in Roman antiquity, a regiment of bodyguards established by Romulus, composed of three hundred young men of the most illustrious families, and approved by the suffrages of the curia of the people, each of which furnished ten. The name was given them because of their promptness to obey the king, whom they attended both in peace and in war. In war they formed the vanguard in the engagement; in retreats the rearguard. Though the celeres were a body of horse, yet they usually dismounted and fought on foot. Their commander was called Tribunus Celerum. They were divided into three centuries, each commanded by a captain called centurio; and their tribune occupied the second place in the state. Plutarch says that Numa broke the celeres. If this be true, they were soon re-established; for we find them under most of the succeeding kings. Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins, was tribune of this corps d'élite. See Equites.