Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 250, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1917 — Military Organization of Romans 2,000 Years Ago Was Model of Efficiency [ARTICLE]

Military Organization of Romans 2,000 Years Ago Was Model of Efficiency

When Rome invaded the Germanic countries —about 11 B. C., or Julius Caesar’s time —the Roman general staff was obliged to send back to the rear along the Rhine and the Lippe —large amounts of grain and other rations, says the People’s Home Journal. The vessels - in which these .were transported nearly 2,000 years ago have been found in mounds of earth and refuse recently excavated. These great earthen vessels are marked with many inscriptions regarding their contents, showing how carefully the Roman general staff did its work. As an example of efficiency the Roman military organization has been the wonder of the world. From the inscriptions on these vessels one discovers how the Roman soldier was fed. His rations evidently consisted of bread, the staff of life, for the preparation of which the grain was ground in small hand mills. Fish, snails, mussels and oysters, as well as many 'kinds of fruit, especially peaches, were included in the bill of fare. Of metal vessels the common man of that day knew very little; he ate from earthen unglazed dishes and cooked his food in pots of the same ware. A curious document has been found in the caves of the 1,000 Buddhas in India, written about 900 A. D., and in a good state of preservation. The author, a military officer by the name of Bagatur Chigsli, pronounces in angry terms his dissatisfaction with the food supplied by the commissary department, viz: One sheep and two butts of water for the commanding officer and 30 adjutants, all of whose names are recorded. “Bagul, the commissary, is a wretched, good-for-nothing slave, Bagatur. This complaint recorded over 1,000 years ago, is the “touch of nature wbic£, makes the whole world kin.”