The Army of Augustus: counting the emperor's legions (original) (raw)

Augustus is rightly acknowledged as the architect of the Principate, who managed to impose a benevolent autocracy on the Roman people by concealing the tyrannical elements of his power base. One of these elements was the ownership of a permanent standing army whose loyalty was guaranteed by regular pay and whose officers were bound to him by oaths of allegiance and the promise of advancement. The legions formed the basis of this military dictatorship. We often read that, after the Battle of Actium, Augustus reduced the pool of 50 or so legions then under arms to a manageable army of 28. The question is: how did he do so? It is reasonable to suppose that the bulk of the legions retained by Augustus after Actium were his own. But it is clear that, for reasons best known to himself, he chose to rescue six of Antony’s legions from oblivion. So exactly how many legions did Augustus have?