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The legionaries themselves did not even have to fight most of the time.
军团兵自己可能大多数时候都不需要作战，
But when the legionaries did fight at least up to the crisis of the third century BC, they were all but invincible.
但是一旦他们参与作战，至少在公元前三世纪的危机之前，他们是战无不胜的。
Maintaining the Limes required an ever larger military establishment.
保卫边界线需要更大规模的军事部署。
By Marcus Aurelius' time the Roman army may have numbered as many as 400 000 men.
在马可·奥勒留之前罗马军队的规模大至40万。
Divided roughly half and half between Roman legionaries and foreign auxiliaries.
罗马军团和外国辅助军各占一半。
The majority of soldiers were now recruited from the lower classes in the less Romanized provinces.
大多数战士是从不那么罗马化的行省的下层阶级招募的。
Usually where the legions themselves were stationed.
通常也是从军团驻扎地的行省招募。
While these new auxiliaries fought well enough their loyalty to the Roman army was a bit questionable.
尽管这些新辅助军作战勇猛,但是他们对于罗马军队的忠诚度却值得怀疑。
To them Rome was a far away city filled with strange people, speaking a foreign language.
对他们而言，罗马不过是一个遥远的城市，住着陌生的人民，讲着陌生的语言。
They no doubt participated in the imperial emperor cult.
他们无疑也会参与到对帝国皇帝的个人崇拜之中。
But the had a much keener sense of their general, their commanders imperial.
但是他们对自己的将军对司令官有着更为热切的感情。
They no doubt fought under roman eagle standards
当然，他们是以罗马军人的水平而战，
but their hearts were in their native provinces where they served and not in Italy.
但是他们的心却属于各自的行省而非意大利。
If a given army's commander declared himself imperator,
如果某个军队的司令官自称为元首，
and made play for control of the whole empire these soldiers were often quite happy to fight for their general's behalf.
意图控制整个帝国,这些战士常常也很乐意为他们的将军效劳。
On some instances the armies themselves declared their generals to be imperator.
有些时候军队自己会将其将军宣布为元首。
In these cases the unfortunate general had the choice between leading his troops against the empire or death.
在这种情况下，那位不幸的将军要么得带领着自己的军队叛变帝国，要么就得面临死亡。
As we will see this recurrence of the old client army phenomenon would become the recipe for disaster in the third century AD.
我们将会看到老雇佣军这种反复出现的情况到了公元3世纪反倒会成为解除灾难的方法。
