I(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo) mil(ites) v[e]xil(larii) coh(ortium) P(annoniae) sup(erioris) cives Sisc(iani) Varcian(i) et Latobici sacrum fecerunt. A. E. 1909. 235. 1910. p. 6.
The vexillation had presumably taken part in suppressing one of the Jewish rebellions in the first half of the second century.
| II. B. Pannonia Inferior. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Ala I Thracum Veterana Sagittariorum | Eraviscus | Pannonia | D. lxxiv (167). |
Cohors I Alpinorum | Eraviscus | Pannonia | D. lxviii (154-60). |
Cohors I Thracum[224] | Andautonia | Pannonia | iii. 4316. |
| II. C. Dacia. | |||
Ala I Gallorum et Bosporanorum | Bessus | Thrace | D. lxvii (158). |
Ala I Hispanorum Campagonum[225] | Dacus | Dacia | vi. 3238. |
Ala I Tungrorum Frontoniana[226] | Thrace | iii. 799. | |
Vexillatio equitum Illyricorum[227] | Sebastopolitanus | Pontus | D. xlvi (129). |
Ala I Illyricorum | Dacus | Dacia | vi. 3234. |
Cohors I Ulpia Brittonum | Britto | Britain | D. lxx (145-61). |
Cohors III Campestris | Scupi | Moesia Superior | iii. 7289. |
Cohors I Vindelicorum | Caesarea | Palestine(?) | D. lxvi (157?). |
The facts disclosed by these inscriptions are very significant. In the first list, as is natural, we find traces of the troops transferred into Pannonia from other provinces after the great rebellion. It is more important, however, to notice that before the end of the reign of Tiberius natives of the province were already being accepted for service in these imported regiments.[228] In fact there is nothing here to suggest that any attempt was made to preserve the national character of these Spanish and Alpine corps by obtaining fresh drafts from the districts in which they were originally raised. Those recruits who do not come from Pannonia itself are drawn merely from the neighbouring provinces of Dalmatia and Thrace.
But it would perhaps be misleading to infer from this evidence alone that local recruiting was universally adopted in the first century, although it was certainly common. It is possible that in the Flavian period, when the memory of the rebellion of Civilis was still fresh, some attempt was made to check a national cohesion by combining drafts from different provinces in the same regiment. This at least is suggested by the nationalities of twenty-one soldiers of an auxiliary regiment which are recorded on a sepulchral inscription at Tropaeum Traiani in Moesia Inferior.[229] This monument was erected in memory of men killed in action during one of the Dacian campaigns either of Domitian or Trajan, so that its evidence applies to the recruiting of the Flavian period. Twelve of these men came from the Lower Rhine, two from Lugdunensis, and three from Spain, while Raetia, Noricum, Britain, and Africa supply one each.[230] In Pannonia, too, some Spanish soldiers appear rather mysteriously in an Ala Pannoniorum on two inscriptions which can hardly be later than the beginning of the second century.[231] There are even traces of a similar policy having been pursued in the recruiting for the legions during the same period. In a list of seventy-six soldiers who were apparently enrolled in Legio III Augusta towards the end of the first century, we find men from seven different provinces.[232] In any case, however, no attempt seems to have been made to preserve any connexion between an auxiliary regiment and the tribe from which its title was derived.
When we come to the second century there is no more room for doubt; for all cohorts and alae on the Pannonian frontier, leaving out of account, as before, the oriental regiments, local recruiting has become practically universal. Seventy per cent. of the recruits come from the two Pannonian provinces, the majority from the Azali and the Eravisci, tribes which never gave their name to an auxiliary regiment. Even the Thracian regiments, which might have maintained their original character without much difficulty, form no exception to the rule. In Dacia the exceptionally large auxiliary garrison[233] could not be supported entirely by local levies, but the deficiency was mostly made up in the nearest available recruiting-grounds of Moesia and Thrace.
A few examples may be adduced from other provinces to show that the methods employed on the Danube frontier were not exceptional. In Germania Superior three soldiers of the Alae I and II Flaviae Geminae describe themselves as Baetasius, Elvetius, and Secuanus, and the Raetian diploma of the year 107 was granted to a Boian who had served in the Ala I Hispanorum Auriana.[234] In Africa a soldier of the Cohors VII Lusitanorum gives ‘castris’ as his place of origin, as do the majority of the veterans discharged during the second century from the African legion III Augusta.[235] Concerning the Eastern provinces we have very little evidence, but it may be noted that of the large number of regiments raised by Trajan in this part of the Empire the majority remained stationed in the East throughout the following century, and there is no reason to suppose that they were not kept up by local levies.[236]
The recruiting of the legions during the second century seems to have followed the same lines. The high proportion of men of Legio III Augusta in Africa who give ‘castris’ as their birthplace has already been noted. Similarly of 39 soldiers discharged from Legio II Traiana at Alexandria in 194, 22 come from the ‘castra’, 8 from the Greek towns in Egypt, and only 9 were not born in the province.[237] Of 133 soldiers discharged in the following year from Legio VII Claudia stationed at Viminacium, 104 come from Upper or Lower Moesia, and of the remainder all but one come from the Danubian provinces.[238] Further evidence on the recruiting-area of the auxilia during this period can be obtained from another source, the inscriptions of the Equites Singulares Imperatoris. This corps, which seems to have been raised towards the end of the first century, possibly by Domitian,[239] formed thenceforward a part of the imperial guard, and was stationed at Rome. It was recruited mainly from the same area as the auxiliary alae, and a certain number of the men were selected from them.[240] On a hundred epitaphs of members of this corps who recorded their place of origin, the provinces are represented in the following proportions:[241]
| Britain | 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Germania Inferior | 1 | |
| Germania Superior | 2 | |
| Belgica | 1 | |
| Raetia | 10 | |
| Noricum | 9 | |
| Pannonia | 30 | [242] |
| Dalmatia | 1 | |
| Thrace | 11 | |
| Moesia | 4 | [242] |
| Dacia | 7 | |
| Syria | 4 | |
| Africa | 2 | |
| Mauretania | 3 |