01-04-2006, 11:11 PM
Caesar's aquilifer isn't named - he's a bit hit & miss about whether he names heroic soldiers & officers - I probably need to do some work to see if there's any patterns in when he does & doesn't mention names of heroes & cowards.
My hero's the only non-aristo to be awarded the grass crown for saving an entire army, Gnaeus Petreius, whose action is recorded by Pliny the Elder (N.H. 22.6):
(In addition to the persons already mentioned, the honour of this [grass] crown has been awarded to M. Calpurnius Flamma, then a military tribune in Sicily
but up to the present time it has been given to a single centurion only, Cneius Petreius Atinas, during the war with the Cimbri. This soldier, while acting as primipilus under Catulus, on finding all retreat for his legion cut off by the enemy, harangued the troops, and after slaying his tribune who hesitated to cut a way through the encampment of the enemy, brought away the legion in safety. I find it stated also by some authors, that, in addition to this honour, this same Petreius, clad in the prætexta, offered sacrifice at the altar, to the sound of the pipe, in presence of the then consuls, Marius and Catulus.
(translation is the one on Perseus).
My hero's the only non-aristo to be awarded the grass crown for saving an entire army, Gnaeus Petreius, whose action is recorded by Pliny the Elder (N.H. 22.6):
(In addition to the persons already mentioned, the honour of this [grass] crown has been awarded to M. Calpurnius Flamma, then a military tribune in Sicily
but up to the present time it has been given to a single centurion only, Cneius Petreius Atinas, during the war with the Cimbri. This soldier, while acting as primipilus under Catulus, on finding all retreat for his legion cut off by the enemy, harangued the troops, and after slaying his tribune who hesitated to cut a way through the encampment of the enemy, brought away the legion in safety. I find it stated also by some authors, that, in addition to this honour, this same Petreius, clad in the prætexta, offered sacrifice at the altar, to the sound of the pipe, in presence of the then consuls, Marius and Catulus.(translation is the one on Perseus).
