Another primary consideration in introduction & eventual disappearance of Segmentata?

[Dan Howard]

At Dyrrhachium, Caesar's men made impromptu coverings of padding and hide to protect themselves from Pompey's archers. The implication is that these men were not wearing armour.

[Nathan Ross]

Show me any evidence that the Roman economy actually grew during the period we associate with its decline.

Areas of it certainly did. The economy of Italy was fairly stagnant, with so much wealth tied up in senatorial land and property, but Britain experienced a boom in the fourth century - evidenced by the number of large new villas built during this period. The east was prosperous too: some scholars put the peak of ancient economy in the east in the 5th-6th century. The empire generally recovered in the 4th century after the turbulence of the previous era.

The Roman state was probably wealthier in the 4th century than it had been at any previous point - the solidus (introduced by Diocletian or Constantine) proved very stable, there was a direct tax on gold that tapped aristocratic wealth (AHM Jones estimates that the aristocracy of the era had incomes five times greater than in the 1st century) and many industries were taken into direct state control, further adding to imperial funds.

If you go to Rome you can still see the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian and the Basilica of Maxentius (both the biggest of their age), the Circus enlarged by Constantine, the walls built by Aurelian and doubled in height by Honorius. In Trier you can see Constantine's vast audience hall; in Split you can see the remains of Diocletian's fortified villa, and further east you can see the massive land walls of Constantinople. All over Europe there are the remains of the monumental building works of late antiquity, many of them state funded and imperial owned.

Any state which can build on such a scale (and equip its troops with gilded helmets too!) is clearly not short of cash.

[Bryan]

It was Pompey's men, not Caesar's, they covered their helmets with ozier (willow branches) to protect against the blow of stones stones (thrown and slung), not arrows. Caes, DBC, 3.62-63

The implication is that the normal bronze or iron helmet, which was not always protected by the shield, was not adequate protection from impacting stones.

[ValentinianVictrix]

There are reference's within Caesar's works to troops being employed in the 'expediti' role, so yes, it did happen long before Ammianus wrote his history.

There appears to have been an upsurge in wealth during the joint reigns of Valentinian and Valens. They were able to start the Mile Fort system of defences along the south banks of the Rhine and Danube. Major works such as the Valens aqueduct were built taking water to Constantinople. Gold mining was at its peak, large estates flourished in North Africa plus other examples. This was in part due to more stable situation the Empire found itself in from 364 to 376, which allowed Valentinian to increase the size of the army, introduce 'new kinds of arms' and undertake building programs that took years to complete.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

his lackeys Avitus and Majorian

Ah, so you don't hold with Gibbon's idea that Majorian was "a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honour of the human species"?

I wouldn't call it a degenerate age at all, but Majorian I see in a very positive light based on the facts. I'm disappointed that Aetius had maneuvered to have him removed in 452 rather than support his position as heir to the Theodosian throne, but Aetius also may have known Majorian would be a pawn for whomever succeeded him (Aetius) in that position (manager of the pars occidentis).