54 Bjornlie
as that in Gaul), based on the pay of 9 solidi per year to each soldier a meagre
force of 5000 soldiers would cost the entire fiscal income drawn from the prov-
inces (45,000 solidi). It is perhaps best to reckon that at least one-third of the
trina illatio had been reserved for purely military expenses.36 With one-third
of the fiscal revenue of the state reserved for municipal use and another third
reserved for the Gothic military, this would halve the earlier estimate of pala-
tine officials to less than 2000 (costing the state 22,500 solidi per year). As seen
in Variae 11.35–38, the cost of pensions for high-ranking officials must also come
out of this sum. Assuming that these four letters represent the average number
of retirements in a given year, at 700 solidi per pension, the state would have
approximately 19,700 solidi for annual salaries. Again calculating that three-
quarters of the personnel would receive the equivalent of low-ranking soldiers’
pay, the Ostrogothic administration shrinks to fewer than 1700 officials.
It will be obvious that the preceding figures and claims are speculative at
best. The evidence available simply does not permit an exact calculation of
the Ostrogothic state’s administrative resources. That said, something of the
potential scale of Ostrogothic administration emerges from the exercise. The
corps of palatine officials available to a Gothic ruler little resembled the mir-
ror image of Constantinople, as suggested by regnum nostrum imitatio vestra.
Procopius’ claim that Amalasuentha had at her disposal 400 centenaria37 of
gold (perhaps 40,000 pounds) should not inflate estimates of the dimension
of Ostrogothic administrative capabilities. Amal rulers had resources avail-
able to them that did not derive from the taxation organized by civitates in
the provinces. The comitiva patrimonii nostri managed the private estates of
Amal rulers and revenues from these properties could be used to supplement
shortages in the regular fiscal budget, which normally covered the expenses
of the military and civil service. For example, the letter of the Variae concern-
ing the increase in salary for domestici accompanying the Gothic army (9.13)
was addressed to the comes patrimonii nostri who administrated royal estates.
Similarly, Theoderic’s initiative to build a fleet had tapped resources drawn
from his personal estates.38
36 Jordanes, Gothic History 302, ed. Mommsen, claims that the Goths destroyed 30,000
Franks in Gaul; granted the hyperbole common to such estimates it is still probable that
the Gothic force sent to Gaul was substantial—at the very least 5000 strong.
37 Procopius, Wars 5.2.26, ed. Dewing; the exact measure of centenaria is unknown.
38 Variae 5.18 and 5.20, ed. Mommsen.