Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/798

Rh 774 K M E [HISTORY, by the prosperous condition of the empire for a century and a half after his death. 1 To secure the peace which the distracted Roman world desired, it was imperatively Phe necessary to establish on all sides of the empire really rentiers, defensible frontiers ; and this became possible now that for the first time the direction of the foreign policy of the state and of its military forces was concentrated in the hands of a single magistrate. To the south and west the generals of the republic, and Caesar himself, had extended the authority of Rome to the natural boundaries formed by the African deserts and the Atlantic Ocean, and in these two directions Augustus's task was in the main con- fined to the organization of a settled Roman government within these limits. In Africa the client state of Egypt was formed into a separate province, and the kingdom of Numidia (25 B.C.) was incorporated with the old province of Africa. In Spain the hill-tribes of the north- west were finally subdued, and a third province, Lusitania, established. 2 Until the commencement of Caesar's cam- paigns (58 B.C.) Roman rule in Gaul had been confined to the single southern province of Gallia Narbonensis (121- 118 B.C.). Caesar subdued the rest of the country, but the fierce struggles of the Civil War and his early death obliged him to leave to his nephew the task of organizing the conquered territory. Augustus (27 B.C.) established in addition to the " old province " the three new ones of rhe Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica. 3 Towards the north North. t ne republic had left the civilized countries bordering on the Mediterranean with only a very imperfect defence against the threatening mass of barbarian tribes above them. The result 4 of Augustus's policy was to establish a protecting line of provinces running from the Euxine to the North Sea, and covering the peaceful districts to the south, Moesia (6 A.D.), Pannonia (9 A.D.), Noricum (15 B.C.), Rsetia (15 B.C.), and Gallia Belgica. Roman rule was thus carried up to the natural frontier lines of the Rhine and the Danube. Here, after the defeat of Varus (9 A.D.) and the abandonment of a forward policy be- yond the Rhine, Augustus fixed the limits of the empire northward; his successor Tiberius recalled Germanicus, as soon as the disaster in the Silva Teutoburgensis had been avenged ; and after the peace with Maroboduus, the chief of the Marcomanni on the upper Danube, in the next year (17 A.D.), the defensive policy recommended by Augustus was adopted along the whole of the northern frontier. The line of the great rivers was held by an imposing mass of troops. Along the Rhine lay the armies of Upper and Lower Germany, consisting of four legions each; eight more guarded the Danube and the frontiers of Pannonia and Moesia. - The command of the troops was entrusted to imperial legates, whose posts became the most coveted prizes in the imperial service, and were not unfrequently stepping-stones to the imperial purple itself. At frequent intervals along the frontier were the military colonies, the permanent camps, and the smaller intervening " castella." Flotillas of galleys cruised up and down the rivers, and Roman roads opened communication both along the frontiers and with the seat of government in Italy. Tho In the East Rome had other work to do than that of East- erecting a barrier against a surging tide of barbarism, for here she was confronted with a well-organized and powerful state whose claims to empire were second only to her own. The conquests of Pompey (66-62 B.C.) had brought Rome face to face with Parthia on the banks of the Euphrates, the limits of Roman authority being marked by the eastern frontiers of the client states of 1 Marquardt, Rom. Staatsverw. , i. 282, 506. 2 Marquardt, i. 101 ; Mommsen, R. O., v. 58 sq. 3 Marquardt, i. 112 ; Mommsen, R. O., v. 76. 4 See especially Momrasen, R. (/., v. caps. 4 and 6. Pontus, Cappadocia, and Comruagene, and of the newly formed province of Syria. In 54 the rash advance of Crassus beyond the Euphrates provoked the first serious collision between Rome and Parthia, and the victory at Carrhge encouraged among the Parthians the idea of an invasion of Syria and Asia Minor, while it awakened in Rome a genuine fear of the formidable power which had so suddenly arisen in the East. Caesar was at the moment of his death preparing to avenge the death of Crassus by an invasion of Parthia, and Antony's schemes of founding an Eastern empire which should rival that of Alexander included the conquest of the kingdom beyond the Euphrates. But on the Euphrates, as on the Rhine and the Danube, Augustus adhered to the policy which he recommended to his successors of "keeping the empire within its bounds"; and the Parthians, weakened by internal feuds and dynastic quarrels, were in no mood for vigorous action. Roman pride was satisfied by the restoration of the standards taken at Carrhse. Four legions guarded the line of the Euphrates, and, beyond the frontiers of Pontus and Cappadocia, Armenia was established as a "friendly and independent ally." 5 Next in importance to the rectification and defence of the frontiers was the reformation of the administra- tion, and the restoration of prosperity to the distracted and exhausted provinces. The most serious defect of the republican system had been the absence of any effective contral control over the Roman officials outside Italy. This was now supplied by the general proconsular authority vested in the emperor. The provinces were for the first time treated as departments of a single state, while their governors, from being independent and virtually irre- sponsible rulers, became the subordinate officials of a higher authority. 6 Over the "legati" and " procurators " of the imperial provinces the control of the emperor was as com- plete as that of the republican proconsul over his staff in his own province. They were appointed by him, held office at his good pleasure, and were directly responsible to him for their conduct. The proconsuls of the senatorial provinces were in law magistrates equally with the princeps, though inferior to him in rank ; it was the senate that they were as of old responsible ; they were still selected by lot from among the senators of consular and praetorian rank. But the distinction did not seriously interfere with the paramount authority of the emperor. The provinces left nominally to the senate were the more peaceful and settled districts in the heart of the empire, where only the routine work of civil administration was needed, and where the local municipal governments were as yet compara- tively vigorous. The senatorial proconsuls themselves were indirectly nominated by the emperor through his control of the praetorship and consulship. They wielded no military and only a strictly subordinate financial autho- rity, and, though Augustus and Tiberius, at any rate, encouraged the fiction of the responsibility of the senatorial governors to the senate, it was in reality to the emperor that they looked for direction and advice, and to him that they were held accountable. Moreover, in the case of all governors this accountability became under the empire a re- ality. Prosecutions for extortion ("de pecuniis repetundis"), which were now transferred to the hearing of the senate, are tolerably frequent during the first century of the empire ; but a more effective check on maladministration lay in the appeal to Caesar from the decisions of any 8 Mommsen, R. G., v. cap. 9. Armenia, however, long continued to be a debateable ground between Rome and Parthia, passing alter- nately under the influence of one or the other. 6 For the provincial reforms of Augustus, see Marquardt, Staats- verw., i. 402-422 ; Madvig, Vcrf. d. R. Reichs, ii. 7 ; Merivale, iv. cap. 32. Admi: trativi rc-forn in the pro- vincet