2 questions

[Telesino]

Hello,
ancient sources claimed that Samnites had 2 ranks of Legio Linteata: silver and gold;
the roman armies before the Gaio Mario reform, had some units called Roarii, the elite of the Triarii.
This 2 units can be added to Samnites and Roman?
Furthermore, there are some other historically improvements for some other armies that can be realizd?
Thanks!

[rbodleyscott]

Hello,
ancient sources claimed that Samnites had 2 ranks of Legio Linteata: silver and gold;

Ancients sources need to be read critically. This isn't an easy task, and those of us without history/classics degrees, and facility reading classical Greek and Latin, may need to rely on the analysis of experts (who, of course, often disagree, but not always).

Duncan Head, in the extremely well researched "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars" (our bible for this period, except for certain points of disagreement) says "Livy's account of magnificent "gold" and "silver" forces in 308 is certainly exaggerated and may belong to a totally fictitious campaign, but in 293 the Samnites raised an elite legio linteata from their nobility, bound never to flee by special oaths which were administered by armed priests."

the roman armies before the Gaio Mario reform, had some units called Roarii, the elite of the Triarii.

There is absolutely no evidence that rorarii were the elite of the triarii. The evidence on what exactly they were is confused, but Varro says that they are light troops, and Livy has them running into action. We think they were light troops attached to the triarii, and have lumped them in with the velites.

You can see a much more detailed discussion of the evidence on rorarii in the above-mentioned book. Here is the relevant section from it.

mid-4th century legion.jpg (398.07 KiB) Viewed 489 times

This 2 units can be added to Samnites and Roman?

Not according to our current reading of history.

[Telesino]

Mr. Scott, first of all: thanks for the detailed answer.

In both cases I think you're wright, and the question about Rorarii is more difficult to clarify: I don't know the philologic origin of the word (maybe a latinist can help to find the meaning);
I also founded these 2 sources on the internet
https://alatius.com/ls/index.php?l=rorarii
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ve ... Italiana)/
which they add some details, but never explain.

Riflecting on your answer, could be Rorarii like the Light guard infantry of First French empire, a sort of roman tiralleurs\voltigeurs?

[rbodleyscott]

Riflecting on your answer, could be Rorarii like the Light guard infantry of First French empire, a sort of roman tiralleurs\voltigeurs?

Very unlikely, I think. The FOG philosophy is to go with the most likely (in our opinion) interpretation, rather than going with a less likely interpretation for the sake of (probably spuriously) increasing unit variety.

Some like this approach to the history, some don't.

[Telesino]

" Very unlikely, I think. The FOG philosophy is to go with the most likely (in our opinion) interpretation, rather than going with a less likely interpretation for the sake of (probably spuriously) increasing unit variety."

I wrote a speculative interpration, not a request or a suggestion: we have no evidence of historicity, so it's intriguing to imagine rationally what is not definable with archeology and texts.

Summing up:
a light troop accompanying elite heavy infantry, maybe they could be elite themselves.

[rbodleyscott]

" Very unlikely, I think. The FOG philosophy is to go with the most likely (in our opinion) interpretation, rather than going with a less likely interpretation for the sake of (probably spuriously) increasing unit variety."

I wrote a speculative interpration, not a request or a suggestion: we have no evidence of historicity, so it's intriguing to imagine rationally what is not definable with archeology and texts.

Summing up:
a light troop accompanying elite heavy infantry, maybe they could be elite themselves.

Of course, the triarii themselves weren't necessarily elite, they were just older men. (And, of course, therefore usually veterans).