Late Roman Army during the 5th century

[starman2012]

You could try and level a charge of the late army finding it hard to recruit, but it is hard to make stick even considering the greater size of the army compared to the early Imperial period.

Goldsworthy raised doubts about the supposedly larger size of the late army.

Rather I suspect the charge that it is hard to recruit soldiers is a constant refrain through history, up to and including today.

Compare the Rome of the punic wars with the one under siege in 410 CE. A city of perhaps half a million people couldn't raise enough troops to deal with maybe 30,000.

Rather than trying to throw people into the army, in fact there was a whole raft of people who were excluded from recruitment. In AD 370 we have laws exempting Imperial estates providing recruits, and restrictions on recruits drawn from a whole range of social groups. A law of 407 exempted tribunes and praepositi from providing recruits from their estate. Another of 423 exempted decurions and silentiaries. Some palatini and agents in rebus were also exempt.

Can this explain a near-total reliance on people from beyond the frontiers? Many people couldn't serve in republican times, prior to Marius (couldn't meet the property qualification) , but republican armies did rather well. :wink:

Certainly the late Roman army made use of “barbarians” but the army always had used such soldiers. After the non Roman auxiliaries were assimilated into the legions there was a greater need of foederati with their own internal organisations. Marcus Aurelius had already recruited slaves, gladiators and robbers into the army. Plague in the Antonine period meant more mercenaries were employed. A large list of foreign units serving with the third century army can be put together.

There's a difference between foreigners or barbarians making up part of the army and comprising virtually all of it.

Late 4th century limitanei appear to have enjoyed a salary roughly equivalent to their Hadrianic brethren. In pure cash terms they were paid less, but received food and equipment on top of this. They were certainly paid better than their late 2nd and early 3rd century counterparts who suffered from Empire-wide inflation and the debasement of currency.

So evidently pay wasn't the problem.

Rather than a steady decline I see an army developing by the end of the 4th century into perhaps the first “modern” army in the way we understand such terms.

Didn't seem to fare too well for all that. mile: