Reply To: Heritical idea about Republican Roman Triarii

[Noel]

The triarii should be just as effective as the other legionaries, in my opinion.  They were older soldiers, they had decades of experience but perhaps not the energy or enthusiasm of the younger troops.  They shouldn’t be elites.

The phrase “down to the triarii” was supposedly a commonly used one meant to say “the shit has hit the fan”.  I think it was largely understood that these guys would not be called upon to fight unless things had gone badly.