The History of Rome: Rise and Fall of the Empire. John Bagnell Bury
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observed that on this occasion Augustus was not consul, and the Principate no longer depended on the consular power; so that the appointment of Taurus aspraefectus urbi was a constitutional novelty. But, under Augustus, the post was never anything but temporary, during the Emperor's absence from Italy. It was not until the reign of his successor Tiberius that the praefectura urbis became a permanent institution.
In Italy as well as in Rome the senate proved itself unequal to discharging the duties of a government, and the Emperor was obliged to step in. The cum viarum was instituted for the repair of the public roads (20 B.C.). A curator was set over each road. For the main roads leading from Rome to the frontiers of Italy, these officers were selected from the praetorian senators; for the lesser roads, from the knights. Italy, like Rome, was divided into regions, eleven in number, Rome itself making the twelfth. The object of this division is uncertain; but may have been made for purposes of taxation. In any case, the regions were not administrative districts, for the independence of the political communities in managing their own affairs was not infringed on by Augustus or any of his successors till the time of Trajan.
The imperial post, an institution which applied to the whole Empire, may be mentioned here. It was a creation of Augustus, who established relays of vehicles at certain stations along the military roads, to convey himself or his messengers without and secure rapid official communication between the capital and the various provinces. The use of these arrangements was strictly limited to imperial officers and messengers, or those to whom he gave a special passport, calleddiploma. The costs of the vehicles and horses, and other expenses, fell upon the communities in which the stations were established. This requisition led to abuses, and in later times the expenses were defrayed by the fiscus. It is to be observed that this institution had not assumed under Augustus anything like the proportions which it assumed a century or so later, as the cursus publicus.
The Augustales. Freedmen were strictly excluded from holding magistracies and priestly offices, and from sitting in the municipal councils, or senates throughout the Empire. Caesar the Dictator had indeed sometimes relaxed this rule in their favour beyond Italy, but Augustus strictly enforced and excludedlibertini from government. Their exclusion was economically a public loss. For one of the chief sources from which the town treasuries were supplied was the contributions levied on new magistrates and priests, whether in the form of direct payments or of undertaking the exhibition of public games. As the freedmen could not become magistrates or priests, they were not liable to these burdens, which they would have been glad to undertake. In order to open a field to their ambition, and at the same time to make their wealth available for the public service, Augustus created a new institution, entitled the Augustales, probably in the early years of his principate. (1) This organisation was first established in Italy, and the Latin provinces of the west. In Africa it was not common, and it is not found at all in the eastern part of the Empire. (2) It was not called into being by a law of Augustus, but at his suggestion the several communities decreed an institution, which was in every way profitable to them. (3) The institution consisted in the creation every year of six men, Sexviri Augustales, who were nominated by the decurions (the chief municipal magistrates). (4) These sexviri were magistrates, not priests; but their magistracy was only formal, as they had no magisterial functions to perform. (5) But like true magistrates they had public burdens to sustain; they had to make a payment to the public treasury when they entered upon their office, and they had to defray the cost of games. (6) The sexviri were almost always chosen from the class of the libertini. This rule held good without exception in southern Italy. (7) After their year of office the sexviri Augustales, were called Augustales, just as consuls after their year of office were called consulares. Thus the Augustalesformed a distinct rank, to which it was the ambition of every freedman to belong. (8) One of the most interesting points about the institution is that it seems to have been partly modelled upon the organization of the Roman knights. The designation of the sexviri of the order of the Augustales seems to have been borrowed from the order of the Equites, and perhaps was introduced about the same time. Moreover the Augustales occupied the same position in Italy and the provinces, as the knights occupied at Rome; they were the municipal image of the knights. They represented the capitalists and mercantile classes in contrast with the nobility and landed proprietors; they bore the same relation to the municipal senate as the knights to the Roman senate.
SECT. III. — ORGANISATION OF THE ARMY AND FLEET
Augustus introduced some radical changes into the Roman military system. In the first place, he established a standing army. It was quite logical that the permanent imperator should have a permanent army under his command. The legions distributed throughout those provinces, which required military protection, have now permanent camps. In the second place, he organized the auxilia, and made them an essential part of the military forces of the Empire. Thirdly, he separated the fleet from the army; and fourthly, he established the praetorian guards. Augustus spent great care on the organization of the army, but it is generally admitted that he acted unwisely in reducing the number of legions after the civil wars. This step was chiefly dictated by considerations of economy, in order to diminish the public burdens; but the standing army which he maintained, of about 250,000 men, was inadequate for the defence of such a great empire against its foes on the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates, not to speak of lesser dangers in other quarters.
At the death of Augustus, the legions numbered twenty-five. Each legion consisted of not more than 6000, not less than 5000, foot-soldiers and 120 horse-soldiers. The foot-soldiers were divided into ten cohorts, and each cohort into six centuries. Each century had a standard (signum) of its own. The horse-soldiers were divided into four turmae. Only those were admitted to legionary service who were freeborn, and belonged to a city-community.
To the legions were attached auxiliary troops (auxilia), recruited from the provincials, who did not belong to urban communities. They were divided into cohorts, and consisted of footmen and horsemen, or both combined. Some foot-cohorts were composed of about 500 men, and were divided into six centuries; such were called quingenariae. Others were larger and contained 1000 men divided into ten centuries; these were militariae. Mixed cohorts of both horse and foot-soldiers, were termed equitatae. The alae consisted only of horse-soldiers and also varied in size. The auxiliary troops, when attached to a legion, were under the control of the commander of the legion. But they could also act separately, and some provinces were garrisoned exclusively by auxilia.
The legions were distinguished by numbers and by names; for example,legio X. gemina, XXI. rapax, or VI. victrix.
Besides these troops there were cohorts of Italian volunteers, of whom we seldom hear; and there were in some provinces bodies of provincial militia. Moreover, Augustus had a body-guard of German soldiers to protect his person; but he disbanded it in 9 A.D.. With the exception of the legions stationed in Egypt, and the auxiliary troops in some small provinces, the military forces of the Empire were commanded by senators. This leads us to an important institution of Augustus, the legatus legionis, an officer of senatorial, generally praetorian, rank, who commanded both the legion and the auxilia associated with it. The military tribune thus became subordinate to the legatus. He was merely a "tribune of the legion", and on an equality with the prefect of an auxiliary cohort, while his position was rather inferior to that of a prefect of an auxiliary squadron. These three posts (tribunatus legionis, praefectura cohortis, praefectura alae) were the three "equestrian offices", open to the sons of senators who aspired to a public career. The prefect of the camp (praefectus castrorum) was not of senatorial rank, and was generally taken from theprimipili, or first of the first class of centurions. He was subject to the governor of the province in which the camp was situated; but he was not subject to thelegatus legionis. He had no power of capital punishment. In Egypt, from which senators were excluded, there was no legatus legionis, and the prefect of the camp took his place.
The time of service for a legionary soldier was fixed (5 A.D..) at twenty years, for an auxiliary at twenty-five. The government was bound to provide for the discharged veterans, by giving them farms or sums of money. It became the custom, however, for some soldiers, after their regular term, to continue in the service of the state, in special divisions, and with special privileges. These divisions were known as the vexilla veteranorum, and were only employed in battle.
The expenses of this military system