Even when legions suffered ambush or defeat—as they did from time to time, in Britain, Gaul, Germany (Germania), Dacia, Palestine, and elsewhere—the loss was seldom sufficient to vanquish the Roman presence. The underpinning fact of Roman military hegemony was the empire’s ability to absorb defeat, escalate conflict, and exact pitiless revenge; Rome lost many battles but precious few wars. For all this, however, the Roman army also won many fine victories in which no swords were drawn, no javelins readied, and no blood spilled. The advantage of unapproachable battlefield scale was then—as it
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