Ad triarios redisse

• Ad triarios redisse means ‘to fall back on the Triarii’.
  • It came to mean ‘to be in desperate straits’.

The Triari

• In the Roman Legion, under the Maniple System, the Triarii were the third and last line of senior and very experienced soldiers.
• The first line would attack or meet an attack by the enemy, if they were unable to hold firm the second line took over and continued to give battle.
• However, if the battle was going very badly, and the first two lines were being overwhelmed, then it was up to the third line, the Triarii, to defeat the enemy.
• Which is why ‘to fall back on the Triarii’ came to mean ‘to be in desperate straits’.

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