Total War: Attila

[Flavivs Aetivs]

There was plenty of motivation to join the army still (Better pay, healthier lifestyle, recieved an honorary status of citizenship, etc.)

The issue was that landlords kept the population locked in with debt and other methods and when recruitment time came they paid an aedoratio just to avoid loosing laborers. Eventually the Empire began to abuse the aedoratio in order to raise funds when it needed money.

There were Romans in the army, I think it was Elton who did the estimate of 1/2 to 2/3rds of the army was composed of "Romans". Guy Halsall notes that his methodology is flawed but his results are sufficient.