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FLAVIUS
VEGETIUS RENATUS BOOK ONE THEIR SIZE We find the ancients very
fond of procuring the tallest men they could for the service, since the standard
for the cavalry of the wings and for the infantry of the first legionary cohorts
was fixed at six feet, or at least five feet ten inches. These requirements might
easily be kept up in those times when such numbers followed the profession of
arms and before it was the fashion for the flower of Roman youth to devote themselves
to the civil offices of state. But when necessity requires it, the height of a
man is not to be regarded so much as his strength; and for this we have the authority
of Homer, who tells us that the deficiency of stature in Tydeus was amply compensated
by his vigor and courage.
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