Quote Originally Posted by UrsaMaior View Post
With respect given where respect is due I think contemporary western privates can do much more.
Really? I'm not a 100% sure but my guess is that most Legionnaires of the time probably spoke 2 or more languages, and probably had a wide range of other non-military skills. - but to your point, can we do better than the Romans? - yes I'd like to think so, but as concerns our capacity to learn and reason, we are the same people.

... and yes, I go to Caesarea regularly, for the beach, not the archeology!