Discipline
The military discipline of the legions was quite harsh. Regulations were strictly enforced, and a broad array of punishments could be inflicted upon a legionary who broke them. Many legionaries became devotees in the cult of the minor goddess Disciplina, whose virtues of frugality, severity and loyalty were central to their code of conduct and way of life.
Minor punishments:
Castigatio - being hit by the centurion with his staff or animadversio fustium(Tac. Annals I, 23)
- Reduction of rations or to be forced to eat barley instead of the usual grain ration
Pecunaria multa - Reduction in pay, fines or deductions from the pay allowance
- Flogging in front of the century, cohort or legion
- Whipping with the flagrum (flagellum, flagella), or "short whip" — a much more brutal punishment than simple flogging. The "short whip" was used for slave volunteers, volones, who comprised the majority of the army in the later years of the Roman Empire.
Gradus deiectio - Reduction in rank
Missio ignominiosa - Dishonourable discharge
- Loss of time in service advantages
Militiae mutatio - Relegation to inferior service or duties.
Munerum indictio - Additional duties
Major punishments
Fustuarium — a sentence for desertion or dereliction of duty. The legionary would be stoned or beaten to death by cudgels, in front of the assembled troops, by his fellow soldiers, whose lives had been put in danger. Soldiers under sentence of fustuarium who escaped were not pursued, but lived under sentence of banishment from Rome.
Decimation — a sentence carried out against an entire unit which had mutinied, deserted, or shown dereliction of duty. One out of every ten men would be put to death, and the rest of the men would be forced to live outside the camp and in some instances obliged to renew the military oath, the sacramentum
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