09-15-2012, 06:27 PM
Quote:Cunetio is a position that is highly defendable and a place that can be used for both attack and for escape if necessary......
True, but...
Ac primum legio gradu immota et angustias loci pro munimento retinens (Annals, 14.37)
which translated as literally as I can manage (with online dictionary!) goes:
At first the legio stood immobile and retained the narrowness of the place as a barrier
(Church & Brodribb give 'clinging to the narrow defile as a defence', of course...)
So - unless you can translate angustias as 'steepness' rather than 'narrowness' (?), the soldiers were in the 'narrow place' rather than standing on top of it!
Nathan Ross