extraordinarii

EXTRAORDINA´RII[EXERCITUSp. 787 a. ]

(ἐπιλέκτοι). Picked soldiers set about the person of the consul in the Roman army (Polyb. vi. 28). From them a special bodyguard, known as the ablecti, were taken. The extraordinarii consisted of about a third of the cavalry and a fifth of the infantry of the allies— i. e. for a legion of 4500 men, there were but 1040 extraordinarii. (See exercitus.) The number of the ablecti is not known.