Coloribus. Cf. nigra scuta, § 43. "Hence coats of arms and the origin of heraldry." Mur.
Cultus. Military equipments. Cultus complectitur omnia, quae studio et arte eis, quae natura instituit, adduntur. K.
Cassis aut galea. Cassis, properly of metal; galea of leather (Gr.: galen); though the distinction is not always observed.
Equi—conspicui. Cf. Caes. B.G. 4, 2, 7, 65.
Sed nec variare. But (i.e. on the other hand) they are not even (for nec in this sense see Ritter in loc.) taught to vary their curves (i.e. as the antithesis shows, to bend now towards the right and now towards the left in their gyrations), but they drive them straight forward or by a constant bend towards the right in so connected a circle (i.e. a complete ring), that no one is behind (for the obvious reason, that there is neither beginning nor end to such a ring). Such is on the whole the most satisfactory explanation of this difficult passage, which we can give after a careful examination. A different version was given in the first edition. It refers not to battle, but to equestrian exercises, cf. Gerlach, as cited by Or. in loc.
Aestimanti. Greek idiom. Elliptical dative, nearly equivalent to the abl. abs. (nobis aestimantibus), and called by some the dat. abs. In A. II. the ellipsis is supplied by credibile est. Cf. Bötticher's Lex. Tac. sub Dativus.
Eoque mixti. Eo, causal particle==for that reason. Caesar adopted this arrangement in the battle of Pharsalia. B.C. 3, 84. The Greeks also had [Greek: pezoi amippoi]. Xen. Hellen. 7, 5.
Centeni. A hundred is a favorite number with the Germans and their descendants. Witness the hundred pagi of the Suevi (Caes. B.G. 4, 1), and of the Semnones (G. 39), the cantons of Switzerland, and the hundreds of our Saxon ancestors in England. The centeni here are a military division. In like manner, Caesar (B.G. 4, 1) speaks of a thousand men drafted annually from each pagus of the Suevi, for military service abroad.
Idque ipsum. Predicate nominative after a verb of calling, H. 362, 2. 2; Z. 394. The division was called a hundred, and each man in it a hundreder; and such was the estimation in which this service was held, that to be a hundreder, became an honorable distinction, nomen et honor==honorificum nomen.
Cuneos. A body of men arranged in the form of a wedge, i.e. narrow in front and widening towards the rear; hence peculiarly adapted to break the lines of the enemy.