120 LEGIO XX. 



(LY. 23), written about 200 a.d., the value of whicli would 

 be greater if its meaning were a little clearer. Speaking 

 of legions wbicli had existed from the days of Augustus 

 to his own time, he says 



" eVt SI Kttl ol cIkocttoi ol Km'OvaXipioL koi NtKi^ropes wvo/xa(T//.evot 

 Kat ev BpeTTavia ry avw oVres" ova-TLvas 6 "Avyovfrros e/xoi SoKetv 

 uera riov ti/v t€ tov eiKocrTov iwiovvjxiav ly(6vTiiiv koi ev ry Vepfxavia 

 TV av(.o 'vecaatovTOiV, el koi to. /xaAtcTTa /J^yd' i'<^' aTravTcov 'OvaXepiOi 

 eTveKkydycrav p^yre vvv en ry irpoa-yyopia rauTj/ xputvrai, irapaka^MV 

 erypycre." 



"also the men of the XXth, known by the additional 

 names of Yalerii and Victores, stationed in Upper Britain ; 

 these, to my thinking, Augustus took over, and to secure 

 their loyalty joined them to the troops called the XXth, 

 whose winter quarters were in Upper Germany, although 

 they were not universally known as Valerii, nor do they 

 use this title to-day." This reads perhaps more like Irish 

 I han English — so does the Greek ! But Dio does certainly 

 imply that one of the titles of the XXth was Valeria, 

 though not universally recognised and not used in his own 

 day; also that it was a title dating back to the reign of 

 Augustus, and that its origin was the incorporation in the 

 legion of some troops known as Valerii — such at least 

 seems the most probable interpretation of the very obscure 

 Greek. We have seen above that the XXth was com- 

 manded in 6 A.D. by Valerius Messalinus in Illyria, where 

 it won a triumph; may not the troops have assumed the 

 the title "Valerii" on that occasion, and may not Dio 

 Cassius have misinterpreted the transference of the XXth 

 from Illyria to Germany as the incorporation of the 

 "Valerii" with the XXth? The titles of the Eoman 

 legions only show one parallel — with the exception of 

 Augusta, which is hardly to the point — to this derivation 

 from a proper name, viz., Legio XXII. Deiotariana. The 



