The annals of Tacitus

INTRODUCTION xxiii
But in iv 33 Tacitus laments the monotony of his task,
of prosecutions heaped on prosecutions, of the betrayal of
friends, and the ruin of the innocent, of trials all ending in
one way. Velleius, as usual, is fulsome in his praise of
Tiberius: 'Confidence in the Courts of Law was restored';
and 'With what dignity does he listen attentively to cases as
senator and juryman, not as Princeps and Caesar !
VII. THE PROVINCES UNDER TIBERIUS
In iv 4 Tacitus speaks of Tiberius' pretended wish to
visit the provinces and study their defences, especially the
disposition of the fleets and of the twenty-five legions on the
frontiers of the Empii'e (iv 5).
Italy (Tacitus tells us) was protected by two fleets, one on
either sea,—one stationed at Misenum, the other at Ravenna.
The near coast of Gaul was protected by war-ships captured
by Augustus at the battle of Actium and sent by him to Forum
Julii (Frejus).
On the Rhine frontier lay eight legions, 'a common defence
against Gaul and Germany.' They held the provinces of
Upper and Lower Germany,—the head-quarters of the one
being at Moguntiacum (Mainz), of the other at Colonia
Agrippinensis (Cologne).
The Danube frontier was held by six legions,—two
stationed in Pannonia, two in JVIoesia, and two in Dalmatia.
The frontier between the Upper Rhine and the Upper
Danube was marked by a limes or 'causeway' built later.
Thrace was under Rhoemetalces and the sons of Cotys.
reckoned as complete. The iun relationis (the right of making a
motion) is merely a part of the remaining tribunician functions.'
Stobart objects to Stuart Jones' statement {Roman Einpin',
p. 3) that Augustus received in 36 B.C. the whole tribunician
power, including intercessio.
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