OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
23
and government, the most wealthy of the eques- chap.
trian order were engaged in the administration- 1 —
of justice, and of the revenue ; f and wheneverthey embraced the profession of arms, they wereimmediately entrusted with a troop of horse, or acohort of foot.® Trajan and Hadrian formedtheir cavalry from the same provinces, and thesame class of their subjects, which recruited theranks of the legion. The horses were bred, forthe most part, in Spain or Cappadocia . TheRoman troopers despised the complete armourwith which the cavalry of the East was encum-bered. Their more useful arms consisted in ahelmet, an oblong shield, light boots, and a coatof mail. A javelin, and a long broad-sword, weretheir principal weapons of offence. The use oflances, and of iron maces, they seem to have bor-rowed from the barbarians. I 11
The safety and honour of the empire were prin- ABxilia .cipally entrusted to the legions ; but the policy of ries -Rome condescended to adopt every useful instru-ment of war. Considerable levies were regularlymade among the provincials, who had not yetdeserved the honourable distinction of Romans.
Many dependent princes and communities dis-persed round the frontiers, were permitted, fora while, to hold their freedom and security by the
I Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii, 2. The true sense of that very curiouspassage was first discovered and illustrated by M. de Beaufort, Repub-lique Romaine, 1. ii, c. 2.
6 As in the instance of Horace and Agricola. This appears to havebeen a defect in the Roman discipline, which Hadrian endeavoured toremedy, by ascertaining the legal age of a tribune.