Late Roman Unit Sizes

[Nathan Ross]

And like I said, assuming that the auxilia were 100% non-citizens is a circular reasoning without any proof.

I suspect I'm not making my point clearly here...

I don't mean that the auxilia palatina were composed only of non-citizens.

I mean that they were called auxilia because originally they were raised from non-citizens - i.e. in the late third or very early fourth century - or developed from non-citizen irregular units.

By the middle of the fourth century, they (like the other types of unit you mention) contained both citizen and non-citizen troops.

My argument is solely based on their name, and the possible reasons for it, rather than their later composition or development. After all, while we cannot assume that the lanciarii all carried the lancea, or the cornuti all had horns (!!), we must surely agree that there was some reason for these names being awarded in the first place... even if that reason is now obscure. mile: