VI. 23.

I I ORGANIZATION OF RECRUITS
cv to iruGiicvi Kai ttj . . . <ruva<|>T]: ‘at the bottom where it joins . . . .
14. Kap8io<|>uXaKa : a bronze sheet, a span (c. 9 in.) square, this was
of great antiquity. It formed part of the dress of the Salii, and
examples from the seventh and sixth centuries have been found in
graves at Tarquinii and on the Esquiline; cf. Meyer, KI. Schr. ii. 201.
15. oi . . . uirep Tas pupias Tipwpcvoi 8pax|ia$: i.e. members of the
first (Servian) property class. If the drachma is equated with the
denarius (cf. ii. 15. 1 n.), P. here makes the qualification for the first
classes 100,000 sextan tai asses (ten of which made a denarius). This
is also Livy’s figure (i. 43. 1, centum milium aeris . . . censum) and
Dionysius’ (iv. 16); but Pliny (Nat. hist, xxxiii. 43) and Festus
(‘infra classem’, p. 100 Lindsay) give 120,000-.’ The lex Voconia (169)
laid impedimenta on testators possessing above a certain property ;
and this limit, which has been reasonably identified with the first-
class census, is variously given as 125,000 aeris (Gellius), 100,000 aeris
(Gaius), 100,000 sestertii (Ps.-Asconius), and 25,000 drachmae —
25,000 denarii = 100,000 sestertii (Dio). Mattingly (J RS, 1937, 99 ff.)
argues for Gellius’ figure; but his argument rests on the improbable
view that P.’s drachma is an Aeginetan drachma (cf. ii. 15. 1 n.). The
alternative, that the lex Voconia defined the figure as 100,000 libral
asses = 100,000 sestertii, is certainly unlikely ; but Mommsen (St.-R.
iii. 1. 249 f. n. 4) may well be right in thinking that asses (undefined,
but in fact sextantai) were taken to be libral asses (i.e. sesterces) in
order to circumvent the provisions of the law (cf. Steinwenter, RE,
‘Lex Voconia’, cols. 2419-20). This would lend support to P.’s figure.
aXuoiSwrous . . . GupaKa$:‘breastplates wrought in chain’, the lorica
hamata. This and the Kap8io<£v'Aa£ were perhaps worn over a leather
jerkin ; cf. Grosse, RE, ‘lorica’, cols. 1444-5. On both see Couissin,
157 ff., 265 ff.
16. Sopara: the hasta, still used by the triarii, was the earlier
weapon of the whole army (as the name hastati indicates) and was
suited to the phalanx formation. With the gradual standardization
which culminated in the Marian reforms it gave way to the pilum
in all lines.

24. Organization of recruits and appointment of officers.

1. Tagiapxous: ‘centurions’; P. assigns the appointment of cen-
turions and (25. 1) decuriones to the military tribunes, and that of
optiones to the centurions or (25. 1) decurions, though normally the
appointment of officers was a prerogative of the consuls (Livy,
xlii. 33. 6 ; Cic. Pis. 88). Later, according to Varro (Ling. v. 91)
optiones and decurions were both appointed by the military tribunes.
Mommsen (St.-R. i. 120 n. 4) suggests that the consul possessed the
power de iure, but that for convenience the de facto appointments
were carried out by subordinates.
706
 AND APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS VI.24.7
p.eTa St toutous erepav EKXoyqv: these would form the thirty cen-
tertones posteriores in contrast to the priores already chosen (cf.
Livy, xlii. 34. 7 f.). Each prior, whether hastatus, prince-ps,or triarius,
was higher in rank than any posterior (cf. Veith, Heerwesen, 320) ;
on the relative positions of prior and posterior see further § 7.
2 . iv 6 irpwTo$ alpeOeig : the first man chosen will be the primus pilus
prior, the senior centurion of the first maniple of the triarii. Veith
{Heerwesen, 320-1) argues that the reference is to the first centurion
of the first maniple of each group, i.e. of hastati, principes, and
triarii ; for at a later date these three maniples together made up the
first cohort, and their three senior centurions all served on the
military council (35. 4 n.) as primi ordines (Caes. BG, v. 30. 1, vi.
7. 8). This is possible; on the other hand, the antecedent of <Sv is
to vrovs dnavras, and P. certainly appears to be referring to one man,
not three. Nor were the practices of the army based on the cohort
necessarily identical with those of the manipular army.
oupayous • ‘optiones’ : the optio relieved the centurion of administra-
tive duties; he may be compared to the quarter-master; cf. Veg.
ii. 7, ‘optiones . . . uicarii solent uniuersa curare’; Paulus, epit.
Festi, p. 201 Lindsay, 'rerum priuatarum ministrum’, Festus, p. 216
Lindsay, 'adiutor dabatur centurioni a tribuno militum’. Originally,
however, he was the centurion's representative; cf. Marquardt, ii.
545; Lammert, RE, 'optio (1)’, cols. 806-7.
4. tous cmpdXXovTas Kara to ■n-XfjOos : ‘the appropriate number’.
5. Taypa Kai aireipav Kai cqpaiav: ordo, manipulus, and signum.
6. crq|xaia<(>6pou$: ‘signiferi’. There was one signum for each maniple ;
cf. Varro, Ling. v. 88, ‘manipulos exercitus minimas partes, quae
unum secuntur signum’. See Marquardt, ii. 345. The second signifer
was evidently to act as a substitute should anything befall the first ;
and this leads P. to discuss the appointment of two centurions, like-
wise, to each maniple (§ 7). On the functions of the substitute signifer
see the indecisive and not very clear discussion of Kubitschek, RE,
‘signifer’, cols. 2350 ff.
7. Suo . . . qycpovas: since each maniple contained two centuries,
it had two centurions ; but the centurion of the right-hand century
always took precedence and commanded the whole maniple. He is
the centurio prior {irpwros alpeOets) and his colleague the centurio
posterior (cf. § 1 n.). Each led his own men into battle, but the prior
was in command. It was normal Roman practice for the leader of
a whole unit, even of the whole army, to command the right (Veith,
Heerwesen, 317-18) ; ‘die ausdriickliche Bestimmung des prior zum
Fiihrer des rechten Flugels besagte fur den antiken, in den mili-
tarischen Grundlagen seiner Zeit geschulten, Leser ohne weiteres,
daB er zugleich als Kommandant des Ganzen zu betrachten war.’
For each centurion to command his own century independently
707