We know that a cohort contained six centuries of 80 men or 480 men. Ten cohorts made up the infantry portion of the imperial legion. It seems the cohorts contained Hastati, Principes, and Triarii (also called Pili) within them so that the unit had a mixture of experienced and inexperienced troops. Some drawings depict the positions of the Pili and Hastati reversed compared to Republican times (Pili in the lead), but this is disputed. It seems unlikely to me that the Romans would reverse their attack philosophy after perfecting it over seven centuries. Why put the most experienced troops out front and leave raw recruits as reserves?
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