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THE ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW Downloaded from No. VIIL—OCTOBER 1887 http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ The Movements of the Roman Legions from Augustus to Severus riTHK, civil wars between 49 and 29 B.C. form a period of trans- J. ition between the military arrangements of the republic and at University of California, Santa Barbara on July 2, 2015 those of the empire, although they have otherwise no important bearing of their own upon the system which the empire was to in- troduce. They must, however, have, proved with sufficient clear- ness to Augustus that henceforward a military support must under- lie whatever supreme authority was to exist at Some. But it was one thing to recognise thin necessity, quite another to proclaim it openly. To be permanent and effectual the support of the army must be unobtrusive. For years both in Italy and the provinces the legions had been a sight far too familiar, and the rest and peace which all hoped for, even if they hardly dared expect it, would have been manifestly a delusion if the vast armies of the last few years were to be kept up.1 This was the problem which Augustus had to face after Actium. Six years before, indeed, he had had to decide on a similar though less important question. He had then taken from Lepidus no less than twenty legions,1 including eight which had served under Sextus Pompeius. This had placed at least forty-four legions* at his disposal; but even with the final struggle against Antonius stOl to come, he had de- cided that so large an army was neither necessary nor consistent with considerations either of prudence or finance. He accordingly dismissed twenty thousand of his own veterans, who had seen ten • After the battle of Matins Octavian had seventeen legions. Ante Lepidus ten, Bnrtus and Cassias aerenteen. Marqusidt, StoattvmoaUtmg, n. 444. » Sort. Aug. 16. Appian, BM. Civ. v. 123, giTes twentj-two as the number. * Appian, loc.dt.-7.127. 40 Vol.! 626 MOVEMENTS OF THE ROMAN LEGIONS Oct. years' service, all those of Pompeius,4 and probably many which had belonged to Lepidus, leaving himself perhaps twenty-four or twenty- five for the conflict which could not long be avoided. The army of Antonius, as the evidence of coins with tolerable certainty * proves, consisted of thirty legions, and therefore, after the battle of Actium, Augustus found himself in possession of at least fifty. That this number must be diminished, and largely diminished, there could be no question; but the position of affairs on the eastern frontier was certainly such as called for careful consideration before letting slip the Downloaded from opportunity which the presence of so large an army offered for striking a decisive blow in the direction of Parthia. For a genera- tion Armenia had been practically a client of Borne, though an oriental kingdom alike in its history, tendencies, and geographical position.6 It seemed evident that conditions so anomalous must be http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ provocative of continual ruptures with Parthia, and Augustus with his strong will and unfaltering resolution might have put an end perhaps once for all by a decided blow to a state of tension which the vague schemes of Antonius, so ill carried through, had only made more dangerous. But the policy of the empire was to be peace, and Augustus, possibly with regret, let the opportunity pass, and though he did not renounce the Bom an pretensions to interfere at University of California, Santa Barbara on July 2, 2015 with Armenia, he left an army in Syria quite inadequate to take a commanding position in case of need.7 Nor was this absence of a forward policy confined to the east. On the Danube, it is true the undefined and precarious frontier of Ulyricum had to be re- placed by one more capable of defence against the Dacian and Sarmatian tribes; * but, the frontier once regulated, the attitude of the empire was to be everywhere passive and defensive. The TniyriTn which he handed on to Tiberius, Augustus practised frfmnplf from the commencement. The legions, henceforth to constitute a regular standing army with definite winter-quarters or standing- camps, were placed at the extremities of the empire out of sight of the city and Italy, out of sight even, except perhaps in Syria, of the chief provincial towns, but obviously not out of reach should the authority of the principate need support. Accordingly Augustus determined to reduce his army to the smallest size consistent with the safety of the frontiers and the possible need of an armed main- tenance of his own position. Of the number and disposition of the legions which were maintained our chief knowledge is gained from the passage in Tacitus9 referring to the year 23 AJ>., in which he 4 Dion CMS. TUT 12-14. .* rvihyn, L 26-65. M"™""**", B*a Oota Dm. Aug. 75. 1 On position of Amnmia see the admirable ™nth chAptex in the fifth volume of Mommsen's Bonan History. ' Under Qointiliufl Virus there were only three legions in Syria. Joseph. BeU. Jud. n. iii L , Bet Outa Dis. Aug. eh. xxx. * Ana. iv. 5. 1887 FROM AUGUSTUS TO SEVERUS 627 informs us that Tiberius 'then had twenty-five legions, and of these he gives the numerical distribution among the provinces, though without mention of their distinguishing number or cognomina. These, however, from other sources,10 we know to have been the— I Gennanica,11 II Augusta, m Augusta, HI Gallica,11 m Cyrenaica,11 IV Macedonica,14 IV Scythica,1* V Alauda,16 V Macedonica, VI Victrix, VI Ferrata, VII (afterwards) Claudia, Vm Augusta, IX 17 18 Hispana, X Fretensis, X Gemina, XI (afterwards) Claudia, XII Downloaded from Fulminata, XTTT Gemina, XIV Gemina, XV Apollinaris, XVI GaDica, XX Valeria Victrix,19 XXI Bapax, XXII Deiotariana.10 A little further examination of these legions, however, throws some additional light upon the military arrangements during the time of Augustus himself- In the first place it is almost certain that http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ legions "K^T and TnCTT -were created after the disaster to Varua in 9 A.D. We know from Dion Cassius*1 and Suetonius a that fresh troops were enrolled then, partly from freedmen,13 while Tacitus in describing the mutiny of the lower German army, con- sisting of legions I, V, XX, XXI, says that the impulse was given by the vernacvla muUitudou lately enrolled in the city. Now the V,54 XX,18 Is7 certainly existed before, and therefore the XXIrt nd must have been the one newly created. The XXII was certainly at University of California, Santa Barbara on July 2, 2015 not created before the XXIrt, and its name Deiotariana seems to show that it was formed from what had formerly been the army of Deiotarus, some of whose troops were probably employed by the Eomans after his death, though not formed into a regular legion u In most cases they are identified by other passages in the Annals. The cogna- mina, if nowhere stated by Tacitus, are known from inscriptions. For the eight German legions »ee Ann. L 31, 37, and Henzen, 6463. The three in Spain rest mainly on the eridence of coins. See Floras, Medullas dt las Colonias de EspaHa, i. tab. vi. i. viii. 8 ; also Tac Hist, ii. 58, and WQlmann, 1017. For the two in Aft-i**, see Ann. iv. 23, and Orelli 3057. For the two in Egypt, see Henzen, 6158, and Orelli, 519 ; conf. also Tac Hist v. 1. For the four in Syria, see Tac Ann. ii 79, ii. 57, IT. 6, and Hist. iii 24. For the two in Pannonia, Ann. i 16, the two in Mossia, Hen- zen, 6938, and C. I. L. iii. 1698, and the two in Dalmatia from Dion Cassias, lz. 15. 11 This cognomen is found in only one inscription. " Probably levied originally in GauL 1J Belonging to Lepidus's African army. 14 Mommsen tMnVa that the legions called MiMH^onin were present at the battle of Fhilippi. u Perhaps levied by Julius Caesar for his intended campaign against Burebistas. " Saet Ccaar, 24. " OriginaUy levied from Spain. " Perhaps so called from being present against Sext. Pompeins in the battle fought in the straits of Messina. " VelL Paterc ii. 112. M Consisting originally of soldiers of Deiotarus. a Dion Cass. Ivi. 23, and lvii. 5. a Suet. Aug. 25. ' a 4<rrucii Sx>">*. -' Ann. L 31. Compare also orto ab rmetvicesimanis quinianisqu4 iniiio. =» Suet. Cos. 24. =• VeE. Paterc ii. 112. "" The first legion was evidently reconstituted by Tiberius after the defeat of Varus, as Tac Ann. i. 42, proves, tignis a Tiberio aeceptia; but we cannot suppose that the first legion was wanting in the original army of Augustus, nor would its raw recruits naturally be sent from the city. 628 MOVEMENTS OF THE ROMAN LEGIONS Oct. till this emergency." Next, there seems good ground for believing that the eight legions XIH-XX were created at a later time than those from I to XII.*9 For (1) no trace is found of any of these earlier than 6 AJ>., (2) none of them are mentioned-among the legions whose veterans Augustus settled in colonies, (3) no duplicate numbers are found among them as among many of those below "KTT, and (4) while the latter are scattered indiscriminately throughout the empire, these eight are all posted either in Germany or LUyri- cum. It is therefore probable that Augustus at first retained only Downloaded from the legions numbered up to TvTT, and that it was the unexpected need of troops in the wars on the Bhine and in Ulyricum, and especially the formidable rising in Pannonia in the year 6 A.D., which compelled him to create eight fresh legions.80 Three of these, X.YIL, i.Viii, XIX, were those destroyed with Yarns, and http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ accordingly these numbers, as ill-omened, never occur again.31 Deducting then from Tacitus's list all those over XII, we find that the original number of legions maintained by Augustus was eighteen, though by the retention of several duplicate numbers drafted from the armies of Antonius or Lepidus he was enabled to give his army the appearance of consisting only of twelve legions.1* Thus the HI Gallica was probably a legion of Antonius which had at University of California, Santa Barbara on July 2, 2015 served under him against the Parthians,33 while HI Cyrenaica be- longed to the army of Lepidus from Africa.