Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

490 EXERCITUS. EXERCITUS.
without attempting to discuss the various poiits translated by battalion, division, detachlment, nor
upon which controversies have arisen. any other term in ordinary use among modern
Among the writings of modern scholars we tacticians. Ancient etymologists agree in deriving
ought to notice specially the dialogues "Doe Mi- leyio from legere to choose (Varr. L. L. v. ~ 87,
litia Romana" by the learned and indefatigable vi. ~ 66. ed. MUller; Plut. Roma. 13; Non. MarLipsius, in which the text of Polybius (vi. 19, cell. i. s. v. legionnzn; Modest. de IVocabl. R. II.;
42), and a chapter in Livy (viii. 8) serve as a Isidor. Osig. ix. 3. ~ 46), and the name endured
foundation for a great superstructure of illustration as long as the thing itself. Le Beau and others
and supplementary matter; nor must we forget the are mistaken when they assert that in Tacitus, and
" Poliorcetica" of the same author, which may be the writers who followed him, the word nusneri is
regarded as a continuation of the preceding. The frequently substituted for legio, for it will be seen
posthumous dissertation of Sabzasius " De Re mi- from the passages to which we give references
litari Romanorum," which displays the deep read- below, that umzneri is used to denote either the
ing, mixed up with not a little of the rashness, of different corps of which a legion was composed, or
that celebrated critic, is well worthy of perusal, a corps generally, without any allusion to the
and will be found in the " Corpus Antiquitatum legion (Tac. list. i. 6, 87. Agric. 18, comp. Ann.
Romanarum" of Graevius, vol. x. p. 1284. The ii. 80, Hist. ii. 69; Plin. Ep. iii. 8, x. 38; Vopise.
sanme volume includes the admirable commentary Prob. 14; Ulpian. in Dig. 3. tit. 3. s. 8. ~ 2; 29.
of Schelius on Hyginus, his notes on Polybius, tit. 1. s. 43, &c. &c. See below the remarks on
together with essays on various topics connected the Colors).
with Roman warfare by Boeclerus, Robertellus, In the Scriptures of the New Testament, in
Es'ycius Puteanus, M. A. Causeus (De la Chausse), Plutarch (e. g. Romz. 13, 20), and elsewhere, we
Pet-zrus Ranzzs, &c. A most elaborate series of meet with the Grecized word Xsye'v, but the
papers by M. Le Beau is printed in the twenty- Greek writers upon Roman affairs for the most
fifth anId several succeeding volumes of the " Me- part employ some term borrowed from their own
moires de I'Acaddmiie des Inscriptions et Belles literature as an equivalent; and since each conLettres;" and although we are far from acquiescing sidered himself at liberty to select that which lie
in all the conclusions at which he arrives, it is im- deemed most appropriate or which suggested itself
possible to deny that in so far as facts are con- at the moment, without reference to the practice
cerned, he has almost exhausted every topic on of those who had gone before him, and without
which he has entered, and we cannot but lament endeavouring to preserve uniformity even within
that he should not have completed the design the bounds of his own writings, we not only find a
which he originally sketched out. We may considerable variety of words used indiscriminately
consult with profit Folard's " Commentaire," at- as representatives of Legio. but we find the same
tached to the French translation of Polybius, by author using different words in different passages,
the Benedictine Vincent Thuillier, 6 tom. 4to, and, what is still more perplexing, the samne word
Amst. 1729; Guisclsarcl, " Mmoires Militaires which is used by one author for the legion as a
sur les Grecs et les Romains," 2 tom. 4to, La whole is used by others to indicate some one or
Haye, 1757, and " Mdmoires Critiques et His- other of the subdivisions. The terms which we
toriques sur Plusieurs Ponts et Antiquites Mili- meet with most commonly are, OrTpao'7-rel3o, padtaires," 4 tom. 4to, Berlin et Paris, 1775; Aay5, Tdy/la, TrEXoc, less frequently o-rpairevulc and
Vaudoncourt, "I Histoire des Carnpagnes d'Han- r7Xos. Polybius in those chapters which are denibal en Italie," 3 tom. 4to, Paris, 1812; Roy, voted exclusively to a description of the legion
" Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain," uniformly designates it by'i-par'jrer ov, which he
fol. Lond. 1793; Nast, " Rhimische Kriegsalter- sometimes applies to an army in general (e. g. ii.
thiimer," 8vo, Halle, 1782; Liilr,; " Ueber die 73, 86), while by others it is usually employed
Tactik und das Kriegswesen der Griechen und to denote a camp (castra). Again Polybius gives
Rimer," 8vo. Kempt. 1825; Lener, " De Re- a choice of three names for the maniple, o-'ltla,
publica Romana sive ex Polybii Megalop. sexta o7reipa, and -rcie/a,'but of these the first is for the
Historia Excerpta," 8vo. Salzb. 1823. most part introduced by others as the translation of
the Latin vexilullm, the second almost uniformly as
General Remnaslrs on the Legion. equivalent to cohors, and the third, although of wide
The name Legio is coeval with the foundation acceptation, is constantly the representative of legio.
of Rome, and always denoted a body of troops, Dionysius uses sometimes, especially in the earlier
which, although subdivided into several smaller books of his history, dXaaya (e. g. v. 67), somebodies, was regarded as forming an organised times TciayIaar (e. g. vi. 45, ix. 10, 13), or er-pawhole. It cannot be held to.have been equivalent riteriKa TadTxaTra (vi. 42), and his example is folto what we call a regiment, inasmuch as it con- lowed by Josephus (B. J. iii. 5. ~ 5; 6. ~ 2);
tained troops of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and, Appian adopts re'Aos (e. g. Annib. 8, B. C. ii. 76,
when military engines were extensively employed, 79, 96, iii. 45, 83, 92, iv. 1 15); Plutarch within
artillery also; it might thus, so far, be regarded as the compass of a single sentence (M. Anton. 18)
a complete asirmy, but on the other hand the num- has both yg/ara and TrX'; Dion Cassius, when
ber of soldiers in a legion was fixed within certain speaking of the legions in contradistinction to the
limits, never much exceeding 6000, and hence household troops, calls them in one passage ra
when war was carried on upon a large scale, a 7roTlKarO& Orpasore3a (xxxviii. 47), in another
single army, under the command of one general, TreiXS1 e tc ie scaaoXd'youv opaTEVoce/sx'w, (lv. 24),
frequently contained two, three, or more legions, and where no particular emphasis is required, we
besides a large number of auxiliaries of various find r'iEpdrevmUa (ob Isca'os o`rpareUvpa, xxxviii.
denominations. In like manner the legion being 47, xl. 65), TeXOS (ToO.'esa'p-on TroO:KVUOtcO
complete within itself, and not directly or neces- rEtXoVS, lxxix. 7), oTpa'r47re3ov (xxxviii. 46, xl.
sarily connected with any other corps, cannot be 65, 66), and r'ppaT'7r6reov ieK caaXr&you (xl. 27