whose military rule extended over the East, Thrace, and Illyricum respectively. The Palatine troops comprised about 50,000 men, the Comitatenses about 70,000.[1] Cavalry formed a large proportion of all the forces, and may be estimated at about one third of the Limitanei and nearly one fourth of the other branches. In addition to these troops a fourth military class, the highest of all, was formed, the Imperial Guards already mentioned,[2] viz., the Excubitors, Protectors, Candidates, and Scholars. The latter body consisted of seven troops of cavalry, each 500 strong, 3,500 in all.[3] Owing their position solely to birth or veteran service, the three former groups were probably much less numerous, but their actual number is unknown.[4] The usual division of the infantry was the legion of 1,000 men, that of the horse the vexillatio containing 500.[5] The various bodies of foot soldiers were distinguished by the particular emblems which were depicted on their brightly painted shields,[6] but amongst horse and foot alike each separate body was recognizable by an ensign of special design, for the former a vexillum, for the latter a
- ↑ See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VII, i, 18; Mommsen, op. cit., Hermes, 1889. In Agathias (v, 13) we have the vague statement that the whole forces of the Empire amounted to 645,000 men at the period of highest military efficiency. More than half of these would be assigned to the East. But John of Antioch, in making a similar statement, seems to have the Eastern Empire only in his mind; Müller, Fr. Hist. Graec., iv, p. 622.
- ↑ See p. 50.
- ↑ Procopius, Anecdot., 24, 26; Agathias, v, 15.
- ↑ See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VI, xxiv; XIV, xvii, 8, 9, 10. On the Candidati see Reiske ad Const. Porph., p. 77. In the field they seem to have been the closest bodyguard of the Emperor, as were the eunuchs on civil occasions; Ammianus, xxxi, 13.
- ↑ See the Notitia and Mommsen, op. cit.
- ↑ These are all given in the Notitia, some copies of which are coloured.
