10-11-2020, 02:10 AM
Nathan, thank you for your informative response. Unfortunately, many on RAT nowadays do not have the decency to publicly thank those who responded to their questions, which is a shame.
Nathan wrote:
The author of the Chronicon seems be backdating to the mid 3rd century the formation of the Candidati close-protection unit from picked men of the Scholae Palatina; both Candidati and Scholae are more conventionally dated to the 4th century.
Well that is comforting to know and most likely the correct explanation. Julian DeVries has provided me with information of another translation of the Chronicon being undertaken in Australia, so I will be making a few phone calls to those concerned in relation to these passages.
Nathan wrote:
The last note in this Chronicon entry suggests the existence of a Schola Sexta at some point. Whether this was a real unit, or the Chronicon writer has just assumed that it existed, we cannot know.
You make a very good point and one to take into consideration. On the Late Roman Army thread, I posted that the seniores were a mathematical element, meaning they were part of a mathematical set. In relation to their military organization I have found the seniores represent one sixth of a set of six.
Florus has Augustus born in the fourth age, and using Biblical data, I find that Diocletian comes to power in the sixth age. Saint Augustine (The City of God Book 22 Chapter 30) wrote that “the sixth age is now passing, and cannot be measured by any number of generations, as it has been said; it is not for you to know the times, which the Father has put in his own power.”
I believe the Sixth School mention by the Chronicon might relate to the sixth age. According to my calculations, Gordianus and Philippus belong to the fifth age.
For me, everything still points to the military units of seniores being created during the reign of Diocletian.
