Arcani?

[Anonymous]

I've been playing Rome: Total War (and having a wonderful time) and was wondering about a unit called <em>arcani</em>. The game treats them as some sort of super ninja unit. I knew they were used as spies but didn't know anything else about them. After some research the only source I could find was Ammianus Marcellinus in the fourth century. Are there any others? Were they used earlier? How much do we know about them? <p></p><i></i>

[mcbishop]

<em>How much do we know about them?</em><br>
<br>
You know as much as the rest of us. Other than the fact that the <em>arcani</em> (or <em>areani</em> - we don't even know the correct term) seem to have been bought off during the Barbarian Conspiracy of AD 367, we know nothing more. There is plenty of supposition (some of it evidently evolving into factoids!), but that one reference is it.<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>