Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

troops: categories, conditions of service, numbers 291
they remained outside the institutional structures and discipline of the state
army. In the west in the fifth century independent action by federates on
various occasions contributed significantly to the collapse of central
authority. 6
The main units in the imperial guard were the scholae, five regiments in
the west, seven in the east, each 500 strong under Justinian. In the east there
was also a small unit of candidati, forty in total, who served as a personal
bodyguard for emperors, a duty which they ceded to the excubitores, a corps
of 300 formed by the emperor Leo to protect the palace entrances. Close
attendance upon the emperor was a privilege, so that individuals might pay
to enlist in the scholae for social rather than military reasons, a tendency that
Justinian exploited by enrolling four supernumerary regiments. The candidati
acquired an important ceremonial role at imperial receptions and processions
in Constantinople, but this does not mean that they, or the scholae,
lost all military competence as Procopius and Agathias allege in criticizing
Justinian, since individuals are attested on active service. The excubitores,
however, remained the élite guards into the seventh century, and their commander,
the comes excubitorum, became one of the most important men at
court, a virtual heir presumptive or close member of the imperial family
from Justin II to Heraclius. 7
Remuneration for soldiers was provided in a mixture of money and kind,
the proportions of which might vary according to availability or the needs
of the army. Donatives at imperial accessions and quinquennial anniversaries,
at least until allegedly abolished by Justinian, constituted an important
part of the cash element: eastern emperors from Leo to Justin I paid an accession
donative of five solidi plus a pound of silver, and this was clearly a standard
amount, since the nine solidi paid by Tiberius represent this sum (with
the silver commuted to gold). 8 Ration allocations (annonae) formed the basis
for the calculation of salaries, with officers and those with special responsibilities
being accorded multiple units. Annonae could either be supplied in
kind or commuted into cash, a flexibility which probably improved the theoretical
efficiency of the army by ensuring that soldiers received what they
needed; but this also introduced the possibility of military exploitation of
producers/tax-payers, since prices, and hence possible commutation tariffs,
were bound to vary throughout the year. Clothing, financed by a special tax
levy, was provided from the production of state clothing factories, though
commutation of five-sixths of this distribution too was sanctioned by a law
of 423. Military equipment, including the provision of cavalry horses, was
6 Jones, LRE 611–12; Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops chs. 2–4; Vegetius i.28; Syn. De Regno 22–6;
Cameron, Mediterranean World ch. 4;cf.ch.18 (Wood), pp. 505,6 below.
7 Frank (1969); Procop. Secret History 24.15–23; Agathias, Hist. v.15.2–6, with Mary Whitby (1987)
465–6. For the fasti of comites excubitorum, see PLRE iii.1510.
8 Durliat (1990b) 46–9; Hendy, Studies 175–8, 481; John Eph. HE iii.11.
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