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24Now that I have once been led into giving an account of the legions, I shall speak of the other legions also which exist to -day and tell of their enlistment by the emperors subsequent to Augustus, my purpose being that, if any one desires to learn about them, the statement of all the facts in a single portion of my book may provide him easily with the information. 2Nero organized the First Legion, called the Italica, which has its winter quarters in Lower Moesia; Galba the First (Adiutrix), with quarters in Lower Pannonia, 3and the Seventh (Gemina), in Spain; Vespasian the Second (Adiutrix), in Lower Pannonia, the Fourth (Flavia), in Upper Moesia, and the Sixteenth (Flavia), in Syria; Domitian the First (Minervia), in Lower Germany; Trajan the Second (Aegyptia) 4and the Thirtieth (Germanica), both of which he also named after himself; Marcus Antoninus the Second, in Noricum, and the Third, in Rhaetia, both of which are called Italica; and Severus the Parthicae—the First and Third, quartered in Mesopotamia, and the Second, quartered in Italy.
5This is at present the number of the legions of regularly enrolled troops, exclusive of the city cohorts and the pretorian guard; but at that time, in the days of Augustus, those I have mentioned were being maintained, whether the number is twenty-three or twenty-five, and there were also allied forces of infantry, cavalry, and sailors, whatever their numbers may have been (for I can not state the exact figures). 6Then there were the body-guards, ten thousand in number and organized in ten divisions, and the watchmen of the city, six thousand in number and organized in four divisions; 7and there were also picked foreign horsemen, who were given the name of Batavians, after the island of Batavia in the Rhine, inasmuch as the Batavians are excellent horsemen. 8I can not, however, give their exact number any more than I can that of the Evocati. These last-named Augustus began to make a practice of employing from the time when he called again into service against Antony the troops who had served with his father, and he maintained them afterwards; they constitute even now a special corps, and carry rods, like the centurions.
9Now Augustus lacked funds for all these troops, and therefore he introduced a proposal in the senate that revenues in sufficient amount and continuing from year to year should be set aside, in order that the soldiers might receive without stint from the taxes levied their maintenance and bonuses without any outside source being put to annoyance. The means for such a fund were accordingly sought. Now when no one showed a willingness to become aedile, some men from the ranks of the ex-quaestors and ex-tribunes were compelled by lot to take the office—a thing which happened on many other occasions.
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