[273] _Praepositus_ is more usual, and probably the original title. Later we find the title _praefectus_, and the inclusion of this post at the bottom of the equestrian census, below the previous three posts, gave rise to the phrase _a quattuor militiis_. Cf. xiii. 6814 and von Dom. _Rangordnung_, p. 131. [274] Von Dom. _Rangordnung_, pp. 60, 61. [275] viii. 2505, 2515. The latest inscription is a dedication to Malagbel, the native god of Palmyra, for the safety of Gordian III. [276] iii. 907, 14216 (Oriental names). [277] If the Brittones were really, as has been suggested, transported wholesale to Germany, these _numeri_ also would have preserved their national character. [278] These disappeared during the period, which came in the history of almost every regiment, when it contained drafts from different nationalities. [279] This is shown by Hyginus, 43, as von Dom. has pointed out, _Rangordnung_, p. 60. [280] Dio, lxviii. 8 and 32. [281] Arrian, _Tactica_, 44. [282] The Κελτοὶ ἱππῆς, however, which are mentioned in the _Ectaxis_, 2, are probably, as Ritterling (_Wiener Studien_, xxiv. 127-40) suggests, cavalry of the Cohors Germanorum M. E. [283] The nearest case I know of is xiii. 3177, where we have the order signifer-centurio-tribunus, but this is in one of the Cohortes civium Romanorum, which occupy an exceptional position. [284] _Rangordnung_, pp. 112-15, 122-30. [285] ix. 996, x. 4862. [286] _Rangordnung_, pp. 57, 72. He also considers that at this date the centurions and decurions of the auxiliary regiments were drawn from the ranks of the legions, a suggestion which has already been discussed. See above, p. 38. [287] See pp. 16-20. [288] Tac. _Hist._ iv. 12 ‘(Batavorum) cohortibus quas vetere instituto nobilissimi popularium regebant’. [289] Ib. iv. 18. Its _praefectus_ Claudius Labeo, ‘oppidano certamine aemulus Civili,’ was clearly a Batavian. [290] Ib. iv. 16. [291] Ib. iii. 35; ii. 14; iv. 55. To the same class of officers belonged ‘Chumstinctius et Avectius tribuni ex civitate Nerviorum’, who played an important part in one of the campaigns of Drusus. Epit. Livy, cxxxxi. [292] v. 7003 is an example of a career of this kind which dated from the reign of Claudius. [293] ix. 2564; _A. E._ 1902. 41. [294] Cf. iii. 1918 ‘I. O. M. Sulpicius Calvio c(enturio) leg(ionis) I Min(erviae) praepositus coh(ortis) I Belgarum’. [295] Cf. viii. 18007 ‘… M. Annius Valens leg(ionis) III Aug(ustae) praepositus n(umeri) Palmyrenorum’; xiii. 6526 ‘… M. Octavius Severus (centurio) leg(ionis) VIII Aug(ustae) Praeposit(us) Brit(tonum)’. The office of _praefectus numeri_ does, however, occur; iii. 1149. See above, p. 87. [296] xi. 5669 ‘C. Camurio C. f. Lem(onia) Clementi … praef(ecto) coh(ortis) VII Raet(orum) equit(atae), trib(uno) mil(itum) coh(ortis) II Ulpiae Petraeor(um) miliar(iae) equit(atae), praef(ecto) alae Petrianae …’. [297] D. xlvii, li, lix, lx, lxi, lxvi, lxx.