06-08-2017, 04:51 AM
I still wonder on the adoption of a cavalry standard into the ordered lines of the infantry -- while I can see the totem's head and long falling silk body as being quite magnificent and awe-inspiring, I am struggling to see the windsock inflating to produce the eerie sound linked to the draco while the Roman infantry either remain still or advance to contact. Even moving forwards at a short run will not create that effect, I think.
As a cavalry item, however, it makes more sense and the speed of the cavalry charge will produce more air rushing through.
If the draco were adopted into the Roman cavalry first and then into the infantry, it might be plausible that the infantry version was weighted more towards to visual aspects and not so much the aural - and this is what Claudian is differentiating perhaps? Or perhaps, as suggested, this is all nothing more than a poetic fancy!
Pistores Seniores . . . that made me smile!
As a cavalry item, however, it makes more sense and the speed of the cavalry charge will produce more air rushing through.
If the draco were adopted into the Roman cavalry first and then into the infantry, it might be plausible that the infantry version was weighted more towards to visual aspects and not so much the aural - and this is what Claudian is differentiating perhaps? Or perhaps, as suggested, this is all nothing more than a poetic fancy!
Pistores Seniores . . . that made me smile!
Francis Hagan
The Barcarii
The Barcarii
