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At Paris, when Julian, still a Caesar, was shaking his shield while engaged in various exercises [p. 99] in the field, 1 the sections of which the orb of the shield was fashioned fell apart and only the handle remained, which he held in the grasp of a strong hand.

1 Practice in manœuvres with the shield was a regular part of military exercises; Vegetius, ii. 14, qui dimicare gladio, et scutum rotare doctissime noverit, qui omnem artem didicerit armaturae. The shield must not fall to the ground; cf. Martial, ix. 38, 1 f.: Summa licet velox, Agathine, pericula ludas, non tamen efficies ut tibi parma cadat.

Ammianus Marcellinus. With An English Translation. John C. Rolfe, Ph.D., Litt.D. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1935-1940.

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