07-15-2012, 04:34 PM
Quote:...........
Or maybe Roman soldiers of c 450, after the loss of the west's best revenue sources severely limited its ability to pay and equip soldiers?
Don't forget that nearly all 'civil servants' (incl military) weren't actually 'paid' at all at that period, most of it being covered by 'payments in kind' and just the semi-regular donative's (after Jones).
My own understanding of Vegetius agrees with what's been written before. The single main thrust, very like any other academic who is trying to make a point, of Vegetius is that he (like many others before and certainly after) is looking back with some rose-tinted view of 'things were better in the old days'; thus he decries what he knows of the 'legions', the field army ones now appearing much smaller; more foederati and perhaps Auxila Palatina who may have worn less armour; and most likely a general lessening in the amount of visible discipline of the army; etc...
