“Century,” Antoninus said, “so that means there are a hundred men assigned to it?”
“Actually, that’s not correct,” Decimus answered. “A century is made up of ten tent groups, or sections, of eight men each. The senior man in each section holds the rank of decanus, Sergeant of Legionaries. So, in actuality, there are eighty men in a century, eighty-four if you count the senior officers, when we are at full strength, which is practically never. Sergeant Statorius and I come from the same section.
“The centurion is the man in charge of the century. All are highly experienced soldiers who’ve come up through the ranks. Most have between fifteen and twenty years in the army by the time they see promotion. Our centurion, Platorius Macro, is one of the younger ones; he was just promoted within the last year. Come to think of it, there are a number of young centurions in the Twentieth. There was a big shake-up amongst the ranks after the entire army damned near mutinied.”
“The army mutinied?” Magnus asked.
“Didn’t hear about that back home, did you?” Decimus stated more than asked. “That doesn’t surprise me. Anyway, that’s a story for another time. Like I was saying, you’ve got the centurion who runs the century. Directly beneath him is the optio. The optio is second in command of the century and he takes care of a lot of the day to day business. Our optio’s name is Valgus.
“The other predominant figures within the century are the signifier and the tesserarius. The tesserarius takes care of all the duty rosters, the watch words of the day and the training schedules. He’s somebody you definitely want to make friends with, especially if you want to avoid certain details like digging out the sewage pipes every time they get backlogged with shit.”
The recruits all wrinkled their noses at the thought.
Decimus laughed and continued, “The signifier is in charge of all the century’s pay and allowances and is also third in command of the century. You’ll learn to love him on pay days. He is also the one who carries the century’s standard into battle, which he uses for relaying visual signals and orders to other units. Flaccus and Camillus are our tesserarius and signifier. There are also some various special duty positions like the chief weapons instructor. Sergeant Vitruvius holds that position. You’ll get to know him very well over the next few weeks.”
Statorius started laughing, as if at some inside joke that only he and Decimus were privy to.
Decimus continued his dissertation on the makeup of the Roman Legion. “So now you know the basic structure of the century. The cohort is made up of six centuries, and it is commanded by the ranking centurion, known as the centurion pilus prior, who is always assigned to the First Century. Valerius Proculus is the pilus prior for the Third Cohort. Ten cohorts make up the bulk of the legion. Cohorts Two through Ten are structured exactly the same. The First Cohort is a bit different. It only has five centuries instead of six, but each of these is at double-strength of one hundred sixty men. All soldiers in the First Cohort are handpicked veterans and are considered to be the elite of any legion. Their centurions are each given the title of centurion primus ordo. They are the most experienced and the senior ranking centurions within the legion. They outrank even the cohort commanders. They, in turn, are led by the centurion primus pilus, sometimes known as the chief or master centurion. He is the senior ranking centurion within the legion, and third overall in the chain-of-command. It is the highest rank an enlisted soldier can ever hope to achieve, though most will never see it. Remember, there is only one per legion, and there are currently twenty-five legions in the Empire. You can do the math on that one. Flavius Quietus holds that position in the Twentieth. He’s a hard-ass, old-school soldier. Has a soft spot for the men, though.
“The Equestrian Class of society provides the legion with its military tribunes. There are six in each legion. They serve as staff officers, mostly for only six-month tours. We pay little attention to them as very few are serious at being career army officers. Pontius Pilate, Chief of Artillery is one of those few.”
Artorius’ ears perked up at the sound of his old friend’s name.
Decimus continued, “The senior tribune in the legion comes from the Senatorial class, just like the commanding general or Legate, as is his official title. Caecina Severus is the legate of the Twentieth. Gaius Strabo, Chief Tribune, is second in command. ”
The new recruits tried to absorb as much of this information as they could during the two weeks it took them to reach their home on the Rhine. They stayed at various road stations along the way, sleeping in the stalls next to their horses or wherever they could find a place to lie down. The further north they went, the colder it became. Snow covered the landscape as they closed in on their destination. Artorius had never dealt easily with the cold, and he clutched his cloak as tightly around him as possible. One afternoon, they finally saw the town of Cologne and the fortress coming into sight.
Chapter IV: From Civilian to Soldier
“There it is lads,” Statorius said, “home of the Twentieth Legion, Valeria.”
“Lads?” Artorius muttered to Magnus. Statorius overheard his comment.
“Yes, lads, you’re all my boys, until I can make men of you. No one calls you ‘lads’, except me. If any of the other recruits calls you a ‘lad’ you have my permission to beat the shit out of him.”
This brought snorts of amusement from several of the men.
The recruits grew excited as they rode closer. The fortress was an impressive sight, indeed. What made it impressive was the permanence of the structure and its menacing appearance. There were several ditches surrounding the walls that were filled with jagged spikes and foot obstacles, though with the snow on the ground, the recruits could not see the contents of the ditches. The walls themselves were of stone and masonry, as were the guard towers. The gate was reinforced with metal strips. It was open, and there were several guards on duty just inside. Statorius showed them some papers, and they ushered him in.
The fortress resembled a small city more than anything, only it appeared to be cleaner and more organized. There were long rows of barracks, stables, blacksmith shops, bakeries, bathhouses, just about anything one could need. It looked as if one could get easily lost.
“How does one find his way around here?” Magnus asked.
“It’s not hard, once you understand the layout,” Decimus said. “Plus, after you’ve been inside one fortress, you can find your way around any, since all are identical in their layout. Here we are.”
They stopped at a stable where some grooms came to take their horses. The grooms were local Germans, though they had better hygiene and grooming standards than one would expect from “barbarians.”
“From here we walk,” Statorius said.
They walked over to what looked like a headquarters building. From there, most of the recruits were escorted off by waiting legionaries. Only four, Artorius, Antoninus, Gavius, and Magnus remained with Sergeant Statorius. He walked them over to another building. This one was L-shaped. It was really long on one side, where Artorius assumed all of the billets were for the men of the century. The shorter end housed the Centurion’s quarters plus their offices. They walked into the outer office, where a soldier was sitting behind a desk, filling out paperwork. The soldier looked up and smiled when he saw Statorius.
“Look who’s decided to come back to the land of the living,” he said.
“Good to see you, too, Camillus,” Statorius replied, grasping his hand.