ments of fortification, and the provision of many
days. Under this weight, which would oppress the delicacy of a modern
soldier, they were trained by a regular step to advance, in about six
hours, near twenty miles. On the appearance of an enemy, they threw
aside their baggage, and by easy and rapid evolutions converted the
column of march into an order of battle. The slingers and archers
skirmished in the front; the auxiliaries formed the first line, and
were seconded or sustained by the strength of the legions; the cavalry
covered the flanks, and the military engines were placed in the rear.

Such were the arts of war, by which the Roman emperors defended their
extensive conquests, and preserved a military spirit, at a time when
every other virtue was oppressed by luxury and despotism. If, in the
consideration of their armies, we pass from their discipline to their
numbers, we shall not find it easy to define them with any tolerable
accuracy. We may compute, however, that the legion, which was itself a
body of six thousand eight hundred and thirty-one Romans, might, with
its attendant auxiliaries, amount to about twelve thousand five hundred
men. The peace establishment of Hadrian and his successors was composed
of no less than thirty of these formidable brigades; and most probably
formed a standing force of three hundred and seventy-five thousand men.
Instead of being confined within the walls of fortified cities, which
the Romans considered as the refuge of weakness or pusillanimity, the
legions were encamped on the banks of the great rivers, and along the
frontiers of the barbarians. As their stations, for the most
part, remained fixed and permanent, we may venture to describe the
distribution of the troops. Three legions were sufficient for Britain.
The principal strength lay upon the Rhine and Danube, and consisted of
sixteen legions, in the following proportions: two in the Lower, and
three in the Upper Germany; one in Rhaetia, one in Noricum, four in
Pannonia, three in Maesia, and two in Dacia. The defence of the Euphrates
was intrusted to eight legions, six of whom were planted in Syria, and
the other two in Cappadocia. With regard to Egypt, Africa, and Spain, as
they were far removed from any important scene of war, a single legion
maintained the domestic tranquillity of each of those great provinces.
Even Italy was not left destitute of a military force. Above twenty
thousand chosen soldiers, distinguished by