Ab urbe condita

The terrible severity of the punishment, however, made the soldiers more obedient to their general, and not only did it lead to greater attention being paid to the pickets and sentry duties and the ordering of the outposts, but when they went

into battle for the final contest, this severity proved to be of the greatest service.

The battle was exactly like one fought in a civil war; there was nothing in the Latin army different from the Roman except their courage. At[*](Changes in the Roman Military System.) first the Romans used the large round shield called the clipeus, afterwards, when the soldiers received pay, the smaller oblong shield called the scutum was adopted.