almost nothing to fight against.  If pirates had become dangerous—­as for a brief time they threatened to do during the Jewish revolt—­the imperial ships would have been in readiness to suppress them.  They could be made useful for carrying despatches and imperial persons or troops, or they might be used against a seaside town if necessary.  Beyond this they hardly correspond to our modern navies.  There was no foreign competition to build against, and no “two-power standard” to be maintained.

The Roman troops, it has already been said, were almost wholly on the frontier.  So far as there are exceptions, they explain themselves.  It was found necessary at all times to keep at least one legion regularly quartered in Northern Spain, where the mountaineers were inclined to be predatory, and where they were skilful, as they have always been, at carrying on guerilla warfare.  We may, if we choose, regard this comparatively small army as policing a lawless district.  In but few other places do we find a regular military force.  Rome itself had both a garrison and also a large body of Imperial Guards.  The garrison, consisting of some 6000 men, was in barracks inside the city, and its purpose was to protect the wealth of the metropolis and the seat of government from any sudden riot or factious tumult.  It must be remembered that among the Romans it was soldiers who served as police, whether at Rome or in the provinces.  The Imperial Guards, consisting of 12,000 troops, were stationed just outside the gates, in order to secure the safety and position of the emperor himself, if any attempt should be made against his person or authority.  The rich and important town of Lugdunum (or Lyons) had a small garrison of 1200 men, and a certain number of troops were always to be found in garrison in those great towns where factious disturbances were either probable or possible.  Thus at Alexandria, where the Jews were fanatical and at loggerheads with the Greeks, and where the native Egyptians were no less fanatical and might be at loggerheads with both, it was necessary to keep a disciplinary force in readiness.  Somewhat similar was the case at Antioch, where the discords of the Greeks, Syrians, and Jews stood in need of the firm Roman hand.  Nor could a similar regiment be spared from Jerusalem.  The western towns were generally smaller in size, more homogeneous, and more tranquil.  It was around the Levant that the popular emeute was most to be feared.  Doubtless one may meet, whether in the New Testament or in Roman and Greek writers, with frequent mention of soldiers, and we make acquaintance with an occasional centurion—­something socially above a colour-sergeant and below a captain—­or other officer in various parts of the empire.  But it should be understood that, except in such places as those which have been named, soldiers were distributed in small handfuls, to act as gendarmerie, to deal with brigands, to serve as bodyguard and orderlies to a governor, to bear despatches, to be custodians of state prisoners.  To these classes belong the centurions of the Acts of the Apostles, while Lysias was the colonel of the regiment keeping order in Jerusalem.