09-30-2014, 06:55 AM
Quote:im questioning it mostly due to fact age has nothing to do with wealth. you can be young, but if you from well suited family, you will have relatively good equipment, and there are no mentions of Velites running around in heavy armor.. ...............
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oh, and regarding Triarii at Cannae, i remember reading about them being left guarding the camps, while Principes and Hastati fought the Carthaginians. Later some of them were killed when Carthaginians attacked the camps, but most of survivors were from those units inside.
As noted in the velites thread, I too see no real correlation between age and wealth when it comes to the detail of the Polybian/manipular legion. If you are young with limited experience, then you are naturally and sensibly assigned to the velites to 'learn the trade'; the fact that you can afford to easily equip yourself later with the "full panoply" is immaterial.
The fact that 'poorer' citizens serving in the heavy element(s) didn't have to wear a full mail hauberk may be true, but I am sure they would have acquired some post battle(s).
As to Cannae, I must admit I've never seen that. From the numbers detailed and the subsequent continued existence of the surviving 'Cannae legions' and their use(s); I have thought that the 10,000 men left in the camp North of the river were two full legions (either 2 Roman or 1 Roman and 1 Socii - given that they continued and weren't allowed to return to Rome I wonder more about the former, but the latter is possibly more 'usual'). So not just the triarii elements.
