12-08-2004, 10:55 PM
To develop Mike's point on the thread linked above, I find the <em>areani</em> more convincing than <em>arcani</em> - I think it was Richmond's 'Roman and Native in North Britain' that suggested the term as referring to native irregular scouts billeted in local settlements ('area') on the border, perhaps as a development of the Numeri Exploratum of previous centuries. The loyalty of these troops seems to have fallen into doubt, which would imply an initial allied or federate status. Certainly, for there to have been enough of them to have posed a threat they can't really have been a 'secret' spy or assassin network - the simple error of some copyist reading an 'e' as a 'c' at some point possibly created the mystique. <p></p><i></i>
Nathan Ross
