The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

TheLateRomanA rmy 251
Head of Constantine, originally
from a colossal statue of which
only fragments remain. During
Constantine’s reign, the army
was split into two sections,
frontier troops and the mobile
field armies, each with a large
cavalry element. (Photo courtesy
of David Brearley)
grade, almost worthless troops, because they were supposedly tied to the land
and therefore were not much more than a militia. This may be an anachronistic
view derived from the sixth-century version of frontier troops. As Jones (1964)
has argued, if the troops were tied to the land, then there would be no need to
pay them in kind and in cash, and there would be no need to grant land to veterans,
but these procedures still pertained in the fourth century. Furthermore,
some of the limitanei were drafted into the field armies when there was a need
and they were given the label pseudo-comitatenses, so if their fighting ability and
training had lapsed, the emperors would perhaps have looked elsewhere. There
were alw ays plen ty of the so-call ed barb a rians re ady and wi lling to fight for
Rome.
Con s t a n tine campaign ed against the Franks and Alamanni in Gaul and
strengthened the Rhine frontier. He placed a large bridgehead fort at Deutz opposite
Cologne, with a potential garrison of 900 men. Bridgehead forts on the