Chap. 9.] THE EQUESTRIAN OEDEE. 85 



who, for some time, were the men that constituted the third 

 class in the state. At last, however, Marcus Cicero, during 

 his consulship, and at the period of the Catilinarian troubles, 

 re-established the equestrian name, it being his vaunt that he 

 himself had sprung from that order, and he, by certain acts of 

 popularity peculiar to himself, having conciliated its support. 

 Since that period, it is very clear that the equites have formed 

 the third body in the state, and the name of the equestrian order 

 has been added to the formula — " The Senate and People of 

 Rome." Hence ^^ it is, too, that at the present day even, the 

 name of this order is written after that of the people, it being 

 the one that was the last instituted. 



CHAP. 9. — HOW OFTEN THE NAME OF THE EQTJESTKIAN OEDER 

 HAS BEEN CHANGED. 



Indeed, the name itself of the equites even, has been fre- 

 quently changed, and that too, in the case of those who only 

 owed their name to the fact of their service on horseback. 

 Under Komulus and the other kings, the equites were known 

 as ''Celeres,"^Hhen again as ''Flexuntes,"^^ and after that 

 as '' Trossuli,"'*^ from the fact of their having taken a certain 

 town of Etruria, situate nine miles on this side of Volsinii, 

 without any assistance from the infantry ; a name too which 

 survived till after the death of C. Gracchus. 



In reality, they were mostly members of the equestrian order, and the 

 words " equites" and "publicani" are often used as synonymous. 



^■^ " This passage seems to be the addition of some ignorant copyist. It 

 is indeed a remarkable fact, that we have no inscription in which we see 

 the Equites named after the people as well as the Senate," — Laboulaye, 

 £ssai sur les his Griminelles des Romains :■ Paris, 1845, p. 224. 



J8 According to Livy, B, i. c. 15, the Celeres were three hundred Eoman 

 knights whom Eomulus established as a body-guard. Their name, pro- 

 bably, was derived from the Greek KsXrjg, a "war-horse," or "charger," 

 and the body consisted, no doubt, of the patricians in general, or such of 

 them as could keep horses. Another origin assigned to the appellation is 

 ** Celer," the name of a chieftain, who was a favourite of Eomulus. The 

 adjective "celer," "swift," owes its origin, probably, to the title of "these 

 horsemen. 



^9 A title derived, possibly, as Delafosse suggests, " a flectendis habenis," 

 from " managing the reins." 



20 Called " Trossum " or " Trossulum," it is supposed. The remains 

 of a town are still to be seen at Trosso, two miles from Montefiascone in 

 Tuscany. The Greek word rpw^aXXtc, a " cricket," and the Latin " to- 

 rosulus," " muscular," have been suggested as the origin of this name. 

 Ajasson suggests the Latin verb *' truso," to " push on," as its origin. 



