Paths to Glory – Tacitus Historiae 4.68, the Routes of the Reinforcements Sent to Suppress the Batavian Revolt, and the Career of Sextus Julius Frontinus

Abstract

Tacitus Hist. 4.68 details the reinforcements sent from Italy to combat the Batavian Revolt in early AD 70. Tacitus lists three groups of reinforcements made up of different legions and auxiliaries and the three routes which those forces took over the Penine, Cottian and Graian Alps, but these routes seem to be given in an illogical order. The significance of the passage has been overlooked; it actually gives us precise clues of the make-up of these groups of reinforcements, who commanded each, and which route they each took including, significantly, the command of II Adiutrix by Sextus Julius Frontinus.