Late Roman Unit Sizes

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Cavalry and lanciarii (light infantry?) might be a better bet. We know that (some?) legions of c.300 had lanciarii elements (see Beatty papyrii for II Traiana), and lanciarii turn up as separate units in the ND. However, we don't know if the legion artillery ever had a dedicated 'artillerymen' - it seems that the various ballistae etc. were served by the regular troops of the legion.

Dedicated Artillerymen were called Tragularii. Ammianus and Vegetius both describe this, while Ballistarii meant something else - as they are listed with archers and slingers, they could have been crossbowmen or operated handheld mobile torsion engines.

This is a bit problematic, I think - imagine the logistical nightmare of dividing all the legions of the army in half and sending half of each marching off to the other end of the empire... presumably passing the troop from the other end coming in the opposite direction! Far easier to keep the divided units together, or simply give the different names to units already stationed in the relevant part of the empire, surely?

It also proves to be much more convoluted than that. The Septima Gemina Seniores and Iuniores are both in the same half of the empire: likewise with the Secunda Augusta (Assuming the Secundani Iuniores and Secundani Brittanici are the same as it). The Quinta Macedonica are not divided with the West.

However, the Undecimani, the Septimani Gemina (another unit of the Septima Gemina, which must have been split off prior to the Diocletianic Era, maybe during the reign of Gallenius?) are divided between east and west.

Funnily enough, perhaps, the orator of Panegyric XII claims that Constantine invaded Italy with only a 'fourth part' of his total army (XII,3,3). The same orator (XII,5,1) later says that this force numbered 'fewer than forty thousand men'. If we assume this meant 30,000 (any less and he would have said half!), then the total army in Gaul could have numbered 120,000...

However, as we all know, panegyrics are not to be trusted! ;-)

Not always. I generally agree that Sidonius Apollinaris and Claudian are *fairly* reliable.

However, 4800 men for the era of Constantine is not a number I find unlikely; it is for the Era of Stilicho and Constantius III that I do find it unlikely. A number of Gallic Army Regiments had not yet been created when Constantine invaded Italy, but if you counted Spain and Britain and the Ripenses and Limitanei (which, in Gaul, were established under Constantine I think) that number makes sense.