Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

local and central 481
efficient garrison of frontier troops with some central reserve. 39 Theoderic
the Amal made arrangements for the defence of his kingdom’s coasts when
a naval attack from the east was rumoured, while Carcassonne was
rewarded by the Visigoths with urban status in recognition of its importance
as a frontier town and strategic fortress for protecting Spain. 40
Rulers had to appear to be concerned for their subjects or face the consequences.
It is no coincidence that the end of Roman rule in Britain is
regarded as the withdrawal of Roman garrisons by Honorius, since an area
that had to defend itself could not be expected, or forced, to contribute
taxes to the imperial treasury, although it was only in retrospect that any
such move could be seen as decisive and final. 41 Tiberius came close to signalling
the abandonment of Rome in 578/9 when he instructed the senatorial
ambassadors who brought the traditional payment in gold to mark
his accession to take the money back and spend it locally on their own
defence, but here imperial interest did not disappear completely. 42 The Avar
Chagan understood the connection. At Anchialus in 588 he donned the
imperial robes dedicated there by the empress Anastasia, and challenged
Maurice’s authority over the Balkans by offering the cities the chance to pay
their taxes to the Avars in return for protection. 43 The only regime that blatantly
took little interest in the safety of its civilian inhabitants was the
Vandal kingdom. Here, city fortifications were officially slighted, putting
locals at the mercy of Moorish raiders, but from the Vandal perspective it
was more important to eliminate potential centres of resistance than to
court the good will of subject Romans.
Weakness at the centre entailed a remilitarization of local society. In
some cases this had imperial sanction, as in 440 when Valentinian III
responded to Vandal naval attacks by encouraging local organization of
defences, but more often initiatives reflected local despair at imperial inaction.
At Clermont-Ferrand, Sidonius’ brother-in-law Ecdicius, with eighteen
companions and presumably numerous lesser followers, rescued the
city from the Visigoths; at the time, Sidonius still believed that the empire
was interested in retaining control of the Auvergne, but he was soon to be
disabused. 44 In the early empire, the imposition of a garrison on a city can
be seen as detrimental, a drain on local resources, 45 but in the late empire
any disadvantages were outweighed by the greater military threats and the
closer integration of soldier and civilian: the Roman world had reverted to
a condition in which warfare was much more familiar to a wider range of
its inhabitants than at any time since the late republic. Remilitarization of
39 Procop. Buildings iv.1.1–14; CJ i.27.2.8; cf. Bagnall, Egypt 161–72, contra Isaac, Limits of Empire
393–4. 40 Cass. Variae v.17; James (1980a) 226.
41 Whittaker (1994) 239;cf.ch.18 (Wood), pp. 504,6 below. 42 Zos. vi.10; Menander fr. 22.
43 Michael the Syrian x.21,p.361. 44 Val. Nov. 9; cf. also C.Th. vii.18.14, ix.14.2. Sid. Ap. Ep. 3.3.
45 Poulter (1992) 120.
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