Italy on both seas was guarded by fleets, at
Misenum and at
Ravenna, and the
contiguous coast of
Gaul by ships of war captured in
the victory of
Actium, and sent by Augustus
powerfully manned to the town of
Forojulium. But our
chief strength was on the
Rhine, as a defence alike
against Germans and Gauls, and numbered eight legions.
Spain, lately subjugated, was held by three.
Mauretania was king Juba's, who had received it as a
gift from the Roman people. The rest of
Africa was
garrisoned by two legions, and
Egypt by the same
number. Next, beginning with
Syria, all within the
entire tract of country stretching as far as the
Euphrates, was kept in restraint by four legions, and on
this
frontier were Iberian,
Albanian, and other kings, to whom our greatness was a protection against
any foreign power.
Thrace was held by
Rhœmetalces and the children of Cotys; the bank of the
Danube by two legions in
Pannonia, two in
Mœsia,
and two also were stationed in
Dalmatia, which, from the situation of the
country, were in the rear of the other four, and, should
Italy suddenly require aid, not too distant to be
summoned. But the capital was garrisoned by its own special soldiery, three
city, nine prætorian cohorts, levied for the most part in
Etruria and
Umbria, or ancient
Latium and the old Roman colonies. There were besides, in commanding
positions in the provinces, allied fleets, cavalry and light infantry, of
but little inferior strength. But any detailed account of them would be
misleading, since they moved from place to place as circumstances required,
and had their numbers increased and sometimes diminished.
