The situation now required highly trained and disciplined soldiers, so Marius adopted the technique first thought up by Metellus’ second-in-command in Africa, and started training his men like gladiators. This rigorous regime, which emphasized stamina, was constantly maintained throughout a soldier’s period of enrolment, and kept the troops at a constant high level of fitness and discipline. Naturally, both since the salvation of Italy made this necessary, and because no Roman commander would imagine doing otherwise, the Italian allies were organized in the same manner and trained with the
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