The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial ArmyCheesman, George Leonard
History
The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army
Cheesman, George Leonard
Rome -- Army; Rome -- Colonies
[133] In Pauly-Wissowa, _Real-Encyclopädie_, s.v. _ala_ and _cohors_.
See these articles also for some rarer titles which have not been
mentioned here.
[134] D. xxxv and lxxiii.
[135] D. xi.
[136] D. xxxi (99) and xlviii (134). For proof that two distinct
cohorts are referred to see Cichorius, s.v.
[137] Tac. _Ann._ iv. 47.
[138] In these cases an ethnical title may have been dropped, or
omitted on the only inscriptions known to us.
[139] iii. 11930, 11931 (reign of Pius), 11933 (Commodus).
[140] Tac. _Hist._ i. 59.
[141] For the position of the auxilia in the normal order of battle
see below, p. 103. For Domitius Tullus and Domitius Lucanus, who held
in turn the post of _praefectus auxiliorum omnium adversus Germanos_,
probably in 73 and 74, see Dessau, _Inscr. Lat. Sel._ 990, 991, with
notes.
[142] D. xxx and xxxi.
[143] D. xxxii and xxxiv.
[144] D. xliii.
[145] The diplomata of 133, 138, 148, 149, and 154 (D. xlvii, li,
lx, lxi, and lxv) contain, on an average, ten regiments each. Four
regiments are always present, and five more occur in four diplomata
out of the five. This makes it sufficiently clear that, on the theory
given above, the auxilia of the same legion must always be referred to,
particularly in view of the immobility of the frontier troops in the
second century (see below, pp. 114-16), which forbids the supposition
that the same regiments would appear first attached to one legion,
then, after a few years’ interval, to another.
[146] The earliest I know of is _legio III Augusta et auxilia eius_,
which dates from 158. viii. 2637. Other instances are a dedication
at Bonn by _legio I Minervia pia fidelis Severiana Alexandriana cum
auxilis_ (xiii. 8017), and a Pannonian inscription of the reign of
Gallienus which mentions _vexillationes legionum Germaniciarum et
Brittanniciarum_ (at least this seems to be intended) _cum auxilis
earum_. iii. 3228. The formula is certainly a rare one.
[147] _Studies in Roman History_, Second Series, p. 112.
[148] What exactly this amounted to is difficult to make out. It
would be natural to suppose a system of military districts within
the province. In Britain, for instance, the line between Tyne and
Solway, with the auxilia upon it, might have been divided between
Legio VI Victrix from York and Legio XX Valeria Victrix from Chester.
Unfortunately the epigraphical evidence does not support the idea that
the activity of the two legions was localized in this way. The point is
obscure and would not have been worth such a detailed discussion but
for the unwarrantable facility with which it is usually disposed of.
[149] Tac. _Ann._ iv. 5 ‘At apud idonea provinciarum sociae triremes
alaeque et auxilia cohortium, neque multo secus in iis virium: sed
persequi incertum fuit, cum ex usu temporis huc illuc mearent,
gliscerent numero et aliquando minuerentur’. The _sociae triremes_,
i.e. the Rhine fleet, &c., counterbalance the Italian fleets at Ravenna
and Misenum.
[150] Velleius, ii. 113.
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