Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Accinctus

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

ACCINCTUS. In a general sense, girded, equipped, or provided with anything. But the word is more especially applied to the military, and then implies that the soldiers has his sword girded on, or, in other words, that he is accoutred as a soldier on duty ought to be; like the right-hand figure in the illustration (Accinctus/1.1), from Trajan's Column. Hence, miles non accinctus, means a soldier without his sword, or, as we should say, without his "side-arms," which, under a lax system of discipline, the men took off when employed upon field works, fortifications, &c., and piled with their shields and helmets on the ground beside them, like the left-hand figure in the illustration, also from the Column of Trajan. Under a strict system, this was not allowed; the shield and helmet only were laid aside, but the soldier was always accinctus, or had his sword on. Tac. Ann. xi. 18. Veget. Mil. iii. 8.

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  Accinctus/1.1