DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0227
Africa
under
Marcus
Aurelius
' In the days of Augustus and his successor, the legion
quartered in Africa, with the auxiliary troops employed to
defend the frontiers of the provinces, was under the control of
the proconsul. But Caligula, whose disposition was wild and
uncertain, was led to suspect Marcus Silanus, at that time
governor of Africa. To settle any doubts on the matter, the
Emperor transferred the command of the legion to an imperial
lieutenant, whom he despatched from Rome for that purpose.
The result was that, the power of granting preferment being
divided between them, dissension arose and a spirit of rivalry
aggravated the evil.'1 But the African legion was supplemented
by many others drafted into the country in the time of need ; for,
in the index to the volumes of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinaruvi
relating to the African provinces, Wilmanns and others mention
the following legions noted in inscriptions as having served
in different districts : i\pollinaris, Claudia, Cyrenaica, Ferrata,
Flavia, Fretensis, Fulminata, Gallica, Hispana, Italica, Mace-
donica, Parthica, Primigenia, Scythica, Severiana, Ulpia, Valeria,
Victrix, besides various vexillationes, alee, and cohortes auxiliaries.
Twenty-six of these legions were formed before the reign of
Trajan, who added the II Trajana and the III Ulpia Victrix.
Marcus Aurelius subsequently added the II Italica and the
III Italica. In the time of Septimius Severus the list was
increased by the addition of the I Parthica, II Parthica, and
III Parthica. The names given to the legions originated from
various sources, mostly from the countries or provinces where
they were raised, or in honour of successful campaigns. For
instance, Gemina appears to have been adopted where two
bodies of troops levied in the same country formed one legion.
The little Fulminata had its origin under peculiar circumstances,
which have not been disputed. According to Capitolinus, the
Roman army under Marcus Aurelius was sore pressed in the
war against the Quadi,2 on account of a long continuance of hot
weather and scarcity of water arising from a long period of
1 Tacitus, Hist. iv. 48.
2 The Quadi were a powerful tribe located in the south-east of what is now known
as Bohemia. (Tacit. Hist. iii. 5. 21.) They ceased to exist at the end of the fourth
century. Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 12) refers to their methods of warfare, which
bear a strong resemblance to the tactics of the Boers in the South African war. He
says that they had generally three swift horses for every man, and that they were more
skilled in skirmishing than at close quarters in a battlefield.
M 2
under
Marcus
Aurelius
' In the days of Augustus and his successor, the legion
quartered in Africa, with the auxiliary troops employed to
defend the frontiers of the provinces, was under the control of
the proconsul. But Caligula, whose disposition was wild and
uncertain, was led to suspect Marcus Silanus, at that time
governor of Africa. To settle any doubts on the matter, the
Emperor transferred the command of the legion to an imperial
lieutenant, whom he despatched from Rome for that purpose.
The result was that, the power of granting preferment being
divided between them, dissension arose and a spirit of rivalry
aggravated the evil.'1 But the African legion was supplemented
by many others drafted into the country in the time of need ; for,
in the index to the volumes of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinaruvi
relating to the African provinces, Wilmanns and others mention
the following legions noted in inscriptions as having served
in different districts : i\pollinaris, Claudia, Cyrenaica, Ferrata,
Flavia, Fretensis, Fulminata, Gallica, Hispana, Italica, Mace-
donica, Parthica, Primigenia, Scythica, Severiana, Ulpia, Valeria,
Victrix, besides various vexillationes, alee, and cohortes auxiliaries.
Twenty-six of these legions were formed before the reign of
Trajan, who added the II Trajana and the III Ulpia Victrix.
Marcus Aurelius subsequently added the II Italica and the
III Italica. In the time of Septimius Severus the list was
increased by the addition of the I Parthica, II Parthica, and
III Parthica. The names given to the legions originated from
various sources, mostly from the countries or provinces where
they were raised, or in honour of successful campaigns. For
instance, Gemina appears to have been adopted where two
bodies of troops levied in the same country formed one legion.
The little Fulminata had its origin under peculiar circumstances,
which have not been disputed. According to Capitolinus, the
Roman army under Marcus Aurelius was sore pressed in the
war against the Quadi,2 on account of a long continuance of hot
weather and scarcity of water arising from a long period of
1 Tacitus, Hist. iv. 48.
2 The Quadi were a powerful tribe located in the south-east of what is now known
as Bohemia. (Tacit. Hist. iii. 5. 21.) They ceased to exist at the end of the fourth
century. Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 12) refers to their methods of warfare, which
bear a strong resemblance to the tactics of the Boers in the South African war. He
says that they had generally three swift horses for every man, and that they were more
skilled in skirmishing than at close quarters in a battlefield.
M 2