216 Swain
Cassiodorus also mentions one Servatus, the dux of Raetia and arguably an offi-
cer in the Gothic army, who commanded troops perhaps drawn from the local
population.70 If this holds, it is evidence that both Romans and provincials
served in the Gothic military.71 It has also been noted that Procopius provides a
number of accounts of Italians fighting alongside Goths. And at least one com-
mentator has suggested that, by late in Theoderic’s reign, the military and civil-
ian populations were indistinguishable in Italy.72 Over the years Theoderic’s
original force had subsumed Odovacer’s troops, retired and bought land all
over Italy, and replenished its ranks with native Italians. Certainly, a number
of the descendants of the invading Goths would have joined the military, but
given its many transformations the Gothic army could not have functioned as
a preserve or conduit of Gothic identity for any extended period of time.73
Many other scholars, however, accept the distinction made at numerous
places in the Variae that Goths filled the military role and Romans the civilian
one.74 Rare instances of militarized Italians do not change this picture because
close inspection reveals that the majority of these refer to local defence forces,
not the regular Gothic army.75 Cyprian, admittedly, was an exception, but it has
been suggested that his participation in the campaign against the Bulgars rep-
resents a specific move for political advancement rather than a general trend
in recruitment.76 Beyond this, there is no evidence for any substantial Italian
participation in the standing Gothic army. The example of Servatus’ Raetian
troops have been explained away as limitanei, essentially an auxiliary force,
and not part of the Gothic field army.77 It follows that the Gothic military was a
restricted body. One means of restriction and indeed exclusivity was an annual
donative paid out by Theoderic to all Gothic men of military age.78 Access to
these funds would have been a jealously guarded privilege, which likely pre-
cluded recruitment from those outside of Theoderic’s original army and their
offspring and perhaps even Odovacer’s forces. Further, as Theoderic would
not have wanted to pay anyone ineligible, it is probable that records of Gothic
70 Cassiodorus, Variae 1.11.
71 Wolfram, Goths, pp. 316–17.
72 Amory, People and Identity, pp. 164–5; cf. Arnold, Theoderic and the Roman Imperial
Restoration, pp. 138–41.
73 Amory, People and Identity, pp. 152, 165.
74 Cassiodorus, Variae 6.1.5, 7.3.3, 7.4.3, 8.3.4, 9.14.8, 12.5.4; Moorhead, Theoderic, p. 71.
75 Heather, “Gens and Regnum”, p. 118; id., “Merely an Ideology?”, p. 43.
76 Heather, “Gens and Regnum”, p. 119; Cassiodorus, Variae 8.21.
77 Heather, “Gens and Regnum”, p. 118 n. 89.
78 Procopius, Wars 5.12.47–8.