04-30-2018, 09:19 PM
(04-30-2018, 07:33 PM)Flavivs Aetivs Wrote: the Comes Illyricum I'd imagine wouldn't want to have those units permanently removed
The units were under the command of the Magister Militum per Illyricum, who was - at least in c.399-401 and c.405-407 or thereabouts - Alaric himself! (or that seems to be the situation anyway - it's very confusing...) But perhaps the removal wasn't originally intended to be permanent?
It would be nice to know more about what Zosimus means by 'expected since the time of Stilicho' and 'in accordance with the alliance' - it sounds like this was some long-standing reinforcement deal, maybe connected with the transfer of bits/all of Illyricum from east to west?
It might have been Burns who suggested the arrival of the six units may have been connected to Varanes, Honorius's ex-magister peditum, taking up the consulship in Constantinople that year: presumably he may have been able to hurry on some plan or other that had become stuck in the works...
Nathan Ross
