Fun Fact! As idle hands are devils' work, Roman soldiers, when they weren't training or fighting, were just about always kept occupied with some form of productive labor. This is actually a major difference between the Roman Legions and other militaries of the time - other full-time professional soldiers (and even middle-class militia) often considered it 'beneath' them to engage in manual labor en masse. To the Roman legionary, on the other hand, manual labor was beaten into them (often literally) from day one of their service. They knew from the start they'd be digging ditches for most of their 20-25 year contract!

Additional Fun Fact! Soldiers often drank a curious concoction known as 'posca', which was a mixture of salt, vinegar or sour wine, and local water. This made local water on the campaign trail more potable, and kept the troops hydrated.