Authors: Stephen Dando-Collins
Officially,
Legio II Adiutrix Pia Fidelis
came into being on March 7,
AD
70, by decree of the new emperor Vespasian. [Starr,
VIII
] But the 2nd Adiutrix Legion had traveled an irregular path to reach that point. The most intriguing aspect of the title bestowed by Vespasian on the legion was the “Pia Fidelis.” The last time that a legion had been granted this honorific suffix had been thirty-eight years before, when the emperor Claudius named both the 7th Legion and the 11th Legion
Claudia Pia Fidelis
for putting down an attempted revolt against him by the governor of Dalmatia, Camillus Scribonianus. Over the next few centuries, other emperors would also grant the “Pia Fidelis” honorific, but to existing legions (and even to a fleet).
Against precedent, could this supposedly new legion, the 2nd Adiutrix, have truly received such recognition from Vespasian in
AD
70, at the supposed time of its creation? The very grant of “Pia Fidelis” suggests that the 2nd Adiutrix was already in existence. Later this same year, Vespasian would abolish several legions that had surrendered to the enemy during the Civilis Revolt. In their place he was to raise two new legions, bestowing his family name of Flavia on both—the 4th Flavia and 16th Flavia legions. If the 2nd Adiutrix Legion was indeed a new Vespasianist unit, why was it not called the 2nd Flavia?
The fact is that in March
AD
70, the 2nd Adiutrix was not a new legion and, according to numismatic evidence, was in existence in
AD
69. That the legion proudly carried the birth sign of Capricorn throughout its career signals that it was established at some time between December 22 and January 19—but in which year?
Invariably, the grant of “Pia Fidelis” was given by emperors in recognition of a unit’s support for their successful bid for, or defense of, the throne. Could this legion have helped Vespasian to win his throne? And if so, how? The reliable Roman historian Tacitus wrote
that the city of Vienna in Narbon Gaul, the Roman Vienna, “raised legions for Galba.” [Tac.,
H
,
I
, 65] One of those legions can be identified as the 1st Adiutrix Legion, raised in
AD
68. [
See
1st Adiutrix Legion
] The indications are that a second unit with a Viennase connection was this second Adiutrix Legion, and that it was raised for Galba. In which case the 2nd Adiutrix could have been raised no later than January 19,
AD
69.
Vienna and the neighboring city of Lugdunum had supported opposite sides in the Vindex Revolt of
AD
67, and Tacitus writes that well into
AD
69 the city of Vienna was under threat from Lugdunum as a result of that enmity. [Tac.,
H
,
I
, 67] The evidence points to the Viennase raising the 1st Adiutrix Legion as a “supporter” of the 1st Italica Legion, which was then stationed in Lugdunum, in order to defend Vienna against an attack—which the people of Lugdunum were urging the 1st Italica to launch.
After Galba took the 1st Adiutrix recruits to Italy with him, it seems that the elders of Vienna sent recruiting officers throughout Narbon Gaul to enlist young men from farms, villages and towns for their second legion. Once again, to give legitimacy to their action, the Viennase would have claimed to be raising a legion for the emperor.
Having already created the 1st Adiutrix Legion as a “supporter” of the 1st Italica Legion, the Viennase would have settled on the title 2nd Adiutrix for their second creation. Another factor may have influenced this: Narbon Gaul was a recruiting ground of the 2nd Augusta Legion. When, in
AD
67, Galba had raised a new legion in the Spanish recruiting grounds of the 7th Claudia Legion, he had called the new unit his 7th Legion. Similarly, a legion raised in the home territory of the 2nd Augusta is likely to have also become a 2nd. Support for this latter connection comes from the emblem adopted by the 2nd Adiutrix. The emblem of the 2nd Augusta was Pegasus the flying horse; it was in fact the only imperial Roman legion known to use the Pegasus emblem up to that time. Pegasus was the emblem adopted by both the 1st Adiutrix and 2nd Adiutrix legions.
But if the 2nd Adiutrix did indeed originate in Narbon Gaul in January
AD
69, for Galba, how did it end up being commissioned by Vespasian fourteen months later? Tacitus records that, by early spring, the 1st Italica Legion had received orders to withdraw from Lugdunum and march to link up with Vitellius’ army in Italy. On its way to the Graian Alps, the legion had to cross the Rhône and pass the city of Vienna. When they reached Vienna, said Tacitus, the men of the 1st Italica, inspired by the people of Lugdunum, were all for looting the city. In the end, the 1st Italica’s elderly
commander, Manlius Valens, was paid a small fortune by the Viennase to spare their city, and he distributed 300 sesterces, four months’ pay, to each of his legionaries. [Tac.,
H
,
I
, 66]
Vienna was spared, but was required to hand over all its arms to the 1st Italica. Valens and the enriched 1st Italica marched on, crossed the Alps, and joined the army of Vitellius in Italy, leaving the Viennase and their latest recruits without weapons. [Ibid.]
In the opening campaign of the short war waged in March and April between Vitellius and Otho, the latter sent part of Misenum’s battle fleet ranging up Italy’s west coast, carrying armed “levies from the fleet” and several Praetorian Guard cohorts, with orders to blockade Narbon Gaul and prevent reinforcements from reaching Vitellius’ forces in Italy. [Tac.,
H
,
II
, 14] At the same time, Otho sent Praetorian and City Guard cohorts from Rome to the Graian Alps with orders to enter Narbon Gaul overland and link up with the fleet.
Otho’s overland push was slowed when pro-Vitellius towns in the Alps resisted the passage of his troops. Meanwhile, a battle was looming on the Gallic coast, near the port city of Forum Julii, today’s Frejus. Otho’s warships landed Praetorian guardsmen, who occupied level ground a little inland, between the sea and the hills. Armed seamen were also put ashore and took up positions on the hill slopes. In addition, says Tacitus, the seamen onshore were joined by many locals, so that they “had a number of rustics among their ranks.” “Rustics” was a Roman term for unsophisticated country people. [Tac.,
H
,
II
, 14]
Where did these numerous rustics come from in sudden support of Otho’s forces? Were they perhaps Vienna’s latest levy of raw recruits, sent south by the city fathers to link with Otho’s fleet, despite having been deprived of their arms by Vitellius’ 1st Italica months before? Tacitus was to note that they had no formal arms, and in the battle that ensued they resorted to pelting the other side with stones, proving to be “skillful throwers.” Supported by the catapults of their warships, which came close inshore behind the opposition forces, Otho’s fighters twice bloodily defeated the cohorts of experienced auxiliary infantry and cavalry thrown at them by one of Vitellius’ generals. [Ibid.]
East of Forum Julii, the defeated survivors from Vitellius’ force retreated, leaving Otho’s troops in control of the southeastern coast of Narbon Gaul and the route across the Graian Alps. But this victory did not materially affect Otho’s cause, for
on April 15, at Bedriacum in central northern Italy, his main army was defeated by Vitellius’ army. The following day, at Brixellum, Otho committed suicide, leaving Vitellius—for the moment at least—the undisputed new emperor.
Tacitus wrote that, despite Narbon Gaul having vowed allegiance to him, Vitellius had doubts about the loyalty of Vienna. Perhaps he had heard rumors that rustic levies raised by the city had participated in the actions that had repulsed his troops outside Forum Julii. When Vitellius sent Otho’s 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion back to its old station in Britain following the surrender at Bedriacum, its orders required the legion, whose loyalty Vitellius suspected, to “pass over the Graian Alps and then take that line of road by which they would avoid passing Vienna, for the inhabitants of that place were also suspected.” After the men of the 14th had crossed the mountains, says Tacitus, “the most mutinous among them were for carrying their standards to Vienna.” [Tac.,
H
,
II
, 66]
Despite this, the 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion followed orders, and returned to Britain. But, clearly, Vienna was seen as a city opposed to Vitellius. Meanwhile, Vitellius ordered Otho’s Praetorian Guard to lay down their weapons. At first, he distributed these disarmed cohorts throughout northern Italy, then within weeks, summarily discharged them without benefits, replacing them with a new Praetorian Guard created from men from his legions.
In July, legions in the East hailed their commanding general Vespasian emperor, in opposition to Vitellius. An army led by the governor of Syria began a long march to Rome to topple Vitellius. Before the summer was over, troops from legions on the Danube and in the Balkans also declared for Vespasian, and they too set off to march to Italy to dethrone Vitellius. Meanwhile, at Forum Julii, one of Otho’s defeated generals, Suetonius Paulinus, who had once been a tribune in the Praetorian Guard, also took up Vespasian’s cause. Paulinus, a native of Forum Julii, had been allowed to go home after Vitellius took power. Now, he “collected all the troops who, having been disbanded by Vitellius, were now spontaneously taking up arms.” [Tac.,
H
,
III
, 43] These included former Praetorian guardsmen, who respected the reputation of a man who had put down the Boudiccan Revolt in Britain and who had himself once been a tribune in the Praetorian Guard.
It is possible that a legion of rustic recruits raised by the anti-Vitellius city of Vienna also numbered among those who now flocked to Paulinus’ banner and were rearmed by the people of Forum Julii to fight for Vespasian. Some of Paulinus’ men,
possibly Vienna’s rustics, then took over Forum Julii, making it the first city in the west to raise the banner of Vespasian. Leaving these men to hold Forum Julii, the ex-Praetorians marched across the Alps to link up with forces advancing into Italy for Vespasian from Pannonia. In October, these guardsmen, once more in their Praetorian cohorts, would help defeat the Vitellianist forces at Bedriacum and Cremona. On December 20, Vespasian’s army fought its way into Rome, and Vitellius was executed. The following day, the Roman Senate declared Vespasian emperor.
The 2nd Adiutrix Legion first appears in a classical text three months later. Tacitus tells of three existing legions and “the 2nd, which consisted of new levies,” being marched into Gaul from northern Italy in the spring of
AD
70. These legions were on their way to counter the Civilis Revolt on the Rhine. [Tac.,
H
,
IV
, 68]
Numismatic evidence suggests that the 2nd Adiutrix spent the winter of
AD
69–70 at the naval city of Ravenna. Then, in late
AD
69, Tacitus commented that marines from the Ravenna fleet were being taken into the army of Vespasian at that time. Taken together, the numismatic evidence and Tacitus’ comment gave rise to the later incorrect assumption by some historians that the 2nd Adiutrix Legion must have been recruited entirely from the Ravenna Fleet.
Tacitus in fact wrote that, following the Second Battle of Bedriacum in October
AD
69, as the Ravenna Fleet deserted Vitellius’ cause and vowed allegiance to Vespasian, the 11th Claudia Legion came marching into northeastern Italy from its station in Dalmatia to join Vespasian’s victorious army. In describing the arrival of the 11th Claudia, Tacitus added that “a recent levy of 6,000 Dalmatians was attached to the legion.” [Tac.,
H
,
III
, 50] These Dalmatian levies were nominally commanded by an ex-consul, Pompeius Silvanus, who had apparently been in charge of the draft in Dalmatia; but, said Tacitus, these recruits were, in reality, under the control of the 11th Claudia Legion’s legate, Annius Bassus. [Ibid.]
“To these forces,” says Tacitus, referring to the 11th Claudia and the Dalmatian levies, “were added the best of the marines of the Ravenna Fleet, who demanded permission to serve in the legions.” [Ibid.] To replace these marines, the crews of the ships deprived of these seagoing soldiers “were made up by the Dalmatians.” [Ibid.] To be assigned to the fleet, the Dalmatian levies were not Roman citizens, for citizens did not at that time serve as sailors or marines.
Tacitus’ text has been taken by some historians to mean that there was a straight swap of some 5,200 non-citizen marines for 5,200 Dalmatian levies, to fill the new
2nd Adiutrix Legion. This is highly improbable. A few marines might be granted Roman citizenship to enable them to serve in a legion, but granting citizenship to 5,200 men to equip a legion entirely was unheard of in imperial times.
More importantly, there were nowhere near that many marines serving with the Ravenna Fleet, or with any other Roman fleet for that matter. Roman naval authority Professor Starr has calculated that in
AD
69 the Misenum Fleet, Rome’s largest, would have consisted of a little over 10,000 sailors and marines, with fewer serving with the Ravenna Fleet. [Starr,
II
, 1 and 2] On every Roman warship the rowers, deck hands and officers vastly outnumbered marines. A liburnium with a crew of some 200 men might only include 15 dedicated marines, with a maximum of 40 or so when going into battle. So, out of a fleet complement of 8,000 men, perhaps 1,200 were marines, meaning that, at most, there would have been no more than 1,500 marines at Ravenna. And Tacitus says that only the “best” from these marines were taken into Vespasian’s forces, indicating that perhaps several hundred men were involved. Note also that Tacitus wrote that these marines demanded to be allowed to serve in “the legions,” plural, not in “the legion.”
Four months later, in March
AD
70, the 2nd Adiutrix was in Italy and receiving the grant of the 2nd Adiutrix Pia Fidelis title in the name of Vespasian. As surviving discharge diplomas prove, at the same time that the 2nd Adiutrix received its formal title, all those marines serving with the new unit who had been in the Roman navy for twenty years or more were now granted an honorable discharge, as much as six years in advance of their normal discharge dates. In addition, those marines in the 2nd Adiutrix, who were considered “useless for war” because of age or infirmities, were excused from further military service and also received their honorable discharges, even if they had served less than twenty years. [Starr,
VIII
]