[157] On the other hand, Legio IX Hispana, destroyed in Britain at the beginning of the reign, and XXII Deiotariana, which was probably annihilated in Judaea either at the same date or twenty years later, were not replaced until Marcus raised legions II and III Italica for the defence of Noricum and Raetia.
SECTION II
RECRUITING AND DISTRIBUTION
In making a levy for the auxiliary regiments, the imperial government was under no obligation to be at pains to legalize its position. In an ancient state it was assumed, as a matter of course, that the government had the power to call upon every citizen, if need arose, to take his place in the fighting line. Even the privileged cives Romani were never freed under the Empire from the legal obligation to military service, however much they may have been spared in practice, so that there can have been little doubt about the position of peregrini. Only in the case of the civitates foederatae was the government theoretically required to limit its demands to the number of men stipulated in the original foedus.
So much for the position in theory; in practice, of course it was not to the interests of the government to raise troops without considering the susceptibilities of its subjects, more particularly since the inhabitants of those districts which would furnish the best soldiers would also prove the most dangerous rebels if the demands made upon them exceeded their endurance. One instance of the conciliatory policy followed by the early Empire has already been noted; the exemption of the Batavians from all burdens but military service flattered their pride and enlisted their clan-spirit effectually on the side of the Romans. Evidence of a similar policy is apparent in the selection of the ethnical titles borne by the majority of the auxiliary regiments. In spite of the obvious convenience of such a step it was unusual for all the auxilia raised in one province to form a single series with a uniform designation. Wherever the clan-spirit existed, the name of the clan was accepted as the official title of the contingent which it furnished to the imperial forces.[158] In Tarraconensis, for example, while the more civilized part of the province was represented by the alae and cohortes Hispanorum, several of the wild tribes of the north and west, such as the Aravaci, Vardulli, and Vascones gave their name to the regiments which they supplied.[159] The Gallic levies reveal a similar policy; while the contingents of the comparatively peaceful Lugdunensis seem to be covered by the general title of Galli, a list of the levies of Belgica contains the name of almost every tribe in that warlike province.[160] Indeed it is probable that during the first years of the Empire many of these tribal contingents fought, like the Batavians, as allies rather than as subjects of Rome, and knew little of Roman training or discipline.
In the East the historic position of the great city-states of Syria received similar recognition. Among the numerous regiments of archers contributed by this province we can distinguish the contingents of Ascalon, Tyre, Antioch, and Apamea, as well as corps from Chalcis, Damascus, Hemesa, and Samaria, who represented the incorporated armies of the old client states.
The incidence of the levy upon different provinces can best be judged by a statistical table giving the number of regiments raised in each. This is not easy to construct owing to the confusion caused by the duplication of numbering, and the consequent danger of counting the same corps twice over, or of reckoning two corps as one. There were, for example, in Pannonia two cohorts, each bearing the title ‘I Alpinorum’, which can fortunately be distinguished from one another because they are both mentioned in the same diploma, but there are scores of similar cases which can only be decided as yet on a balance of probabilities. This extremely inconvenient system seems to be due to two causes. In the first place, when new regiments were raised some time after the original levy they seem to have begun a fresh series instead of being included in the old ones. This process can be followed most clearly in the case of regiments raised after 70, which were distinguished by a title derived from the name of the reigning emperor. Thus we have cohorts I and II Flavia Brittonum, I Ulpia Brittonum, I Aelia Brittonum, and I Aurelia Brittonum.[161] Secondly, it seems probable that when newly-raised regiments were drafted into different provinces they were numbered in a different series in each province. This suggestion is supported by the fact that where a regiment bearing a high number is found, it generally appears that the rest of the series was originally stationed in the same province, whereas isolated cohorts generally have a low number. For example, the greater part of the Gallic levies were originally stationed on the Rhine. Consequently, we find few duplicate numbers and several series which run up to four or even higher. The Thracian regiments, on the other hand, on account of their special utility as archers, were distributed very widely throughout the Empire during the first century, and of the twenty-seven corps known to us, seventeen are numbered I or II, and are distributed over eight provinces.
Apart from this difficulty the following list contains in any case more regiments than ever existed at any one time. Fresh regiments must have been raised to fill the gaps caused by such disasters as the defeat of Varus and the rebellion of Boudicca, but in only a few cases can we distinguish the earlier from the later levies. It is only possible to put in a separate class those regiments which bear a title derived from the Flavians or later emperors, and were probably raised after 70. Still, if these limitations are borne in mind, the following table may serve to show approximately the quota which each province contributed:
| A. Raised before 70. | B. Raised after 70. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recruiting area. | Alae. | Cohorts. | Alae. | Cohorts. |
| Britain | 2 | 10[162] | 0 | 6 |
| Belgica | 5 | 45 | 1 | 11[163] |
| Lugdunensis | 25[164] | 24[165] | 0 | 0 |
| Aquitania | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Narbonensis | 2[166] | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alpes[167] | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Raetia | 0 | 18 | 0 | 1 |
| Noricum | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Pannonia | 5 | 17 | 3 | 1 |
| Dalmatia | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4[168] |
| Moesia | 1 | 3[169] | 1 | 2[170] |
| Dacia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Thrace | 9 | 20 | 0 | 2 |
| Macedonia | 0 | 3[171] | 0 | 0 |
| Galatia | 1[172] | 0 | 0 | 6[173] |
| Cilicia | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Cyprus | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Crete | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Cyrenaica | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Syria | 3[174] | 15[175] | 1 | 12 |
| Palestine[176] | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Arabia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Egypt | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Africa | 2 | 5 | 3 | 6 |
| Mauretania | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[177] |
| Tarraconensis | 11 | 49[178] | 1 | 4 |
| Lusitania | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Corsica and Sardinia | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 |