The History of Rome: Rise and Fall of the Empire. John Bagnell Bury
A line of communication was secured between the armies on the Danube and the armies on the Rhine.
SECT. VI. — ILLYRICUM AND THE HAEMUS LAND
The subjugation of Illyricum was the work of the first Emperor. Istria and Dalmatia were counted as Roman lands under the Republic, but the tribes of the interior maintained their independence, and plundered their civilized neighbors in Macedonia. Roman legions had been destroyed, and the eagles captured by these untamed peoples, in 48 B.C. under Gabinius, and in 44 B.C. under Vatinius. To avenge these defeats was demanded by Roman honor, and to pacify the interior districts was demanded by Roman policy. The younger Caesar undertook this task, when he had dealt with Sextus Pompeius, and discharged it with energy and success. In 35 B.C. he subdued the smaller tribes all along the Adriatic coast, beginning with Doclea (which is now Montenegro) near the borders of the Macedonian province, and ending with the Iapydes who lived in the Alpine district northeast of Istria. At the same time his fleet subdued the pirates who infested the coast islands, especially Curzola and Meleda. The Iapydes, whose depredations extended to northern Italy, and who had ventured to attack places like Tergeste and Aquileia, offered a strenuous resistance. When the Roman army approached, most of the population assembled in their town Arupium, but as Caesar drew nearer fled into the forests. The strong fortress of Metulum, built on two summits of a wooded hill, gave more trouble. It was defended by a garrison of 3000 chosen warriors, who foiled all the Roman plans of attack, until Caesar, with Agrippa by his side, led his soldiers against the walls. On this occasion Caesar received some bodily injuries. The energy of the Romans, inspirited by the example of their leader, induced the besieged to capitulate; but when the Romans on entering the town demanded the surrender of their arms, the Iapydes, thinking that they were betrayed, made a desperate resistance in which most of them were slain; and the remainder, having slain the women and children, set fire to their town.
Having thus subdued the Iapydes, Caesar marched through their country down the river Colapis (Kulpa), which flows into the Save, and laid siege to the Pannonian fortress of Siscia (whose name is preserved in Sissek), situated at the junction of the two streams. It was not the first time that a Roman force had appeared before the walls of Siscia, but it was the first time that a Roman force did not appear in vain. Having thrown a bridge across the river, Caesar surrounded the stronghold with earthworks and ditches, and with the assistance of some tribes on the Danube, got together a small flotilla on the Save, so that he could operate against the town by water as well as by land. The Pannonian friends of the besieged place made an attempt to relieve it, but were beaten back with loss; and having held out for thirty days, Siscia was taken by storm. A strong position was thus secured for further operations, whether against the Pannonians, or against the Dacians. A Roman fortress was built, and garrisoned with twenty-five cohorts under the command of Rufius Geminus. Caesar returned to Italy towards the end of the year (35 B.C.), but during the winter the conquered Pannonian tribe rebelled, and Rufius came into great straits. Dark rumors of his situation, for he was unable to send a sure message, reached Caesar, who was at that moment planning an expedition to Britain. He immediately hastened to the relief of Siscia, and let the Britannic enterprise fall through. Having delivered Rufius from the danger, he turned to Dalmatia and spent the rest of the year 34 B.C. in reducing the inland tribes, which now, forgetting their tribal feuds, combined in a great federation to fight for their freedom. They mustered an army 12,000 strong, and took up a position at Promona (now Teplin, north-east of Sebenico) a place impregnable by nature, and strengthened further by art. The name of their leader was Versus. By a skillful piece of strategy Caesar forced the enemy to give up their advanced lines of defence, and retreat into the fortress, which he prepared to reduce by starving the garrison out and for this purpose built a wall five miles in circuit. Another large Dalmatian force under Testimus came to relieve the place, but was completely defeated. The defenders of Promona simultaneously made an excursion against the besiegers, but were driven back, and some of their pursuers penetrated into the fortress with them. A few days later it was surrendered. The fall of Promona put an end to the war, in so far as it was waged by the Dalmatians in common. But warfare continued here and there; various tribes and fortresses held out by themselves. It was necessary to besiege Setovia, and Caesar was wounded there in his knee. He returned after this to Rome, to enter upon his second consulship (33 B.C.), leaving the completion of his work to Statilius Taurus, who for his services on this occasion received a large share in the Illyrian spoils, and laid the foundation of his great wealth. But Caesar laid down his consulate on the very day on which he assumed it, and returned to Dalmatia, in order to receive the submission of the conquered peoples. The eagles which had been captured from the army of Gabinius were restored, and 700 boys were given to the conqueror as hostages.
The civilizing of these Illyrian lands was now begun in earnest; the chief towns on the coast were raised to the position of Italian communities; and a new epoch began in the history of Salonae, Iader, Pola, Tergeste, and other places, which made their mark in the later history of Europe. It was now, doubtless, that colonies were settled at Salonae, Pola and Emona. Thus Salonae became in full official language, Colonia Martia Julia Salonae, and Emona— which corresponds to Laibach, the capital of Carniola—became Colonia Julia Emona. Pola, called Colonia Pietas Julia Pola; may have become in some measure for Illyricum, what Lugudunum was for the Three Gauls, in so far as a temple of Rome and Augustus was built there during the lifetime of the first Emperor.
A change was also made in the administration of Illyricum. Hitherto it had been joined to the government of Cisalpine Gaul, with the exception of a small strip of land in the south of Dalmatia: which was annexed to Macedonia. But after Caesar’s campaigns, Illyricum was promoted to the dignity of a separate province, bounded by the Savus in the north and the Drilo in the south. At the division of provinces in 27 B.C. it was assigned to the senate. But in the nature of things it could not long remain senatorial. The presence of legions on the northern frontier could not be dispensed with, and it devolved upon the governor to watch over Noricum on the one hand and Moesia on the other. Such powers and responsibilities were not likely to be left to a proconsul: and accordingly soon after the conquest of Raetia, when hostilities in Pannonia seemed likely to break out, we find Agrippa sent thither (13 B.C.), invested “with greater powers than all the governors out of Italy”. The terror of Agrippa’s name held the Pannonians in check, but on his death in the following year they took up arms, and Tiberius was appointed to succeed Agrippa. He brought the rebellious tribes to submission, but in the next year (11 B.C.) was again compelled to take the field against them, and also to suppress a revolt of the Dalmatians. These events led to the transference of Illyricum from the senate to the Emperor. Both the Dalmatian subjects and the Pannonian neighbors required the constant presence of military forces. At the same time the northern frontier of the province advanced from the Savus to the Dravus, in consequence of the successes of Tiberius in his three campaigns (12-10 B.C.). Poetovio, on the borders of Noricum, now became the advanced station of the legions, instead of Siscia. This extension of territory soon led to a division of Illyricum into two provinces, Pannonia and Dalmatia, both imperial. The government of Pannonia was especially important, because the intervention of the legatus might be called for either in Noricum or in Moesia. It is well to notice that the name Illyricum was used in two ways. In its stricter sense it included Pannonia and Dalmatia; in a wider sense (and specially for financial purposes) it took in Noricum and Moesia, as coming within the sphere of the governors of Illyricum proper.
MOESIA AND THRACIA. — The governors of Macedonia under the Republic were constantly troubled by the hostilities of the rude Illyric and Thracian peoples on the north and east. The Dardanians of the upper Margus, the Dentheletae of the Strymon, the Triballi between the Timacus and the Oescus, the Bessi beyond Rhodope were troublesome neighbors. The lands between the Danube and Mount Haemus, which now form the principality of Bulgaria, were inhabited by the Moesians, and beyond the Danube was the dominion of the Dacians, whom the Romans had reason to regard as a most formidable enemy. The Thracians in the south, the Moesians in the centre, and the Dacians in the north, were people of the same race, speaking the same tongue. It was evidently a very important matter for the Roman government to break this line, and to bring Moesia and Thrace directly or indirectly under Roman sway, so as to make the Ister the frontier of the Empire.
The occasion of the conquest of Moesia was an invasion of the Bastarnae, a powerful people, perhaps of