Cohort commander?

[Flavivs Aetivs]

The number of men has nothing to do with how efficient they are in battle. The Roman Army had declined by the Era of Aetius, not because of a lack of manpower (although there was one to some extent) but because the State couldn't afford the Army after the fall of their last Viable Tax base. Estimates of the amount of money lost are over 1 million Solidi. That's enough money for 40,000 infantry or 18,000 Cavalry per Annum. The Roman army in 395 in the west only numbered less than 100,000 men. After the Ravaging of all the Tax bases Aetius theoretically only had around 30,00 men in Total that the state could afford, plus his personal Bucellarius of a few thousand Huns. Many of these men were drawn from the Border Garrisons of Gaul to the Field Army.

Sidonius Apollinaris, Jordanes, and Hydatius all mention that his army was comprised of Auxilliaries. This translates to 2 things - either Auxilia Palatina or Limitanei. It was likely a combination of both, mostly Veteran Limitanei troops with some Palatina as a Core for this army.

Aetius was able to win every battle recorded non-stop in the 5th century except Rimini, so certainly the lack of manpower was not effecting the efficiency of the Army. The Goths of Theodoric alone could field around 20,000 men (estimated), which is larger than the Gallic Field Army of that time.

I had a complex theoretical compilation of how the Roman Army under Aetius coallesced, but this is an off topic side discussion.

I reccomend these posts be deleted or moved to an individual thread.