10-03-2012, 05:24 PM
Quote:I thought Hugh Elton had disproven the idea that the late Roman army was mostly composed of 'barbarians.'
I have Warfare in Roman Europe and while Elton may be right that the regular Roman army wasn't barbarized it still seems to have practically disappeared even prior to the loss of African revenue in 439. Aetius had to hire Huns, evidently because the regular forces no longer amounted to much. Not too many citizens wanted to serve anymore...
Quote:The high relative taxation actually made some marginal land too expensive to cultivate, and the abandonment policies could result in cascading crises after major plagues [such as those of Marcus Aurelius].
Interesting but it's noteworthy that plague doesn't seem to have been much of a problem after mid third century (to the fall of the west). In fact, from what I've read, there was a serious plague during the reign of Titus in the first century i.e. before the second century "apogee of Empire" as Grant put it.
