\'soft\' eastern soldiers

[JeffF]

Michael Grant in his book The Army of the Caesars, p 67, points out that the function and deployment of the Eastern legions was different from the Western legions of the Rhine and Danube. Those legions were based on the frontiers their mission to guard against nearby enemies. The Eastern legions were deployed in cities, their mission mostly to maintain internal order. Like the Praetorians in Rome who didn't wear armor in their daily duties (Osprey Elite series), the Eastern legions probably didn't either as pointed out by various commanders prepating those legions for campaigns. In such circumstances it is no surprise that their discipline and morale would suffer and their effectiveness compared to Western legions found wanting. This condition was probably worse among the legions with decades of such debilitating service as opposed to those legions of Titus' Judea campaign with years of arduous service.