03-08-2014, 02:09 AM
Adrian wrote:
I was actually reading about this very topic this week. It appears that one idea is that the Seniores contained the troops with the most experience, whilst the Iuniores were originally made up of newly recruited men. So when the legion was divided into two halves, the half containing the Seniores would have had the veterans, the Iuniores would have contained those with less experience.
I would find this method of indentifying who was a veteran and who wasn’t a bit cumbersome. If a veteran gets more pay, then well, I’d tell the officer I was a veteran. If he questioned me about what war was I involved in, I would tell him the scar across my stomach I got from a Gallic whore, the one across my face was from a Frankish whore, and my missing ear was from a Germanic whore.
But returning to army numbers.
Adrian wrote:
'Stilicho made ready for war the most famous strengths in Mars (in the army), selecting there from special maniples from selected youth: he further prepared the fleet in the harbours of Etruria. Alcides himself commands the Herculean cohort; the king of the gods leads the Jovian. The Nervian cohort follows and the Felix, well deserving its name, the legion, too, named after Augustus, called the Unconquered, and the brave Leones (Lions) with the witness shield.”
Now Orosius (7 36) gives the size of Mascezel’s force at “5,000 men, so if you believe a legion numbered 2400 men, taking the premise the above force has two legion, the figure of 4800 men does not allow for the other units to be included.
I was actually reading about this very topic this week. It appears that one idea is that the Seniores contained the troops with the most experience, whilst the Iuniores were originally made up of newly recruited men. So when the legion was divided into two halves, the half containing the Seniores would have had the veterans, the Iuniores would have contained those with less experience.
I would find this method of indentifying who was a veteran and who wasn’t a bit cumbersome. If a veteran gets more pay, then well, I’d tell the officer I was a veteran. If he questioned me about what war was I involved in, I would tell him the scar across my stomach I got from a Gallic whore, the one across my face was from a Frankish whore, and my missing ear was from a Germanic whore.
But returning to army numbers.
Adrian wrote:
'Stilicho made ready for war the most famous strengths in Mars (in the army), selecting there from special maniples from selected youth: he further prepared the fleet in the harbours of Etruria. Alcides himself commands the Herculean cohort; the king of the gods leads the Jovian. The Nervian cohort follows and the Felix, well deserving its name, the legion, too, named after Augustus, called the Unconquered, and the brave Leones (Lions) with the witness shield.”
Now Orosius (7 36) gives the size of Mascezel’s force at “5,000 men, so if you believe a legion numbered 2400 men, taking the premise the above force has two legion, the figure of 4800 men does not allow for the other units to be included.
