ABSTRACT
The Roman provincial armies consisted basically of two main elements, the legionaries, who were all citizens, and the auxiliaries recruited from non-citizens. Some provinces had units of the Fleet, especially on large rivers like the Rhine and Danube, and Britain had its own fleet the Classis Britannica. The Imperial bodyguard, the Praetorian Guards and Equites Singulares (the Imperial mounted bodyguard) normally remained in Rome and accompanied the Emperor on his campaigns. The army was in a constant state of change, yet essential adjustments were sometimes not made until forced by internal pressure. This is well illustrated by the great mutiny on the Rhine in AD 4. Augustus had always been reluctant to alter long standing regulations and practices. He had inherited a very large number of troops of several armies, some of which had been in opposition in the civil war. The task of reducing this force to a manageable size was successfully accomplished by means of substantial land grants and the founding of coloniae, many financed out of his own funds. This could not continue indefinitely and he was obliged, in spite of senatorial opposition, to create in AD 6 a military chest aerarium militare by levying a death duty and a tax on public auctions (Dio, lv. 25). He earlier made an important regulation dealing with the length of service of 16 years, which could and was normally extended to 20, except for Praetorians. There was also a lump sum payment on discharge in lieu of the land grant a soldier had previously expected (Dio, liv. 24). Apart from this, Augustus left the army much as it had been from late Republican days; the mutiny of AD 4 was resolved by promises of discharges after 16 years, which were never fulfilled (Ann. i. 17).
