These men cannot fairly be called barbarians. Massilia of course speaks for itself, but in Theveste, Thysdrus, and Lambaesis Roman culture was no new thing at the beginning of the third century. The same may be said of Caesarea, if the capital of Mauretania be meant. Berytus, too, was a colony famous for its Roman character, and Asia was not a province notorious for its barbarism. The increased oriental element, which is certainly noticeable among the auxilia of this period, although not to the same extent as in other branches of the service, is a more significant fact. But however undesirable one may consider the influence of oriental religions and ideals to have been, the conflict cannot be called one between civilization and barbarism. The real matter at issue is the wisdom of the imperial government in utilizing the material which the spread of culture and prosperity provided, and substituting for the old hegemony of Italy a governing class drawn from all parts of the Empire. It is true that this policy was a failure, and that the Empire organized on this basis did not succeed in erecting defences strong enough to resist the external pressure brought to bear upon them in the third and fourth centuries. But if it was a failure it was not necessarily a mistake.[310] It is more than doubtful whether a narrower policy which rigidly maintained the supremacy of the Italians and denied to the majority of the provincials all share in the administration would have been more successful: it is certain that, had the progress of civilization lacked the stimulus which the hope of political power supplied, the after-effects of the Roman Empire in Europe would have been less. Footnotes: [158] The distinction was not necessarily connected with the position of _civitas foederata_ in the technical sense. Several important _civitates foederatae_, such as the Aedui and Remi in Gaul, did not, so far as we know, give their name to regiments, and many of the tribes which did were not _civitates foederatae_. [159] In Asturia, however, the administrative conventus formed the recruiting districts; hence the regiments of Astures, Bracaraugustani, and Lucenses. Mommsen, _Conscriptionsordnung_, p. 47. [160] We find regiments of Batavi, Canninefates, Cugerni, Frisii, Lingones, Menapii, Morini, Nemetes, Nervii, Sunuci, Sugambri, Tungri, Ubii, Usipi, and Vangiones. In the other Gallic provinces the only tribal names which occur are the Bituriges and Aquitani from Aquitania and the Vocontii from Narbonensis. [161] A Cohors II Augustia Nervia Pacensis Brittonum is mentioned on a Pannonian diploma for 114 (D. xxxix) and the name of Cohors I of the series should probably be restored on the Dacian diploma dated 145-61 (D. lxx). This title is unintelligible; it does not seem possible to connect it with the Emperor Nerva. [162] For further information as to the evidence on which this table is based see Appendix II.