohort, every maniple, every man had his appointed place.
No night passed that the army was not housed in such a camp, fortified by wall and ditch. As soon as the soldiers arrive at the spot marked out for them, laying aside helmet, shield, and spear, they begin to dig the ditch (
fossa), the earth from which is used in constructing the wall (
vallum). If time permits, the sides of the embankment are covered with sods to hold the earth, or with bundles of brush (fascines). The ditch was usually nine feet wide and seven feet deep, the wall six to ten feet high, and wide enough on the top to afford good standing room for a soldier in action An ordinary camp for a night's sojourn could be fortified in about three hours. If the camp was intended for more than one night (
castra stativa), the fortifications were made stronger. The earth was made firmer by imbedding in it several lines of fascines parallel to the length, and on its top was set a breastwork of stakes (
valli or
sudes; cf.
Bk. v. 40;
Bk. vii. 72). This breastwork was about four feet high (see Fig.
118). Often wooden towers were erected on the walls (cf.
Bk. v. 40;
Bk. vii. 72), connected by galleries
(
pontes). The wall was made easy of access on the inner side by steps of brush. Sometimes small redoubts (
castella) were built at a distance from the main camp. These were made on the same general plan.
After the camp had been fortified and the leathern tents (
tentoria, pelles) put up in their assigned places, guards were set at the gates, and the regular routine of camp life began.
