Note 169 — Chapter XVI · THE PRÆTORIAN CAMP. THE IMPERIAL WAR MACHINE
Reading edition
The distribution of the legions varied somewhat from one period to another according to the probable dangers on the exposed frontiers, but the largest armies were always stationed along the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates. In Hadrian’s time apparently the main forces lay thus:
Britain, 3 legions.
Germany (Rhinelands), 4 legions.
Danubian lands and Dacia, 10 legions.
Syria and Palestine, 5 legions.
Cappadocia, 2 legions.
In all the other provinces requiring legionary troops at all (e.g. Egypt, Spain, Numidia, etc.), only one legion.
Apparently in the second Christian century the greatest danger point seemed near the Danube, and the second greatest along the Euphrates, with the Rhinelands relatively more secure than earlier, when more legions had been stationed near them.