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

.502 EXERCITUS. EXERCITUS.
Tn corroboration of this, it will be seen from the Non. s. v. mandare; Sall. Jug. 54; Tac. IHist. iio
celebrated chapter in Livy (viii. 8), which we 43; comp. Varr. ap. Gell. iii. 4; Terent. Eun. iv.
have discussed at length above, that after the open 7, and note of Donatus; Senec. de Vit. beat. 14).
order had been established, and the majority of Posisignani does not occur in any author earlier
the hastati had become hoplites (scutati), one-third than Ammianus Marcellinus (xviii. 8. ~ 7, xxiv. 6.
of the men in each maniple were equipped as light ~ 9), and therefore need not be illustrated here
troops " manipulus leves vicenos niilites.... leves the Subsignanus miles of Tacitus (Hist. i. 70, iv.
anutem, qui hastam tantum gaesaque gererent." 33) seems to be the same with the Vexillarii, who
The Principes were the front ranks of the phalanx, fall under our next period.
men in the full viaour of their years and strength,
clad in complete defensive armour, and hence dis- ce ubs i, Ferentari, Jaclatores, Yelies,
tinguished by Livy (I. c.) as "insignibus maxime
armis." The Pilani were in the rear of the pha- Light-armed troops (levis armatura) were,
lanx, and as the opposing hosts approached each from the first, associated with the hoplites, but
other, before they were required to give weight under different circumstances and different names,
and momentum to the mass, threw the heavy at different periods.
pilum over the heads of their comrades, in order When the Hastati had, in a great measure, ceased
to break, if possible, the continuity of the enemy's to act as tirailleurs, their place was supplied by
line. the Rorarii (RoRARaI dicti ab rore, qui cornmittebant
Vegetius uniformly places the Principes in front bellun ante, ideo quod ante rorat quam plhit, Varro,
(i. 20, ii. 2, 15, iii. 14), and it is only necessary L. L. vii. ~ 57), whose method of fighting has been
to read the sentences in which they are mentioned, described above (p. 495). The Accensi, as deto perceive how hopeless is the confusion which scribed by Livy (viii. 8), were inferior in equippervades his statements. ment to the rorarii, although employed in a similar. Antesignani. —While the Hastati and Principes, manner, and seem to have been camp followers or
taken together, were sometimes termed Antepilani, servants (AccENsos ministratores Cato esse scribit,
in contradistinction to the Triarii, so the Hastati Varro, 1. c. and ap. Non. Marcell. s. a. accensi), and
alone were sometimes termed Antesignani, in con- hence the name is given to those also who attended
tradistinction to the Principes and Triarii taken upon magistrates or other officials (e.g. Cic. ad
together. That the Antesignani were the soldiers Fane. iii. 7, ad Q. Fr. i. 1. ~ 4, 7). At a later
who fought in the front ranks, is manifest from period the accensi were supernumeraries, who
almost every passage in which the word is found served to fill up any vacancies which occurred in
{e. g. Liv. ii. 20, vii. 33); that they were so called the course of a campaign (AccENsl dicebantur qui
from being placed before the standards, is proved in locezm modtuorum mzilitum subito subrogabantur,
by the description of the confusion which prevailed Fest. s. v.), persons to whom Varro gives the name
in the engagement at the Thrasymene lake," Non of adscriptivi (quod olim adscribebantur inermes,
illa (sc. pugna) ordinata per principes, hastatosque armatis militibus qui sucoederent, L. L. vii. ~ 56);
ac triarios, nec ut pro signis antesignani, post signa and, according to Festus (p. 198, ed. MUller), acalia pugnaret acies" (Liv. xxii. 5); that they census was the name given, originally, to the optio
were not the Velites is clear from the marshalling or lieutenant of the centurion, a fact to which
of the troops before Zama,' vias patentes inter the Pseudo-Asconius, perhaps, refers, when he says
manipulos antesignanorum velitibus complevit" (in Verr. ii. 28), "Accensus nomen est ordinis et
(Liv. xxx. 33, who here translates Polybius); promotionis in militia, ut nune dicitur princeps, vel
that they were the soldiers who formed the first commentariensis aut cornicularius. Haec enim
line as distinguished from the second, appears from nomina de legionaria militia sumpta sunt."
the narratives of the battles against the Latins, Another ancient term for light-armed soldiers
"'caesos hastatos principesque, stragem ef ante was Ferentarii, a word found in the Trinummus of
signa et post signa factam, triarios postremo rem Plautus (ii. 4. 55), whereferentarius amicus signirestituisse " (Liv. viii. 11), and against the Tuscans, fies a friend nimble and prompt to lend assistance;
"'cadunt antesignani, et ne nudentur propugna- in Sallust (Catil. 60), " Postquam eo ventum est,
toribhus signa, fit ex secunda prima acies " (Liv. unde aferentariis proelium committi posset;" and
ix. 39); and from these two quotations, it is even in Tacitus (Ann. xii. 35), " ferentarius gravisfurther evident that the position of the 1"signa " que miles." The term is twice explained by
was behind the hastati and before the principes. Varro, who, in his treatise De Vita Populi Ronzani,
These signa must have been the ordinary standards after defining accensi, adds (ap. Non. Marcell.
of the maniples, for we know that the aquila was s. v. Decurio), " Eosdem etiam quidam vocabant
in the custody of the first maniple of the triarii. f.rentarios qui depugnabant pugnis et lapidibus,
The term Antesignani having become established his armis quae ferrentur, non quae tenerentur;"
as denoting the front ranks in a line of battle, was and, again (L. L. vii. ~ 57), "Ferentariunt a
retained in this general sense long after the Hastati, ftrendo.... aut quod ferentarii equites hi dicti
Principes, and Triarii had disappeared (see Caes. qui ea mode habebant arma quae ferrentur, ut
B. C. i. 43, iii. 84, where they are the oldest and jaculum," whence it appears that horsemen as
best soldiers, who now led the van. Comp. Varro well as foot-soldiers were sometimes known by
ap. Non. s. v. Antesignanorunz.) this appellation. Rorarii and accensi stand toAnother term employed to denote the front gether in a line quoted (Varro, 1. c.) from the
ranks of an army in battle array is Principia, and Frivolaria of Plautus.
in this sense must be carefully distinguished from Ubi rorarii estis? en sunt. Uhi sunt accnsi?
the Principia or chief street in the camp, and from Ecce -
Principia, which in the later writers, such as Ammianus and Vegetius, is equivalent to principales " Rorarius veiox" occurs twice in the fragments
nmilites (Liv. ii. 65, iii. 22, viii. 10; Sisenn. ap. of Lucilius; and even Symmachus, in one of his