Empire, Wounds of Honor
A good look at the auxiliary forces set up by the Romans and used to guard Hadrian's Wall. The Auxiliaries were looked down upon by the Legions but probably wrongly so. Perhaps it was simply because the Auxiliaries were formed of local men. In any case they had roman officers at the top (similar to our having white officers at the top of our negro battalions in the second world war) and so we get the whiff of Roman Emperor's meddlinjg in the daily activities of the men on the fornt lines.
One thing I noted was that the author used terms of rank for officers in the units that I had never heard of before. The first was Captain, which, so far as I know, was not used until the mid 1500's or so. Second was the term "Chosen Man." Again not a term I thought to be used before the Napoleonicv wars. But then I am not a great historian, just an avid reader of the Roman era.
A good book, well written, smoothly eliding from point to point and keeping the reader interested.
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