ABSTRACT
IN January of 27 b.c. when Augustus, or Octavian as he then was, “consented” to administer a large area of the Empire, he was granted a special ten-year commission. The sphere of his authority (his provincia) was large and formidable : the provinces of Spain, Gaul and Syria. It did not indeed embrace all the provinces where troops were either actually, or likely to be, stationed; but it did include most of them. This fact enabled Augustus to encroach gradually on the provinces nominally left to the control of the Senate, for since he alone possessed military power that was really adequate, it was inevitable that, if warlike operations ever should become necessary in a province, either through internal uprising or external attack, his services would be required.
