Resolutions: Roman Style

"Roman Soldiers in the Circus," a 1640 painting by Aniello Falcone. Public Domain

Late February is a time of reckoning. It is often the crisis point for New Year’s resolutions. The novelty has worn off, and the dreary weather does not lend itself towards encouragement or renewing the struggle. All worthwhile resolutions come to this point, because resolutions always deal with cultivating a good habit, or virtue, and virtue requires not only wanting something, but also figuring out how to motivate oneself enough to overcome obstacles.

It is like undergoing strength training—first, you want strength, but then comes the actual lifting of weights. For busy people to make the time to lift weights, they require another step: planning. Making a plan and sticking to it requires cultivating other virtues like prudence and fortitude.

At this time of February, the ancient Roman army is a good model to examine. Romans not only gave us the word virtue (from Latin “virtus,” meaning “strength”), but they also provide good ideas about how to obtain it. Their military prowess illustrates the way good habits are formed—not just by wanting, and not even just by discipline and planning, but also by practicing related virtues.

The Mystique of the Roman Military

The more one understands the Roman military’s limitations, the more admirable and impressive it becomes. Unlike Alexander the Great’s Macedonians, the Romans were not undefeated; they existed too long for that feat—over a millennium! Yet the Romans sustained a society and culture that could absorb a defeat, even defeat after defeat, and win in the long haul. They did not employ units as impressive as Hannibal’s elephants or Alexander’s Companion Cavalry, but they defeated armies with such units over and over.

The Romans were adept at working within their limitations. That began with their discipline, because through most of its history, Roman soldiers were not professionals in our modern sense of the word. They prided themselves on being farmers who fought when they had to.

The Romans made up the discrepancy in fighting professional soldiers by their method of  employing depth, space, and reinforcements in their battle lines.

The ancient Roman military won many a battle using formations like this testudo arrangement. Splette/CC BY-SA 2.0

First of all, Roman soldiers trained to fight and maneuver in units of about 40 men. They set up for battle three lines deep, with a front line of units separated from each other by spaces, a second line identical except staggered in the first line’s spaces, and a final line of units and spaces in the back. In action, it would have looked a little like a checkerboard.

As battle started, the spaces between the maniples gave soldiers room to maneuver as they engaged the enemy. As the first line became fatigued, they could fall back while the second line advanced. If this was done in an orderly manner, it created an incredible advantage for the Romans: fresh troops fighting the tired enemy soldiers still on the battle line.

This tactic illustrates an important aspect of good habits, as well as winning battles: The paradox that virtue is not just about attempting the difficult, but about leveraging one’s skills and thinking creatively to make it surer. In other words, virtue is “working smarter, not harder.”

Contemporary historians' detailed and exacting lists of Roman dress and equipment are partially thanks to the Roman habit of ritual organization and meticulous record-keeping. Public Domain

Logistics

The Romans seemed to never be content with just one advantage. They sought not only the power to wisely manipulate force during battles, but to win them before they even happened. This is where the legendary Roman expertise at logistics comes into play, and it all had to do with building a good camp.

For most of Roman military history, a good Roman soldier was not only expected to be a good fighter, but a good technician and engineer as well. Each soldier carried his weapons in his kit, and materials for setting up camp while on the march.

Even if the army was resting only a day, camp was set up by the book. Everyone knew his place in pitching camp, and everyone knew where the sleeping tents, the baggage, the equipment, even the altar for sacrifices to the gods, went. The result of these lengthy preparations was security from ambush, the promise of a good night’s sleep, and a better chance of having something to eat before going into battle. As far as possible, Romans entered battle refreshed, healthy, and fully prepared.

A Virtuous Society

It may seem strange to think of the Romans as a virtuous people. They are popularly thought of as harsh oppressors. Be that as it may, Roman society displayed the virtues of prudence and temperance in key areas that contributed to making them a military power.

Beginning as a mere local power in a small region of central Italy, Rome gradually established world dominance by hitting just the right note in assimilating other peoples. Instead of wiping out or subjugating the tribes and nations it conquered, Rome usually made them allies. Though there were exceptions to this rule (for example after long and costly sieges), and though this policy became obsolete with the transition from Roman Republic to Roman Empire, former enemies, such as the Etruscans, Volscians, Samnites, and others, found themselves and their cities spared, permitted to govern themselves, but on one condition: that they must fight Roman wars alongside Roman armies. This gave Rome two great advantages: an army much larger than it could field by itself, and the men who fought had some reason for gratitude and loyalty to Rome.

Roman soldiers built quality camps almost 2,000 years ago, and many survive today.  Poliocretes/CC BY-SA 3.0

Beginning as a mere local power in a small region of central Italy, Rome gradually came to world dominance by hitting just the right note in assimilating other peoples. Instead of wiping out or subjugating the tribes and nations it conquered, Rome usually made them allies. Though there were exceptions to this rule (for example after long and costly sieges), and though this policy became obsolete with the transition from Roman Republic to Roman Empire, former enemies, such as the Etruscans, Volscians, Samnites, and others, found themselves and their cities spared, permitted to govern themselves still, but on one condition: that they must fight Roman wars alongside Roman armies.

One can appreciate this situation’s uniqueness by comparing it with the ancient armies of the Spartans and the Persians. Spartan soldiers were citizens of Sparta and were deeply attached to their nation, but there were never more than 10,000 at any one time. The great Persian armies, such as the ones that invaded Greece, were enormous and consisted of men from many different nations, but they were slaves to the Persian king, not allies.

By acting prudently and moderately, in the context of the times at least, Romans set up a social structure that directly supported military success, in addition to its preparedness before battle and discipline during battle.

Our Resolutions

How does learning about the Roman army help us build good habits? In attempting to eat healthily, we might imitate the Roman discipline of planning by scheduling regular meals close to the times that sugar cravings strike, or by stocking up on healthy and appetizing snacks.

This plan applies Roman logistics: We might try to eliminate stresses that invite unhealthy eating. Here, the virtue of prudence comes into play. It makes sense, therefore, to intentionally cultivate it. We can read more about this virtue and gain insights to develop our capacity for temperance.

Due to prudence and moderation, the Romans supported military success. People today may develop the same skills to conquer vice, grow in virtue, and win the little battles in their individual lives.

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