Note 371 — WAS THE ROMAN ARMY PROVIDED WITH MEDICAL OFFICERS?

The whole chapter of Vegetius “Quemadmodum sanitas gubernetur exercitus,” etc., is so interesting that I will take the liberty of here quoting it in full:—“Now (what is to be most specially attended to), I will give directions how the health of an army is to be preserved, in as far as regards places for encampment, waters, temperature, medicine, and exercise. With respect to places, the soldiers should not remain long near unhealthy marshes, nor in arid situations that are destitute of the shades of trees; nor on hills without tents in summer. They ought not to be late in the day in commencing their march, lest they contract disease from the heat of the sun and the fatigue of their journey; and, indeed, in summer, they had better arrive at their destination before the morning is advanced. In severe weather they should not pursue their journey through snow and ice at night; nor be allowed to suffer from scarcity of fuel, or a deficient supply of clothing. For the soldier who is obliged to endure cold is neither in a fit state for enjoying health, nor for marching. Nor should he make use of unwholesome nor of marsh waters. For a draught of bad water induces, like a poison, disease in those who drink it. And, moreover, in this case, the unremitting diligence of the generals, tribunes, and their assistants, as wielding the highest authority, will be required, so that their sick comrades may be restored by seasonable articles of food, and be cured by the skill of the physicians (arte medicorum). For it is difficult to manage with those who are at one and the same time oppressed with the evils of disease and of war. But those who are skilled in military affairs have held that daily exercise contributes more to the health of the soldiers than the physicians do. Wherefore, they have advised that the foot soldiers should be regularly exercised during seasons of rain and snow under cover, and at other seasons openly. In like manner, they have ordered that the horsemen should assiduously exercise themselves and their horses, not only on level ground, but also in steep places, and in parts rendered difficult by wide ditches, so that nothing new or strange may occur to them in this respect during the casualties of battle. From all this may be inferred how much the more diligently an army ought to be trained in the exercise of arms, seeing, as we do, that the habit of labour procures alike health in the camp and victory in the battle-field. If (Vegetius adds) a multitude of soldiers be permitted during the summer or autumn seasons to remain long in the same locality, from the corruption of the water, and the stench of their filth, the atmosphere is rendered insalubrious, their respiration becomes vitiated, and most dangerous disease is engendered; and this cannot be remedied by any other means than by a change of encampment.”—(De Re Militari, III. 2.)