rried on the right thigh, and was a short
cut-and-thrust weapon, like that which was used by the Spaniards. Thus
armed, the hastati formed the front division of the legion, and the
principes the second. Each division was drawn up about ten deep, a space
of three feet being allowed between the files as well as the ranks, so
as to give each legionary ample room for the use of his javelins and of
his sword and shield. The men in the second rank did not stand
immediately behind those in the first rank, but the files were
alternate, like the position of the men on a draught-board. This was
termed the _quincunx_ order.

[Footnote 64: Most probably during the period of his prolonged
consulship, from B.C. 104 to B.C. 101, while he was training his army
against the Cimbri and the Teutons.]

Niebuhr considers that this arrangement enabled the legion to keep up a
shower of javelins on the enemy for some considerable time. He says:
"When the first line had hurled its _pila_, it probably stepped back
between those who stood behind it, and two steps forward restored the
front nearly to its first position; a movement which, on account of the
arrangement of the quincunx, could be executed without losing a moment.
Thus one line succeeded the other in the front till it was time to draw
the swords; nay, when it was found expedient, the lines which had
already been in the front might repeat this change, since the stores of
pila were surely not confined to the two which each soldier took with
him into battle.

"The same charge must have taken place in fighting with the sword,
which, when the same tactics were adopted on both sides, was anything
but a confused _melee_; on the contrary, it was a series of single
combats." He adds that a military man of experience had been consulted
by him on the subject and had given it as his opinion "that the change
of the lines as described above was by no means impracticable; but, in
the absence of the deafening noise of gunpowder, it cannot have had even
any difficulty with well-trained troops."

The third division of the legion was six hundred strong and acted as a
reserve. It was always composed of veteran soldiers, who were called the
_triarii_. Their arms were the same as these of the principes and
hastati, except that each _triarian_ carried a spear instead of
javelins. The rest of the legion consisted of light-armed troops, who
acted as skirmishers. The cavalry of each legion was at this period