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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Michael wrote:
I wonder whether this might be another reason for Postumus' inaction that, as his fortress was not under immediate attack, he did not think it appropriate for his veterans to be called to fight elsewhere.

Now this depends on whom the veterans you refer to are. I think Tacitus is referring to the third line men of the Second legion. The job of the evocati was to defend the camp, that is their charter. Therefore, it is the third line men of the Second legion that Postumus was worried about sending. Once they left, he would be left with the oldest troops of the auxiliary. Yes, like the Roman legion, my research shows the auxiliary are organised in the same manner as the Romans. If they leave behind the third line men of the legion, those auxiliary in the same age bracket also remain behind. In this manner, when on the field, the auxiliary can always deploy with the same depth as the legionaries.

Michael wrote:
What I was thinking was that, as the triarii served in vexilla, they could reasonably be called vexillarii and we find this term being used in relation to veterans during the Empire.

My findings give a slightly different outlook. I’ve been hesitant to go into this because of my poor understanding of Latin singular and plural. Basically I’m not interested in learning it as I am too preoccupied learning to read and write Thai. When it comes to the Latin in the book the professor takes care of that. Here is my take on the subject. In a legion there are six organisation levels:

The military tribune cohort organisation (horizontal)
The vexillation organisation (vertical)
The senatorial cohort organisation (horizontal)
The ordo organisation (vertical)
The maniple organisation (horizontal)
The century organisation (vertical)

Originally there were five organisations to a legion, with the ordo system added at a later date when the size of the legion was increased. The vexillari of triarii Livy mentions are relate to the military tribune cohort organisation, as are the rorarii and accensi. Then for reasons unknown, Livy erroneously organised the three military tribune cohorts into fifteen ordines. The triarii Livy describes are not part of the vexillation organisation of the legion. During the Empire, evocati are organised into their own vexillations, not the thrd line men. Unfortunately, it does not help us when an ancient author describes anything separated from the legion as a vexillation, or a vexillation is termed a cohort. Fortunately, when they provide numbers it becomes clear as to what organisation they are referring to.

For what it is worth, if Paulinus had followed Roman doctrine, and I believe he did because he had no reason not to, his force consisted of nine vexillations, organised into three bodies of three vexillations, and with the appropiate cavalry allocated to a vexillation (minus his bodyguard cavalry), his army should number 9720 men.

Michael wrote:
I see what you mean. The thread in question is probably 'AE 1981 777' in which we discussed the career of Aurelius Gaius during the reign of Diocletian in which the post of optio triarius appeared to be the most junior of those that he held.

And here I was quietly thinking because of your age you could be senile. Sick Well that has straightened me out.

Michael wrote:
I mentioned there and in the paper that you refer to that Vegetius' triarius prior appeared to be the most junior centurion in his First Cohort. I was not necessarily thinking that these late-period triarii were still the oldest soldiers in the legion (in fact, rather the opposite) but, given the apparent tendency to preserve the forms of earlier times, I suppose that this could be so.

I have the triarius prior as the second oldest, with the oldest being the triarius posterior. And let’s not forget Vegetius has the triarius prior listed last. Taking into account the oldest troops guarded the fort of baggage, by allocating the junior centurions to the triarii or the third line men would be a good way of introducing them into military service. Eventually they could be promoted to command the hastati. So you theory has merit.
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM

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