mbraced the countries which now constitute England, Spain,
Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, Hungary,
European Turkey, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and
Asiatic Turkey. It was more than double the extent of the empire of
Alexander.

This immense territory was subdivided into forty-eight provinces,[147]
unequal in size, but the majority of them very large. Thus Gaul from
the Pyrenees to the Rhine formed but seven provinces.

=The Permanent Army.=--In the provinces of the interior there was no
Roman army, for the peoples of the empire had no desire to revolt. It
was on the frontier that the empire had its enemies, foreigners always
ready to invade: behind the Rhine and the Danube the barbarian
Germans; behind the sands of Africa the nomads of the desert; behind
the Euphrates the Persian army. On this frontier which was constantly
threatened it was necessary to have soldiers always in readiness.
Augustus had understood this, and so created a permanent army. The
soldiers of the empire were no longer proprietors transferred from
their fields to serve during a few campaigns, but poor men who made
war a profession. They enlisted for sixteen or twenty years and often
reenlisted. There were, then, thirty legions of citizens--that is,
180,000 legionaries, and, according to Roman usage, a slightly larger
number of auxiliaries--in all about 400,000 men. This number was small
for so large a territory.

Each frontier province had its little army, garrisoned in a permanent
camp similar to a fortress. Merchants came to establish themselves in
the vicinity, and the camp was transformed into a city; but still the
soldiers, encamped in the face of the enemy, preserved their valor and
their discipline. There were for three centuries severe wars,
especially on the banks of the Rhine and of the Danube, where Romans
fought fierce barbarians in a swampy country, uncultivated, covered
with forests and bogs. The imperial army exhibited, perhaps, as much
bravery and energy in these obscure wars as the ancient Romans in the
conquest of the world.

=Deputies and Agents of the Emperor.=--All the provinces belonged to
the emperor[148] as the representative of the Roman people. He is
there the general of all the soldiers, master of all persons, and
proprietor of all lands.[149] But as the emperor could not be
everywhere at once, he sent deputies appointed by himself. To each
province went a lieutenant (cal