Total War: Attila

[Justin I]

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".

Just to be clear, when you say "Romans" you mean people from the city of Rome itself, right? I was talking about Italy, but this is even more specific.

Also, weren't there accounts of people cutting their thumbs off to avoid military service? That seems like an awfully extreme measure.
Maybe it was a relative standard-of-living thing? Maybe life in Italy was pretty good even for the landless poor, while life on the upper Danube in the later Roman period was both more perilous and impoverished, which made taking up arms seem more palatable?
I have read a lot about the late 4th century Roman army, and I'm still confused by this. Some historians make Roman military service during that period seem like a desirable occupation, and others make it seem like a fate worse than death.
From what I can tell, it seems like life as a Roman rank-and-file soldier was pretty bad during the early Republican period (Phyrric/Punic wars, etc.), pretty awful around the time of the Gracchi, very lucrative immediately after the Marian reforms, and then became gradually less and less fulfilling until the time of Trajan. After Trajan, they weren't conquering and looting foreign nations anymore, so being a Roman soldier became a much less glamorous and lucrative. Is this accurate?

Sorry but that’s not an accurate description. The legions had for a very long time not been ‘Italian’ anymore. That’s just wrong. Non-Roman soldiers, mercenaries and allies had long been fighting in the armies, and many in the standing units too. Italian had become a minority for a long time, the rest of the provinces being the bulk of the troops.

Robert, you and Evan disagree on this?

Note: I am working on a novel about a young man who joins the Roman army in 395 A.D. and gets swept up in Stilicho vs. Alaric, which I'm so narrowly focused on this specific time period. Feel free to recommend any books about Stilicho's army.