Every legionary was armed alike with the heavy piluman iron-headed javelin 6 feet 9 inches long, the light pilum, a sword, and a coat of armour.

The ponderous pilum, and the heavy, straight sword of the infantry were exchanged in the barrack-yard for drill-weapons of twice their weight; and so perfectly were the detail and regularity of actual service carried out in their daily discipline, that, as an ancient writer has remarked, their sham-fights and reviews differed only in bloodshed from real battles.