The Provinces of the Roman Empire, from Caesar to Diocletian. v. 1Mommsen, Theodor
History
The Provinces of the Roman Empire, from Caesar to Diocletian. v. 1
Mommsen, Theodor
Roman provinces -- Administration; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
The forces, however, which Rome had here at her disposal, were more
than inadequate. The insignificant garrison of Asia Minor, and the
fleet, likewise small on the Black Sea, were of account at most for the
Greek inhabitants of its northern and western coasts. A very difficult
task was assigned to the governor of Moesia, who with his two legions
had to protect the bank of the Danube from Belgrade to the mouth; and
the aid of the far from obedient Thracians was under the circumstances
an additional danger. Especially towards the mouth of the Danube there
was wanting a sufficient bulwark against the barbarians now pressing on
with increasing weight. The withdrawal on two occasions of the Danubian
legions to Italy in the troubles after Nero's death provoked still
more at the mouth of the Danube, than on the lower Rhine, incursions
of the neighbouring peoples, at first of the Roxolani, then of the
Dacians, then of the Sarmatae, that is, probably the Jazyges. There
were severe conflicts; in one of these engagements, apparently with the
Jazyges, the brave governor of Moesia, Gaius Fonteius Agrippa, fell.
Nevertheless, Vespasian did not proceed to increase the army of the
Danube;[126] the necessity of strengthening the Asiatic garrisons must
have appeared still more urgent, and the economy specially enjoined
at that time forbade any increase of the army as a whole. He contented
himself with pushing forward the great camps of the army of the Danube
to the frontier of the empire, as the pacification of the interior
allowed, and the relations subsisting at the frontier, as well as the
breaking up of the Thracian troops brought about by the annexation of
Thrace, imperatively required. Thus the Pannonian camps were brought
away from the Drave, opposite to the Suebian kingdom, to Carnuntum and
Vindobona (p. 206), and the Dalmatian from the Kerka and the Cettina
to the Moesian bank of the Danube,[127] so that the governor of Moesia
thenceforth disposed of double the number of legions.
[Sidenote: Dacian war of Domitian.]
[Sidenote: Decebalus.]
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