ABSTRACT
When in 99 Trajan brought the equites singulares Augusti to the city, he saw to it that they looked as Roman as possible. Like frontier troopers of the line, they wore a sleeveless or short-sleeved linen tunic and breeches that covered the knees for riding through bushes. They warded off rain and cold with a hooded, woollen cloak (paenula), oval in shape, with an opening in the middle for the head and two flaps in front that could be thrown back over the shoulders to free the arms (see Plate 11). In good weather guardsmen donned a light, piebald, rectangular cape (sagulum), clasped at the right shoulder, but when riding into battle they wore neither coat nor cape.
