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{{Short description|Roman light infantry and civil servants}}
{{Italics title}}
{{RomanMilitary}}
The term '''''accensi''''' ({{singular}}: ''accensus'') is applied to two different groups. Originally, the ''accensi'' were light infantry in the [[Structural history of the Roman military#Manipular legion (509 BC – 107 BC)|armies of the early Roman Republic]]. They were the poorest men in the legion, and could not afford much equipment. They did not wear armour or carry shields, and their usual position was part of the third battle line.<ref name="Book2-90"/> They fought in a loose formation, supporting the heavier troops. They were eventually phased out by the time of [[Second Punic War]]. In the later [[Roman Republic]] the term was used for civil servants who assisted the elected [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]], particularly in the [[Roman law|courts]], where they acted as [[Usher (occupation)#Court usher|ushers]] and [[Court clerk|clerks]].

== Infantry ==

=== History and deployment ===
''Accensi'' appear to have evolved from the old fifth class of the army under the [[Kings of Rome|Etruscan kings]] when it was reformed by [[Marcus Furius Camillus]].<ref name="Book2-90" /> The fifth class was made up of the poorest soldiers in the legion who were equipped with slings and perhaps a small shield. They acted as skirmishers, screening their own formations and disrupting the enemy. It is likely that engagements with the [[Samnites]] and a crushing defeat at the hands of the [[Gauls]] taught the Romans the importance of flexibility and the inadequacy of the phalanx on the rough, hilly ground of central Italy.<ref name="Book2-90" /><ref name="Book1-29">{{cite book|last=Penrose|first=Jane|title=Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War|publisher=Osprey publishing|isbn=1-84176-932-0|year=2005|page=29}}</ref>

==== Camillan system ====
[[File:Early roman republic army formation.png|thumb|A depiction of a Roman formation c. 340 BC.  Units of ''hastati'' form the front of the formation, backed up by lines of ''principes'', ''triarii'' and ''rorarii''.  The ''accensi'' form the rearmost units.]]
In the early [[Structural history of the Roman military#Manipular legion (509 BC – 107 BC)|Camillan system]] of organisation of the 3rd and 4th centuries BC, men were sorted into classes according to wealth, the ''accensi'' being the poorest.<ref name="Book3-495"/> ''Accensi'' were armed with slings which they used to hurl stones at enemy formations.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Botsford|first=George Willis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SyF2kmJOxYC&dq=Accensi&pg=PA207|title=The Roman Assemblies from Their Origin to the End of the Republic|date=2001|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-58477-165-4|language=en}}</ref> They fought as [[skirmishers]], wearing only a tunic and sometimes carrying a small round shield.<ref name="Book3-495"/>

In this type of legion, the 900 ''accensi'' formed 15 [[Maniple (military unit)|maniples]], military units of 60 men each, which were in turn part of 15 ''[[ordines]]'', larger units made up of a maniple of ''[[triarii]]'', a maniple of ''[[rorarii]]'' and a maniple of ''accensi''.<ref name="Book2-90">{{cite book|last=Southern|first=Pat|title=The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History|publisher=Oxford university press|isbn=978-0-19-532878-3|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/romanarmysociali00sout_0/page/90 90]|url=https://archive.org/details/romanarmysociali00sout_0/page/90}}</ref> The ''accensi'' stood in the last line of the legion, behind the front line of ''[[hastati]]'', the second line of ''[[principes]]'', the third of ''[[triarii]]'' and the fourth of ''rorarii''.<ref name="Book3-495"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Esposito|first=Gabriele|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBsJEAAAQBAJ&dq=Accensi&pg=PA71|title=Armies of Ancient Italy 753-218 BC: From the Foundation of Rome to the Start of the Second Punic War|date=2021-01-30|publisher=Pen and Sword Military|isbn=978-1-5267-5188-1|language=en}}</ref> In a [[pitched battle]], the ''[[leves]]'', javelin armed skirmishers who were attached to maniples of ''hastati'', would form up at the front of the legion and harass the enemy with javelin fire and cover the advance of the ''hastati'', [[spear]] armed infantry. If the ''hastati'' failed to break the enemy, they would fall back and let the ''principes'', heavier and more experienced infantry, take over. If the ''principes'' did not break them, they would retire behind the ''triarii'', who would then engage the enemy in turn—hence the expression ''rem ad Triarios redisse'', "it has come to the ''triarii''"—signalling an act of desperation.<ref name="Book3-495">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=William|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities|url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarygree05smitgoog|publisher=Little, Brown, and Co.|isbn=0-89341-166-3|year=1859|page=[https://archive.org/details/adictionarygree05smitgoog/page/n513 495]}}</ref> The ''[[equites]]'', cavalrymen, were used as flankers and to pursue routing enemies. The ''[[rorarii]]'', the poorer reserve soldiers, and ''accensi'', the least dependable troops armed with [[Sling (weapon)|sling]]s, would be used in a support role, providing mass and supporting wavering areas of the line.<ref name="BookII">{{cite book|last=Mommsen|first=Theodor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJYRAAAAYAAJ|title=The History of Rome, Book II: From the abolition of the monarchy in Rome to the union of Italy|publisher=Richard Bently|year=1871|isbn=|series=The History of Rome}}</ref>

==== Polybian system ====
By the time of the later [[Structural history of the Roman military#Manipular legion (509 BC – 107 BC)|Polybian system]] of the 2nd century BC, ''accensi'' had been phased out.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dillon|first1=Matthew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ce3WAQAAQBAJ&dq=Accensi&pg=PA242|title=Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook|last2=Garland|first2=Lynda|author2-link=Lynda Garland |date=2013-10-28|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-76143-0|language=en}}</ref> ''[[Velites]]'', light skirmishers, would now fulfill skirmishing duties and troops that would usually have gone into the accensi would now be excluded from service.<ref name="Book2-90" />

== Civil servants ==
As with the [[lictor]]s, A''ccensi'' were usually professional civil servants, providing assistance to the elected [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]] during their term in office. In the courts, they summoned witnesses, kept track of time, and helped keep order.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4NaAAAAcAAJ&dq=accensi+courts&pg=PA165|title=Roman Antiquities; or, an Account of the manners and customs of the Romans, etc|last=(LL.D.)|first=Alexander ADAM|date=1825|publisher=T. Cadell|language=en}}</ref> Outside of the courts, they escorted the magistrate and acted as [[herald|heralds.]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/suetonius/12caesars/julius*.html|title=Suetonius • Life of Julius Caesar, 20|last=|first=|date=|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|language=en|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530163202/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html|archive-date=2012-05-30|access-date=2018-02-09|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0168:book=45:chapter=29|title=Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 45, chapter 29|last=|first=|date=|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2018-02-09}}</ref> They also helped in writing [[edict]]s and [[Roman law|laws]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plessis |first=Paul J. du |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDVYDwAAQBAJ&dq=Accensi&pg=PT131 |title=Cicero's Law: Rethinking Roman Law of the Late Republic |date=2016-08-30 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-4744-0884-4 |language=en}}</ref> It is also possible they were messengers and [[orderlies]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Erdkamp|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1D612o_X2VYC&dq=Accensi&pg=PA56|title=A Companion to the Roman Army|date=2011-03-31|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-9376-7|language=en}}</ref> The ''Accensi Velati'' were non military participants of military campaigns.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Cicero|first1=Marcus Tullius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sqb73m5oskYC&dq=Accensi&pg=PA128|title=Cicero, Against Verres, 2.1.53-86: Latin Text with Introduction, Study Questions, Commentary and English Translation|last2=Gildenhard|first2=Ingo|date=2011|publisher=Open Book Publishers|isbn=978-1-906924-53-9|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Nettleship|first=Henry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4Dcf4d0N7MC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA14|title=Contributions to Latin Lexicography|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-01272-0|language=la}}</ref> They probably assisted clerks, accountants, supply officials, and aides.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Delbruck|first1=Hans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MP2k4rx-Q_UC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA266|title=Warfare in antiquity|last2=Delbr_ck|first2=Hans|date=1990-01-01|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-9199-7|language=en}}</ref> The''y'' also assisted religious affairs especially the [[Feriae Latinae]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Beck|first1=Hans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhC_GqPDcjUC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA129|title=Consuls and Res Publica: Holding High Office in the Roman Republic|last2=Duplá|first2=Antonio|last3=Jehne|first3=Martin|last4=Polo|first4=Francisco Pina|date=2011-09-08|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-49719-0|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rüpke (theoloog)|first=Jörg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xO_8AwAAQBAJ&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA32|title=From Jupiter to Christ: On the History of Religion in the Roman Imperial Period|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870372-3|language=en}}</ref> formed a [[Collegium (ancient Rome)|collegium]] dedicated to managing the streets,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Giroire |first1=Cécile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnIbg00BQ14C&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA192 |title=Roman Art from the Louvre |last2=Roger |first2=Daniel |date=2007 |publisher=Hudson Hills |isbn=978-1-55595-283-9 |language=en}}</ref> and had a [[Centuriate Assembly|centuriate assembly]] dedicated to them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Botsford |first=George Willis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SyF2kmJOxYC&dq=Accensi+Velati&pg=PA207 |title=The Roman Assemblies from Their Origin to the End of the Republic |date=2001 |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-58477-165-4 |language=en}}</ref> 

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Rome}}
* [[Structural history of the Roman military]]
* [[Roman infantry tactics]]
* [[List of Roman army unit types]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

[[Category:Military units and formations of the Roman Republic]]
[[Category:Infantry units and formations of ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of ancient Rome]]