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

EXERCITUS. EXERCITUS. 501
duced to ten, as stated by Polybius. Hence it bearers (tivpaps oaLaMoqd4povs) in each maniple
is easy to calculate the number of soldiers in each (see also Liv. viii. 8). On the other hand, one of
maniple, according to the varying numbers in the the names given byr Polybius to the maniple is
legion, it being always borne in mind that the octzaia, which seems to correspond exactly with
Triarii never exceeded 600, and that the Velites signumn, and Varro in his glossary of military terms,
were not divided into maniples, but distributed "Maaniputos exercitus mmimas manus qume mum
equally among the heavy-armed companies. sequuntur signum," to which we mayadd Liv. xxvii.
Some writers, especially Le Beau, in his "Med- 14., " ni C. Decimius Flavus..... signo adrepto
moires " on the Legion, maintain that, after the primi hastati, manipulum eius signi seqseui jisdistinctions between the Hastati, Principes and sisset," and as to the aivpas 7,u/aLmoqdpovs, although
Triarii were abolished, *and the legion was mar- there were two standard-bearers, it does not follow
shalled in cohorts, the division into maniples was that there were two standards.
no longer practised, and that the term mnanipmlus Ordo generally signifies a century, and orrdinure
must from this time be understood to indicate either ductor is synonymous with centmi'io, and ducoere
a small number of men indefinitely, or a mass of honestezn ordinemo means to be one of the principal
ten soldiers quartered in the same tent. No one, centurions in a legion. On the other hand, in the
however, who reads without prejudice the words of celebrated chapter in Livy. (viii. 8.), discussed
Caesar " adeo ut paucis mutatis centurionibus, above, ordo undoubtedly denotes one of the oriiidem ordines, manipulique constarent " (B. C. ii. ginal maniples, and when we read in book xlii. 34.
28, comp. B. G. ii. 25, vi. 33), and of Tacitus, " Mihi T. Quinctius Flamininus decumum ordinem
" assistentem concionem quia permixta videbatur hastatum adsignavit," the speaker seems to declare
discedere in manipulos jubet" (Ann. i. 34), to- that he had been raised from the ranks to the post
gether with the still more explicit expressions of of a centurion in the 10th maniple of the Hastati.
Ammianus, "omnes centurias et manipulos et co- These must, however, be regarded as exceptions.
hortes in concionem convocabat" (xxi. 13. ~ 9), Conetubernzim. - This was the name given under
repeated almost in the same words in two other the empire to the body of soldiers who were quarpassages (xvii. 13. ~ 25, xxiii. 5. ~ 15), can doubt tered together in the same tent; the captain of the
that the manipulus continued to the very last to mess, decaonus or decursio, is called by Vegetius
form one of the larger subdivisions of the legion. caput contublernii, and Ammianus designates the
Indeed, the whole system of classifying and naming mess-mates by the word concorporales.
the centurions upon which Le Beau himself be- 3. Hastati,Ps~incipes, Triarii, Pilani, Antepilani,
stows so much labour and ingenuity is unintelligible Antesignani, Principia. - No reasonable doubt
upon any other supposition. At the same time can exist that the Hastati were so called, from
it cannot be denied that omanipulets must sometimes havilg been armed with a hasta (HASTATI dicti
be taken in a general sense, as when Tacitus gives qui prsilmni hastis pugnabant, Varr. L. L. v. 39), the
this name to the detachment of sixty men, sent Principes from having occupied the front line (the
into Asia by Nero, for the purpose of putting Plautus etymology of Varro, 1. c. is here not distinct, PRINsto death. (Ansz. xiv. 58, 59.) As to tile identity sIPES qui a principio gladiis), the Triaerii, otherof manipulus and contubernizsm, no doubt Vegetius wise named Pilani, from having been ranged bestates very distinctly that the centuries were divided hind the first two lines as a body of reserve and
into contubernia, and adds " contubernium autemr armed with the yil2Um (PILANs, qUi pils...
manipulus vocabatur," but an assertion proceeding Pilani Triar-ii quoque dicti quod in acie teertio ordine
from such a source is as worthless as the etymology extremozis subsidio deponebacztlr; quod Si subsidebant,
by which it is followed up. ab eo subsidium dictums, a qeo Plautus,
Centurice. - The distribution of soldiers into
centusriae must be regarded as coeval with the origin e s
of Rome. Plutarch, as noticed above, speaks of Varr. 1. c.; comp. Liv. viii. 8), while the first two
the force led by Romulus against Amulius as lines, were termed collectively Antepsilani, fronm
formed of centuries; and from the close connections standing in front of the Pilani. In process of time,
between the centuries of Servius Tullius, and the it came to pass, that these designations no longer
organization of the military force, we cannot hesi- expressed the actual condition of the troops to which
tate to believe that the term was communicated to they were attached. When Polybius wrote, and
the ranks of the phalanx. For a long period after long before that period, the Hastati were not armed
the establishment of the manipular constitution, the with hastae, but in common with the Principes bore
legion contained invariably sixty centuries, and the heavy pilum: on the other hand, the pilsani
even after the introduction of the cohors mintiaria, carried ]astae and notpila, while the Principes were
we have no good evidence to prove that any not drawn up in the front, but formed the second
change took place in this respect except we choose line. The origin of this discrepancy between the
to adopt the statements of Vegetius. names and the objects which they represented, is
Signuns. - There is much doubt with regard to somewhat obscure, but perhaps not altogether bethe import of the word signusm, when used to denote yond the reach of a very simple conjecture. The
a division of the legion, in such phrases as signi unius names were first bestowed when the Roman army
militesferre scalasjussit (Liv. xxv. 23); andpostero was disciplined according to the tactics of the
die cum iunius siynei militiibus.... pergit ire ad urbem. Grecian phalanx. At that time the hastati were
(Liv. xxxiii. 1.) The question is, whether in the skirmishers armed with a light javelin (the
these passages we are to understand that a maniple I ista veeitaris), who were thrown forward in adis meant or a century. On the one hand, it is vance of the main body, and it is with reference to
admitted that after the legion was marshalled by their ancient duty that Ennius in the eighth book
cohorts, each century had its own standard, and of his annals uses an expression no longer appliin so far as the earlier ages are concerned, Poly- cable in his day.
bins expressly tells us that there were tao standard- " Hastati splargunt hastas, fit ferrens imber.'"
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