Changes in the Roman Army

[Frank]

Understood and agreed, buit with a single caveat - my firm belief being that there are two distinct usages of a similar word, ...

Well, this is exactly the mother of all questions: How big was the legio limitanei? Was it also down to about 1000 men, after centuries of vexillationes not coming home anymore? Or was it still bigger, at least in average?

I say: There was no need for a legion bigger than a cohors millaria anymore, even not for the limitanei. But thats not evidence.

Without a solid answer to this question, every extrapolation of the strength of the late roman army based on the Notitia has to fail.