Where was the Roman Army in AD408?

[Nathan Ross]

Ridley's translation has, 'This done, the emperor summoned ten thousand Huns as allies in the war against Alaric', which is substantially the same.

Thanks for checking! I've come to be very mistrustful of the sole online translation, as it appears to originate in the 17th century and has several notable errors.

Well the laws of the 440's indicate army units were being redistributed to fortified towns under the command of Sigisvult due to the Vandal invasion.

This would be N.Val 9 (June 24 AD440), on the restoration of the right to bear arms?: "Although the solicitude of Our Clemency is stationing garrisons through various places and the army of the Invincible Theodosius, Our Father, will soon approach, and... Aetius will soon be here with a large band and... Sigivuldus does not cease to organise guards of soldiers and federated allies (militum atque foederatorum) for our cities and shores..."(still the people must be armed to repel the Vandalic invasion.)

This doesn't sound to me like regular army units being redistributed, but rather like a desperate attempt to raise a militia to hold the line until the regulars turn up from Constantinople! The 'garrisons' mentioned, like the 'soldiers' organised by Sigisvuld, would perhaps have been on the levy type soldiers used for local defence and simply called 'milites' in the ND.

Some support for this might come from the other mention of Sigisvuld, in N.Val 6, on recruits and those who harbour deserters (March 20 AD440): "In accordance for our responsibility for the successful restoration of the army, We decree that the landowner must furnish recruits..." (various fines and threats follow, aimed at anyone trying to harbour deserters etc).

This sounds very much to me like the regular army of the previous century had ceased to exist in Italy, and Sigisvuldus was in charge of concerted efforts to 'restore' it in order to face the Vandals. That the emperor also had to arm the citizens indicates that this was a bit of an ad-hoc process, perhaps!

Anyway, the idea put forward by J.B. Bury that the field army of Italy in 428-437 still consisted of 37 units of infantry and 7 units of cavalry, as detailed in the ND, seems impossible - if any force like that had existed even in 408, Alaric would surely never have been able to move so freely in and out of Italy!