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legions ; the cavalry covered the flanks, and the chap.
military engines were placed in the rear. _j_
Such were the arts of war, by which the Ro- Numberman emperors defended theirextensiveconquests, siticnof 0and preserved a military spirit, at a time when tliele s ,on *every other virtue was oppressed by luxury anddespotism. If, in the consideration of their ar-mies, we pass from their discipline to their num-bers, we shall not find it easy to define them withany tolerable accuracy. We may compute, how-ever, that the legion, which was itself a body of sixthousand eight hundred and thirty-one Romans,might, with its attendant auxiliaries, amount toabout twelve thousand five hundred men. ThepeaceestablishmentofHadrianand hissuccessorswas composed of no less than thirty of theseformidable brigades; and most probably formeda standing force of threehundred and seventy fivethousand men. Instead of being confined withinthe walls of fortified cities, which the Romansconsidered as the refuge of weakness or pusillani-mity, the legions were encamped on the banks ofthe great rivers, and along the frontiers of thebarbarians. As their stations, for the most part,remained fixed and permanent, we may ventureto describe the distribution of the troops. Threelegions were sufficient for Britain . The principalstrength lay upon the Rhine and Danube , andconsisted of sixteen legions, in the following pro-portions; two in the Lower, and three in theUpper Germany; one in Rhaetia , one in Nori-cum, four in Pannonia , three in Maesia, and twoin Dacia. The defence of the Euphrates was