Zodiac and Late Roman Army Organisation

[Nathan Ross]

I expect him to have commanded several comitatenses and even palatina units. But all of them?

There are, I think, 65 auxilia palatina units listed in the ND as being under the total command of the Magister Peditum (which I'm assuming was Silvanus' post?). We can't hope to know quite who Ammianus' 'octo auxiliarium milibus' were, and they may indeed have been federates (or 'reserves', in a common but unhelpful translation!) of some sort - but since Silvanus was commanding an imperial taskforce fighting a barbarian incursion, I suspect they might have been regular Roman troops.

However, my point was merely that a force of 8000 could potentially have been assembled from 16 500-strong units, as it would have been under the principiate. Beyond that I wouldn't want to speculate too much!