=276. The _Primipilus_: the Great Eagle of the Legion.=--This distinction made it inevitable that when the post of first centurion in the legion fell vacant, Quadratus should be jumped over the heads of many others and made _primipilus_ (“first javelin”)--the head of the whole corps of centurions, entitled to participate with the tribunes in a council of war, and--being, of course, now a man of great practical experience--allowed to speak very openly to the Legate of the Legion himself. Quadratus was now in some respects the most important man in the Second Augustan. His war pay was considerable, and he added to it by the permitted usage of taking fees from the men for certain exemptions from duty. [Illustration: ROMAN OFFICER.] As primipilus he had the weighty responsibility of taking charge of the great golden eagle of the legion. In battle he would sometimes pluck it from the ordinary bearer (_aquilifer_), and electrify his comrades by dashing ahead with the full-sized golden eagle with outspread wings, surrounded by brilliant streamers, now borne on its pole high above his shoulders. Where the eagle went, there honor and devotion made every legionary follow with the fury of a man possessed. In a certain shrewd tussle with the Hermunduri, the valor of the whole phalanx of those Barbarians was snuffed out when they saw the glistening _aquila_ bearing down on them heading a six-thousand-man wedge, with all the ten cohort flags like obedient retainers thrusting on behind, and when next came the pitiless beat of the pila succeeded instantly by the rush of the expert swordsmen. =277. Locations and Names of Legions.=--Having become primipilus while still a fairly young man, Quadratus was not at the end of his promotion. He had carefully saved his money, and presently he gained official nobility as an eques. Now he was appointed to an independent command not in the legionary regulars, but in the “auxiliary cohorts.” Only about one half of the imperial forces are in the legions. These are for the heavy fighting; they are kept in large garrisons and are used for secondary work as little as possible, nor are they moved from province to province except in serious emergencies.[169] The Second Augustan has always been in Upper Germany and there presumably it will stay for generations more. The same is true of the Third Augustan in North Africa, of the Fourth Scythians on the Danube, of the Twelfth Thunderers in Syria, and of a good many others. The result is that each legion, largely recruited in the nearby provinces, has small desire for distant service; and there is little love between, say, the “Twenty-first Ravagers” in Upper Germany and the “Sixth Ironclads” stationed along the Euphrates.[170] [Illustration: LIGHT-ARMED SOLDIER.]