Introduction

The House of Caesar was no more. Though the name Caesar would live on as a symbol of power, authority, and legitimacy, the family itself was now officially defunct. The most important power upon which the emperor's authority rested was his command over the legions. Cervius Sopecius Galba came from Spain, the Italian came from the Rhineland, and Vespasian came from the east. While the Giulioicadian emperors had commanded a force so large it was impossible to match, each of these men controlled forces that were large enough to prompt high ambition but not so large that they couldn't be met in the field by an equal force.