The War with Gildo 415-423

[Flavivs Aetivs]

My understanding is as follows:

b. "companies" is the translation of "maniples". "Praecipuos electa pube maniples", literally "special maniples from selected youth", which in the translation becomes "special companies of picked men";

c. the last "regiment" is again not present in the original text. "clipeoque animosi teste Leones" would be, literally "...and the brave Lions with the witness shield". From my understanding, "witness shield" should indicate that the emblem of the shield bears testimony to the name (and spirit) of the unit (ie, Lions)

Actually, could that translation be taken literally? "special maniples of selected youth" would coincide with the Protectores Domestici of the time.

As for the Leones, that was more or less what I got from it. "and the brave lions with [their emblem] witnessed on their shields" might be a good extraopolation of the direct translation.