02-21-2012, 05:58 PM
Quote:If it was about a garment of the type thoracomachus, we could not understand why the emperor asks to the men of the Praetorium - which he wants to disarm - to appear in his presence dressed in this stuffed garment worn, usually, under the armor in action.But the whole point of the Anonymous raising the issue of the thoracomachus is that he is proposing it be used as a defence in its own right. The SHA is reporting a gesture of humiliation imposed upon the Praetorians, whether you regard a subarmalis as such a garment or an elaborate armband. I am unclear why you discount the link with arma (as in weaponry or armour) since better men than me see no problem with it. The difficulty here lies in the imprecision of the Latin language, with too few substantives to embrace too many concepts. Yes, it could mean arms as a body part, but it can equally mean weaponry; there is no definitive solution.
Mike Bishop
