and Hadrian formed their cavalry from the same provinces, and the same class of their subjects, which recruited the ranks of the legion. The horses were bred, for the most part, in Spain or Cappadocia. The Roman troopers despised the complete armour with which the cavalry of the east was encumbered. Their more useful arms consisted in a helmet, the rank and honour given to any whom the court wished to conciliate. Augustus made the sons of senators at once tribunes, or gave them the command of a troop (ala). Many knights obtained it immediately, in the hope of entering the senate as "tribuni laticlavii." (Dion. Čass. p. 2209, and Fabricius ad h. 1.) Others were appointed præfects, two of whom were attached to each troop in order to multiply promotions. (Suet. Jul. 38) Claudius gave to young knights, on their entering the service, first, the command of a cohort of auxiliaries, then of a troop, and after that, they were promoted for the first time to be tribunes. (Suet. in Claud. p. 25, and Ernesti's notes.) The abuses, arising from this, and the security of imperial power, no longer requiring the support of such patronage, gave occasion for Hadrian's decree, which fixed a mature age to qualify for this honour. (Spartian in Hadri. 10.) This decree must have continued afterwards in force, for the Emperor Valerian, in a letter addressed to the prætorian præfect, Mulvius Gallicanus, apologizes for having violated it by his early appointment of young Probus to be a tribune, on account of the rare talents, which merited such an exception in his favour. By these he was afterwards raised to the imperial dignity. (Vopiscus in Probo, 10.)-WENCK.] [Dean Milman, after quoting this note, as altered by M. Guizot, calls attention to a passage in which Tacitus states that his father-inlaw, after he was a tribune, served as "contubernalis" in Britain with Suetonius Paulinus. From this passage it is however evident, either that Agricola by his cadetship acquired the "prima castrorum rudimenta" before he had received the "titulum tribunatus," or that this was at first only an honorary title or brevet rank, without any actual command attached to it. Horace, on the contrary, by the line (Sat. i. 6, 48),

"Quod mihi pareret legio Romana tribuno,"

shows that he was intrusted with authority. But none of the abovenamed learned commentators have clearly stated the circumstances by which he was drawn into his brief and most inauspicious military career. At the time when Brutus and Cassius were mustering their forces he was studying at Athens, where his talents and hilarity had made him a favorite among the young Romans then attending the Grecian schools. Foremost among these was Pompeius Grosphus, whom, in the seventh ode of his second book, he addressed as "meorum prime sodalium;" and in that ode he gives a succinct and most candid exposition of his whole conduct in the affair. According to le Père Sanadon, in his notes to his "Poésies d'Horace" (Tom. i. p. 564, tom. 2, p. 433), this Pompeius was attached to the Anti-Cæsarean party, and adhered to it till the conclusion of the treaty of Misenum. By him, therefore, and other friends, Horace was introduced to Brutus

VOL. I.

18

AUXILIARIES.

[CH. I.

an oblong shield, light boots, and a coat of mail. A javelin, and a long broad-sword, were their principal weapons of offence. The use of lances, and of iron maces, they seem to have borrowed from the barbarians.*

Con

The safety and honour of the empire were principally intrusted to the legions; but the policy of Rome condescended to adopt every useful instrument of war. siderable levies were regularly made among the provincials, who had not yet deserved the honourable distinction of Romans. Many dependent princes and communities, dispersed round the frontiers, were permitted, for a while, to hold their freedom and security by the tenure of military service. Even select troops of hostile barbarians were frequently compelled or persuaded to consume their dangerous valour in remote climates, and for the benefit of the state.‡ All these were included under the general name of auxiliaries; and howsoever they might vary according to the difference of times and circumstances, their numbers were seldom much inferior to those of the legions themselves.§ Among the auxiliaries, the bravest and most faithful bands were placed under the command of præfects and centurions,

66

Their previous acquaintance at Rome, for which M. Wenck shows no authority, is, to say the least, very questionable; and it was, no doubt, solely through these recommendations at Athens, that the future poet was placed in the post for which he was so unfitted, and which he so unworthily filled. This, therefore, as M. Wenck justly observes, proves nothing." But M. Guizot misunderstood Gibbon's note, and in his version gives it the following form:-" As we see by the example of Horace and Agricola, this was a vicious custom (un vice) in the Roman disciplire.' He has thus himself erred by imputing to the historian the additional blunder of putting the coward of Philippi and the conqueror of Britain into the same category, to prove the mischief of a system which raised them both to early military command. Gibbon pointed them out only as "instances" of what he held to be a general practice, not as proofs of a "defect." His sagacity would have perceived that whatever the poet's unfitness might have proved, would have been disproved by the courage, ability, and success of Agricola.-ED.] * See Arrian's Tactice. Such, in particular, was the state of the Batavians. Tacit. Germania, c. 29. Marcus Antoninus obliged the vanquished Quadi and Marcomanni to supply him with a large body of troops, which he immediately sent into Britain. Dion Cassius, 1. 71. Tacit. Annal. 4, 5. Those who fix a regular proportion of as many foot, and twice as many horse, confound the auxiliaries of the emperors with the Italian allies of the republic.

and severely trained in the arts of Roman discipline; but the far greater part retained those arms, to which the nature of their country, or their early habits of life, more peculiarly adapted them. By this institution, each legion, to whom a certain proportion of auxiliaries was allotted, contained within itself every species of lighter troops, and of missile weapons; and was capable of encountering every nation, with the advantages of its respective arms and discipline.* Nor was the legion destitute of what, in modern language, would be styled a train of artillery. It consisted in ten military engines of the largest, and fifty-five of a smaller size; but all of which, either in an oblique or horizontal manner, discharged stones and darts with irresistible violence.†

The camp of a Roman legion presented the appearance of a fortified city. As soon as the space was marked out, the pioneers carefully levelled the ground, and removed every impediment that might interrupt its perfect regularity. Its form was an exact quadrangle: and we might calculate, that a square of about seven hundred yards was sufficient for the encampment of twenty thousand Romans; though a similar number of our own troops would expose to the enemy a front of more than treble that extent. In the midst of the camp, the prætorium, or general's quarters, rose above the others; the cavalry, the infantry, and the auxiliaries, occupied their respective stations; the streets were broad, and perfectly straight, and a vacant space of two hundred feet was left on all sides, between the tents and the rampart The rampart itself was usually twelve feet high, armed with a line of strong and intricate palisades, and defended by a ditch of twelve feet in depth as well as in breadth. This important labour was performed by the hands of the legion

* Vegetius, 2. 2. Arrian, in his order of march and battle against the Alani. The subject of the ancient machines is treated with great knowledge and ingenuity by the Chevalier Folard. (Polyb. tom. 2, p. 233— 290.) He prefers them, in many respects, to our modern cannon and mortars. We may observe that the use of them in the field gradually became more prevalent, in proportion as personal valour and military ekill declined with the Roman empire. When men were no longer found, their place was supplied by machines. See Vegetius, 2, 25, Arrian.

Vegetius finishes his second book, and the description of the legion, with the following emphatic words: "Universa quæ in quoque belli genere necessaria esse creduntur, secum legio debet ubique portare, ut in quovis loco fixerit castra, armatam faciat civitatem."

20

NUMBER OF THE LEGIONS.

[ca. 1. aries themselves; to whom the use of the spade and the pickaxe was no less familiar than that of the sword or pilum. Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such patient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline.*

Whenever the trumpet gave the signal of departure, the camp was almost instantly broke up, and the troops fell into their ranks without delay or confusion. Besides their arms, which the legionaries scarcely considered as an encumbrance, they were laden with their kitchen furniture, the instruments of fortification, and the provision of many days. Under this weight, which would oppress the delicacy of a modern soldier, they were trained by a regular step to advance, in about six hours, near twenty miles. On the appearance of an enemy, they threw aside their baggage, and by easy and rapid evolutions converted the column of march into an order of battle.§ The slingers and archers skirmished in the front; the auxiliaries formed the first line, and were seconded or sustained by the strength of the legions; the cavalry covered the flanks, and the military engines were placed in the rear.

Such were the arts of war, by which the Roman emperors defended their extensive conquests, and preserved a military spirit, at a time when every other virtue was oppressed by luxury and despotism. If, in the consideration of their armies, we pass from their discipline to their numbers, we shall not find it easy to define them with any tolerable accuracy. We may compute, however, that the legion, which was itself a body of six thousand eight hundred and thirty

* For the Roman Castrametation, see Polybius, 1. 6, with Lipsius de Militia Romana, Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 1. 3, c. 5. Vegetius, i. 21-25, iii. 9; and Memoires de Guichard, tom. 1. c. 1. [To these writers Gibbon should have added the ancient tactician, Hyginus, who has left us his "Gromatica s. de Castrametatione." He is, with some probability, supposed to have lived in the first half of the second century. His work and the Treatise of Polybius were published by H. M. Schele, in 4to., Amsterd. 1660, with an excellent commentary, in which he has given clear explanations of the Roman military system, and corrected many errors of Lipsius, which, however, are still copied. This now scarce edition was reprinted in Grævii Thes. Antiq. Rom. t. 10, p. 1000, 1282. WENCK.] +Cicero in Tusculan. 2, 37. Joseph. de Bell. Jud.l. 3, 5. Frontinus, 4, 1. Vegetius, 1, 9. See Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. 25, p. 187. § See those evolutions admirably well explained by M. Guichard, Nouveaux Mémoires, tom. 1, p. 141-234

one Romans, might, with its attendart auxiliaries, amount to about twelve thousand five hundred men. The peace establishment of Hadrian and his successors was composed of no less than thirty of these formidable brigades; and most probably formed a standing force of three hundred and seventy-five thousand men. Instead of being confined within the walls of fortified cities, which the Romans considered as the refuge of weakness or pusillanimity, the legions were encamped on the banks of the great rivers, and along the frontiers of the barbarians. As their stations, for the most part, remained fixed and permanent, we may venture to describe the distribution of the troops. Three legions were sufficient for Britain. The principal strength lay upon the Rhine and Danube, and consisted of sixteen legions, in the following proportions; two in the Lower, and three in the Upper Germany; one in Rhætia, one in Noricum, four in Pannonia, three in Moesia, and two in Dacia. The defence of the Euphrates was intrusted to eight legions, six of whom were planted in Syria, and the other two in Cappadocia. With regard to Egypt, Africa, and Spain, as they were far removed from any important scene of war, a single legion maintained the domestic tranquillity of each ot those great provinces. Even Italy was not left destitute of a military force. Above twenty thousand chosen soldiers, distinguished by the titles of city cohorts and prætorian guards, watched over the safety of the monarch and the capital. As the authors of almost every revolution that distracted the empire, the prætorians will, very soon, and very loudly, demand our attention; but in their arms and institutions we cannot find any circumstance which discriminated them from the legions, unless it were a more splendid appearance, and a less rigid discipline.*

The navy maintained by the emperors might seem inadequate to their greatness, but it was fully sufficient for every useful purpose of government. The ambition ot

the Romans was confined to the land; nor was that warlike people ever actuated by the enterprising spirit which had prompted the navigators of Tyre, of Carthage, and even of Marseilles, to enlarge the bounds of the world,

Tacitus (Annal. 4, 5) has given us a state of the legions under Tiberius; and Dion Cassius (1. 55, p. 795) under Alexander Severus. I have endeavoured to fix on the proper medium between these two periods. See likewise Lipsius de Magnitudine Romanâ, L 1, o. 4, 5.