Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

300 11. the army, c. 420,602
offer resistance and these were demoralized by lack of pay – part of the
garrison of Pessau set out for Italy to collect arrears of pay, but were killed
in an ambush en route. Severinus gave spiritual leadership, made defences as
efficient as possible, and arranged relief for refugees from sacked towns or
starving inhabitants who had watched their fields being ravaged. Such
measures, however, only delayed the end. In 488, six years after Severinus’
death, Odoacer ordered the surviving Roman population to abandon their
homeland and migrate to Italy; they obeyed the command of their non-
Roman overlord and retreated south with Severinus’ relics in the lead. 44
iv. the eastern army: men and resources
By contrast, the east managed to survive with its military institutions relatively
intact, although in the Balkans it experienced many of the same problems
and developments. There, Hunnic destruction of cities in the 440s had
undermined the basis for Roman control, and for the next half-century the
countryside was dominated by Gothic tribal bands. On occasions these
notionally constituted the Roman army, but their presence still inspired
terror in the inhabitants of surviving cities such as Thessalonica or
Dyrrachium. Arrangements for local defence might be efficient, as at
Asemus, but these could cause conflicts of interest with the emperor: the
men of Asemus captured Huns whom Theodosius wanted to surrender to
make peace with Attila, whereas the Asemites were determined to retain
them as hostages for the return of some of their own people from the
Huns. 45 The key to Roman authority lay in the control of supplies: the warbands
of the two Theoderics lacked secure territory to make them selfsufficient,
and so food and agricultural land were powerful bargaining
counters for Roman commanders. The emperor, safe inside Constantinople,
could control the distribution of food supplies by sea, and divert resources
from other areas to support administrative reorganization when this became
practical. 46
The eastern army of the sixth century in theory preserved the traditional
distinction between limitanei and comitatenses; the latter could be referred to
under the generic term stratiotai, soldiers, 47 although this does not indicate
that the former had no military function or status. Indeed, in reconquered
Africa Justinian acted to re-establish limitanei: he sent one unit of limitanei
from the east and ordered Belisarius to enrol other units from among suitable
provincials. These were to receive lands, and so contribute to the cultivation
of frontier districts and ensure their security; the comitatenses stationed
in Africa were available as a reserve force. The same complementary roles
44 Alföldy (1974) ch. 12; Thompson (1982) ch. 7; cf.ch.18 (Wood), pp. 506, 513, 524 below.
45 Malchus fr. 20.5–19, 63–87; Priscus fr. 9.3.39–80.
46 Heather, Goths and Romans ch. 8;cf.ch.23 (Whitby), pp. 713,14 below. 47 Justinian, Nov. 103.3.
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