Roman Lictors.

I have some in miniature so of course would like to squeeze them onto a Generals or camp base but from some cursory googling can't find any mention of them on campaign. From what I can tell they seem to be some sort of bodyguard/ crowd controller types that accompanied the Big Man around town. Apparently they've been in existence since the Roman Kingdom and the institution may well have been borrowed from the Etruscans.