as cohors Usipiorum, cohortes Batavorum, and others mentioned by Tacitus 5.

The commanding officer of these cohorts was called tribunus, or præfectus cohortis; by the former name, if the cohort was composed of Roman citizens; by the latter, if of auxiliaries h. Both these words are rendered into the Greek by the word XLAlapkos, captain of a thousand, and indeed the cohorts of this sort frequently consisted of a thousand men, whereas the legionary cohorts never exceeded six hundred, and seldom were so many k. I remem

e Agric. c. 28.

f Hist. l. 1. c. 59.

70.

g Hist. 1. 2. c. 89. et l. 4. c h Vid. Polyb. l. 6. p. 482, A. Tac. Hist. l. 1. §. 20. p. 50. l. ult. 1. 4. c. 31, 32. l. 3. c. 68. et c. 35. Ann. l. 6. c. 9, prop. fin. et 1. 12. c. 17. l. ult. Cæsar de B. C. l. 2. c. 20. Liv. l. 25. c. 14. et 1. 33. c. 38. et l. 34. c. 47. Suet. Cai. c. 56. n. 4. et Suet. Juv. 4.

i Dio, l. 55. p. 565, A. Tac. Hist. 1. 2. c. 93, prop. fin. Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 1. 3. c. 4. §. 2. Appian has instances of cohorts of this sort, which had yet more men. Vid. Savil's View of certain military Matters, p. 219.

k Vegetius indeed, who lived more than three hundred years after the time we are speaking of, says, that the first cohort of every legion consisted of a thousand men, and those chosen ones. Vid. de Re Militari, 1. 2. c. 6, pr. So probably it was when he wrote; but we have not the least hint of this in any more ancient author, which we must certainly have met with, had it been the practice in their time. That the first cohort was more depended on than any other, is evident from those words of Cæsar, Duabusque missis subsidio cohortibus, atque his primis legionum duarum. De Bell. Gal. 1. 5. c. 15. But this proceeded not from the greatness of their number, but from the choice of the men, and that their officers were the bravest, the oldest, and the most experienced of the whole legion. For which reason the centurions of this cohort were members of the council of war. Vid. Polyb. 1.6. p. 470, B. Cæs. de Bell. Gal. I. 5. c. 28. Lips. de Rom. Mil. 1. 2. Dial. 4. Savil's View, p. 209, pr.

m

ber not to have read in any author of the tribune of a legionary cohort, and without doubt such an expression must have been very improper. There were six tribunes to a legion TM, and in each legion ten cohorts". If I mistake not, the tribunes had authority equally over the whole legion, so far as their power reached. But had the command been divided, there would have been a cohort and twothirds of a cohort under each tribune. It would have been a great diminution therefore to have spoken of them as having authority over one cohort only.

We read, in the History of the Acts, of Cornelius a centurion at Cæsarea, of the band called the Italian band P. The Greek word is σneiρa, which signifies a cohort. He was one of the centurions of the

They are always termed Tribuni Militum, or, if the author had a mind to be more particular, Tribuni militum de legione 2dæ, Liv. 1. 33. c. 38. Trib. mil. tertiæ legionis, 1. 41. c. 3. 4tæ legionis, 1. 34. c. 46. Tribuni legionis quintæ, Hirt. de Bell. Afr. c. 28. Tribunus militum 10æ legionis, c. 54. L. Atius tribunus primus 2dæ legionis, Liv. l. 41. c. 3. Vid. et l. 25. c. 14. l. 41. c. I. et 2. l. 45. c. 32. Suet. Otho, c. 10. n. 2. But the commanders of six independent cohorts, placed in garrison by Varro at Cadiz, Cæsar calls Tribuni cohortium. De Bell. Civ. 1. 2. c. 20.

n. 2.

m

Polyb. 1. 6. p. 473, B. et 478, B. In Vegetius's time there were as many tribunes as cohorts in a legion. Vid. l. 2. c. 14. But there is not the least footstep of any such thing in the authors who wrote about the time we are speaking of.

n Jul. Frontin. de Stratagem. 1. 1. c. 6, pr. Cæs. de Bell. Gal. 1. 6. c. 7.

• Therefore Horace says, Quod mihi pareret legio Romana tribuno. Sat. 1. 1. 6. v. 48. They usually governed by turns, two at a time. Polyb. 1. 6. p. 479, A. et 482, A.

P Acts X. I.

Italian cohort. There having been a legion of this name, called legio Italica, most learned men have been hereby induced to understand it as importing that he was a centurion of one of the cohorts belonging to the Italian legion. But there is not the least ground for this interpretation. Had St. Luke meant this, no doubt he would have said that he was a centurion of the Italian legion, or of one of the cohorts in that legion, which was the easy, natural, and usual way of speaking. But this he

4 Vid. Grot. in loc. Samuel Basnage acknowledges that this legion had not yet a being, but thinks that St. Luke, by a prolepsis, calls the legion he then served in, the Italic legion, because at the time he wrote his history, Cornelius was a centurion in the legion so named. Vid. Ann. p. 513. n. 10.

L. Fabius centurio legionis 8væ, Cæs. de Bell. Gal. 1. 7. c. 47. M. Petreius ejusdem legionis centurio, c. 50. T. Salienus centurio legionis 5æ, Hirt. de Bell. Afr. c. 28. Centurio legionis 14æ, c. 45. Duodecimæ legionis-quartæ cohortis omnibus centurionibus occisis, Cæs. de Bell. Gal. 1. 2. c. 25. Tertiæ cohortis centuriones, (legionis sub Q. Cicerone in Nerviis,) 1. 5. c. 43, prop. fin. Omnibus primæ cohortis (legionis nonæ) centurionibus interfectis, de Bell. Civ. 1. 3. c. 64, fin. Centuriones qui jam primis ordinibus appropinquarent, T. Pulsio et L. Varenus, de Bell. Gal. 1. 5. c. 44, pr. The first orders or centuries always made up the first cohort. Ab octavis ordinibus ad primipilum se transducere pronuntiavit. De Bell. Civ. 1. 3. c. 53. By comparing this with Suet. Jul. c. 68. 4, 5, 6. it appears that the valiant Scæva, who had received a hundred and twenty or two hundred and thirty of the enemy's darts on his shield in the defence of a little tower against Pompey in one day, was at that time a centurion of the eighth cohort of the sixth legion under Cæsar. Vid. de Bell. Gall. l. 6. c. 40. n. 7. It was usual also to describe the centurions as they were placed over the triarii, principes, or hastati. And this St. Luke, who had been at Rome, could not be a stranger to. There were three maniples in every cohort, manipulus triariorum, man. principum, and man. hastatorum. Over each of these maniples were two

could not say, because there was no such legion then existings. When he says, a centurion of the Italian cohort, no doubt he means a distinct, separate cohort, which went under that name t.

That there were cohorts even of Romans, distinct from the legionary cohorts, I mean besides the prætorian and city cohorts, is as clear from Strabo and Tacitus as words can make it. Strabo, speaking of the Roman forces in Egypt, says, there are three legions, of which one is placed in the city, the other two in the country. Besides these, there are nine cohorts of Romans, three in the city, three near the borders of Æthiopia in Syene, and three in another part of the country ". In his description of Syene, a little after, he says again, There are placed here

centurions: the first chosen had the precedence, and commanded the order or century on the right hand, and was called Primus centurio, Liv. 1. 7. c. 41. Centurio primi pili, Liv. 2. 27. Cæs. B. G. 3, 5. Vell. Paterc. 1. 2. c. 78, fin. Primipilus, Liv. 8. 8. Cæs. B. G. 2, 25. or Princeps prior. B. C. 3. 64, fin. Princeps primus, Liv. 25. 14. or hastatus primus. Flor. l. 1. c. 18. n. 8. Minucius 4tæ legionis primus hastatus. Oros. 1. 4. c. 1. p. 222. Cæs. B. C. 1. 1. c. 46. And of the inferior cohorts we read, Tertio anno virtutis causa mihi T. Quintius Flaminius decumum ordinem hastatum assignavit, Liv. 42. 34. Nasennius octavum principem duxit, Tull. ad Brut. ep. 8.

The conversion of Cornelius happened at the end of the reign of Caius, or the beginning of Claudius; but the Italic legion was raised by Nero, as we are expressly informed by Dio, 1. 55. p. 564, E.; and Suetonius, as I think, confirms it, Ner. c. 19. 4. We read not of the Italic legion before this time, but after is frequent mention made of it by Tacitus, Hist. 1. 1. c. 59. et 64. 1. 2. c. 41. et 100. et l. 3, 14.

As much as Tacitus, when he says, Sempronius Densus centurio prætoriæ cohortis, Hist. 1. 1. c. 43, pr.

" L. 17. p. 797, B.

three cohorts of Romans for a guard. Tacitus, speaking of the legacies of the emperor Augustus, says, that he gave to the legionary soldiers, and to such cohorts as were composed of Roman citizens, three hundred nummi, i. e. two pounds eight shillings and five pence farthing a man ". He had mentioned the prætorian cohorts before, to whom Augustus left a much larger legacy. Had he hereby meant the urban cohorts, no doubt he would have named them. They were but three, too small a body to be joined with the legionaries, and described by such a periphrasis. Besides, it is evident from Suetonius a and Dio", that they had five hundred nummi, i. e. four pound and eight pence three farthings a man. Tacitus, in other parts of his history, also plainly distinguishes between the legionary and other cohorts c.

x P. 817, D. Vid. p. 819, C.

y Prætoriarum cohortium militibus singula nummûm millia, legionariis aut cohortibus civium Romanorum trecenos nummos viritim dedit. Ann. 1. 1. c. 8. n. 6. Vid. Jac. Gronov. not.

z Tac. Ann. l. 4. c. 5. n. 4.

b L. 56. p. 590, fin. et 591, pr.

a

Aug. 102. 4. n. 24.

We read of separate cohorts in the Roman army, even from the early days of the republic. The brave Siccius led a cohort of eight hundred, Dionys. Hal. 1. 10. c. 43. Some cohorts of veterans followed T. Quinctius the consul, Liv. 1. 3. c. 69, pr. fin. At another time, Seniorum etiam cohortes factæ, Liv. 1. 10. c. 21. And it is no uncommon thing, in the accounts given us of the Roman armies, to read of various cohorts over and above the legions, which cannot well be understood of any but Roman cohorts. Vid. Cæs. de Bell. Gal. 1. 5. c. 24. de Bell. Civ. 1. 3. c. 88, 89. Tac. H. 1. 1. c. 59, 60. Vid. Not. ad num. 7. Ann. 1. 15. c. 10. Lips. de Rom. Mil. 1. 1. Dial. 8. With such separate or independent cohorts at the decline of the republic, and beginning of the empire, they garrisoned the frontier places, as we have al

X