[298] In a list of over two hundred and fifty _praefecti_ whose place of origin is known I have not come across one from either of these provinces. But it is of course impossible to be sure that such a list is even as complete as the existing evidence permits. [299] For the military qualities of the Gauls in the fourth century cf. Ammianus Marcellinus, xv. 12, xix. 6. [300] _A. E._ 1899. 177. [301] Such men probably stood a better chance than the Greeks. See my article on the Caristanii of Pisidian Antioch in _J. R. S._ iii. [302] Possibly curator, the Greek being ἐπιμελητής. [303] _A. E._ 1911. 161. A son, or other relative, who erected the inscription was _praefectus cohortis II Hispanorum equitatae, C. R., tribunus cohortis III Ulpiae Petraeorum_. [304] It is true that we do not know where the Cohors III Thracum Syriaca was stationed, but the other units in the series of four bearing this title all appear in the East. The Cohors II Hispanorum, in which his son served, is probably that mentioned on an inscription from Ancyra. iii. 6760. [305] D. xlviii and cviii. [306] Cf. Tacitus’s remarks in the _Annals_, xiii. 35, with the account in Dio Cassius, lxxv. 11-13, of the siege of Hatra by Septimius Severus, especially τῶν μὲν Εὐρωπαίων, τῶν δυναμένων τι κατεργάσασθαι and the promise of one of the officers ἐάν γε αὐτῷ δώσῃ πεντακοσίους καὶ πεντήκοντα μόνους τῶν Εὐρωπαίων στρατιωτῶν, ἄνευ τοῦ τῶν ἄλλων κινδύνου τὴν πόλιν ἐξαιρήσειν. [307] This point has been well made by Dessau in _Hermes_, 1910. The evidence does, however, suggest that an unusually large proportion of Africans obtained commands during the reign of Septimius Severus. [308] This is put very strongly on pages 133 and 134 of the _Rangordnung_, ‘die Italiker und die Weströmer sind von der _militia equestris_ ausgeschlossen.’ [309] The first name is that of the province in which the praefectus was stationed. His place of origin is placed last. [310] Its best justification is the solidarity of the Empire in the fourth century, which appears so markedly in the pages of Ammianus, and exercised so powerful an influence over the minds of the barbarian invaders. SECTION III THE USE OF THE AUXILIA FOR WAR AND FRONTIER DEFENCE