The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t7.3

c11.t7.3

Let us here place the military facts from the side of European imperialism. The temporary national militias of republican Rome became a "standing army" for the first time under Augustus.⁵ He bequeathed to Tiberius (A. C. 14—37) probably the largest army that Imperial Rome ever commanded. Besides the praetorian guards and three fleets it was made up of 25 legions (of Roman troops) and 25 legions of *auxilia* (i. e. soldiers furnished by foreign dependents and allies, comparable to the Imperial Service Troops of the feudatory or protected states in British India). And the total force numbered 320,000.⁶ It is clear that the Maurya General Staff had the ability to drill, equip, finance and manipulate more than double the man-power of the imperial-Roman war-machine.