Weekly national intelligencer., 1864-03-17
THURSDAY, MARCH IT, 1864.

the time for which it is paid.
des'' THURSDAY, MARCH II, 1864.
SUBSISTENCE OF THE ANCIENT ARMIES
We received two or three days ago, through the
Post Office, the following inquiry from soldier in
the Army Of the Potomac :is !3 .s.. u
CULPEPER. tvA) MARCH z, 1864.
To the Editors Of tho National EntsLLigeneer.
GENTLEMEN Some time since inquired OF the -,
thinking it the soldiers friend, How the armies of the
ancens were subssted for instance those nf Hannibal
and Xerxes1" have not heard from it, Will you be
kind as to give me the information SOLDIER
We suppose it was not convenient for the jour
nal to which our correspondent first addressed his
inquiry to give him the information he solicited
Indeed the knowledge of facts relating to the
topic he indicates does not lie the surface Of an
oient hi.tory but must be eviscerated fomit body
by = careful study Of the classical records. So
true is this statement that On authority usually 50
accurate and well-informed as Col Graham, of
the British army, in his excellent I" History of
the Progress of the Art of War;" dsmisses
all inquiry under this head by simply ayerring
that q the system adopted by the ancient, to pro-
vision their armies is to us = mystery" The
remark is more sweeping than exact as we think
it will be easy to show by brief reference to the
sources Of information which Col. Graham seems
to have neglected altogether or which he failed to
o,nsult with diligence and discrimination. And
in directing our inquiry to an examination Of the
means by which Xerxes and Hannibal subsisted
their respective armies We shall not only answer
the particular requisition made upon us by our
military correspondent in Virginia, but shall at
the same time address ourselyes to the most diff
cult problems presented by this branch of research
since, If we can explain how these two leaders
provided for the sustenance of their soldiers under
circumstances Of unequalled difficulty resulting in
the case Of IXerxss from the vast number Of his
forces and in the case of Hannibal from the length
and impracticability of his march, We shall have
lifted the "mystery" that broods over the subject
in its general relations TO the military system Of
the ancients.
And in the first place, in order to clear away at
the outset some of the difficulties which attend
this inquiry, we may premise by reminding the
reader Of the small consumption to which the an
cient soldier was hsbituated, As compared with the
soldier of modern times. Especially may this ,e-
mark be applied to the soldiers Of Xerxes. An
Asiatio soldier" says Grote, "will at this day
make his campaign upon scanty fare, and under
privations which would be intolerable to an Euro
pean.u Bernier, who followed the march Of
AurungEebe from Delhi, in the year 1865, says
that some estimated the number of persons in bis
camp at three hundred thousand, and adds: "You
are, no doubt, at loss to conceive how so vast q
BODY Of men and animals can be maintained in the
6eId. The best solution of the difficulty will be
found in the temperance and simple diet Of the
Indians" In like manner Petit de Ia Croix, as
cited by Grote, explains the subsistence Of the
enormous host Of Genghis Khan by the remark
that "the men are SO temperate that they accom-
modste themselves to all kinds Of food" What is
thu, affirmed Of the Orientals at a later day
was doubtless equally true in the day Of Xerxes,
and the may be predicated of the Carthaginian
soldiery in the time of Hannibal. Indeed the OBJ
servation may be extended with little modification
to the whole military system of the ancient world,
including that of Greece and Rome
And, then the material of war was in ancient
times much more easy of transportation than that
which impedes the march and augments the diff
Guilty Of provisioning an amy in modern times.
For we need not ssyfthat the difficulty of subsist-
ing an army resolves itself into the difficulty of
finding transportation for almentary supplies, and
it is obvious that deductions sde on the score Of
transportation for munitions of war tend to facilitate
solution of the question raised as to the commits
sariat.
The ancient weapons Of war were few and simple.
The machines used for sieges or attached to the
troops were generally constructed on the spot where
they were required, insomuch that this absence OF
heavy ordnance stores and artillery in the case Of
ancient armies sufces to account, as has been sug-
sested, for very much less number Of equipage.
being required in those times than in this age OF
IRON With these preliminary observations we ,p-
proach the inquiry Of our correspondent with re-
gard to the army Of Xerxes
Herodotus, it is known, sets down the number
Of fighting men who came out Of Asia into
Greece under the command Of this monarch at
2,641 ,6l0. And he estimates that an equal mum.
ber followed in the train Of this host servants
a. attendants en- its operations, such the crews
Of supply transports and " the other crafts accom-
panying an army" These, he says, will give
5,283,220 men as the whole number Of men