Roman Army before and after the Marius' Reforms

[Bryan]

So then Ennius is better source for this matter than Vegetius writing hundreds of years later i suppose.  plus, "Hastati sparung hastas..." is way to specific to be ignored, is it?


maybe next time i will call them Caesarean and Scipio legions, or Marcellus legions or whatever consul name from that times instead... what the hell, even Romans recognized years by the Consuls, so why not use it today, right?

Velites threw Hastae velitares. So we know that hasta didn't just mean spear, it also meant javelin, and it likely could also have been used in a generalized sense by some, possibly to include pila javelins. Besides, Ennius was a poet, he's trying to be poetic, not literal. 

Call the professionalized legions what you want, just don't call them part of the Marian Reforms. Its one of those internet-isms that just needs to die already.