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[1666]
In the overview on the placement of the legions in the various provinces in 23 CE, Legio VIIII is therefore counted as one of the two African legions (Tac., Ann. IV.5). Its legate, P.Cornelius Scipio, was in command of one of the columns operating in the war against Tacfarinas (Tac.Ann. III.74). After the successes in the following years under command of Proconsul Iunius Blaesus, the danger of Tacfarinas seemed eliminated. The emperor therefore ordered the legion moved back in 24 CE (Tac. Ann. IV.23: reportari nonam legionem iusserat). Pfitzner’s guess that the legion was posted to Spain, is supported by no evidence whatsoever, and is refuted by the linguistic expression ‘reportari’ alone. This can only mean that the legion was called back to the province from which it had been sent away, so that means Pannonia (see also Cagnat, L’Armée Rom.1 100, 4). The legion probably settled back in its old winter camp (Siscia?).
To that period in Illyricum, starting with the Augustan age, belong the inscriptions from veterans buried in their homeland (CIL V 5218, 5818, 7443). The miles leg. VIIII signifer who was distinguished with “palarae, torques and armillae’, surely belonging to the Augustan period (CIL V 7495), would have been allowed to go back to his homeland, judging from the findspot of his tombstone. Before Claudius’ reign we know the following primipili of this legion: ….urius C. f. Gallus (CIL X 6098, following v. Domaszewski’s addition) and …I]ulius C. f. (CIL XII 261).
Legio VIIII departed from Pannonia when the army for the conquest of Britain was collected during 42/43 CE. The designated commander in chief, the consular Aulus Plautius, until that time governor of Pannonia (Ritterling, Arch. Epigr. Mitt. XX 8f.), brought a trusted familiar legion from his own province with him to the island, precisely the VIIIIth, perhaps together with vexillations from both other legions. It is however only mentioned in 61 CE for the first time·, when it was resoundingly defeated (Tac. Ann. XIV 32), while it was trying to come to the aid of the threated colony of Camulodunum during the British rebellion. It was at that time under command of the legate Petilius Cerialis. Inscriptions however point back to the start of the occupation and allow an insight into the participation of the legion in the conquest and occupation of the island. These questions have been carefully tackled and answered by Hübner. Herm. 535ff and Panzer Histor. Unters. für A. Schäfer 174f. and most recent by G. Teuber, Beitr. zur Gesch. der Eroberung Britanniens (Breslauer Stud. zur Gesch. III 1909).
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