Tacitus, born AD 56, was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire, who wrote two major works on the reigns of the emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those of the Year of Four Emperors. His work covers the period from the death of Augustus in AD 14 to the First Jewish-Roman War in AD 70 however the work does have a substantial gap with books 7-10 missing along with parts of books 5, 6, 11 and 16.
This section taken form book 4 provides us with information into the location of various legions throughout the empire at the time of Tiberius. This material shows us the extent of the Roman Empire at the time of Tiberius whilst at the same time allowing is to highlight the most volatile points of the empire. Here we can see that on the Rhine the main bulk of the army is stationed providing a defence against the Gauls and the Germans, ‘Spain, lately subjugated, was held by three’ here we see that Spain had only recently been brought under Roman control so therefore needed to have more men there to provide support in case of any rebellion. The source also provides us with the role of the legions under Tiberius portraying the importance of the auxiliary troops that supported them but also the manoeuvrability of these units as they can travel to where they are needed. ‘There were besides, in commanding positions in the provinces, allied fleets, cavalry and light infantry, of but little inferior strength.’ Here we can see those that are not in the legions not having as important role as the soldiers in the main bulk of the army. ‘But any detailed account of them would be misleading, since they moved from place to place as circumstances required, and had their numbers increased and sometimes diminished.’ It also shows here how their roles changed and their movements were based on their most usefulness, but more than that it shows how well connected the army is most of the auxiliary units are easily transferable to different sections of an empire, not only is their need recognised but they can be summoned when it is important. Important in this is that they are only in the most commanding positions of the empire suggesting that their upkeep in the smaller areas was too much to maintain in the smaller parts of the empire.
Tacitus provides us with an important insight into locations of the legions and auxiliary units during the reign of Tiberius. With this he almost provides us with a news report of the flashpoints in the Roman Empire during this period. He provides us with little insight into his opinions of if these legions are in the right place but does provide us with an opinion of the role of auxiliary troops and how they...