ABSTRACT
Upon being declared emperor, Theodosius faced an immediate crisis that required an aggressive response. The collapse of the Danubian Frontier had exposed the entire eastern diocese of Thrace as well as the eastern reaches of the western prefecture of Illyricum (including Pannonia, Dacia and Macedonia) to the invaders. Having raised Theodosius to power, Gratian almost immediately handed overall command of the war to him while he himself headed west to deal with threats to his own territory. One of the most urgent tasks facing Theodosius was the need to rebuild the eastern army. Upon his accession, Theodosius inherited a severely depleted force. Theodosius didn’t have the luxury of developing a long-term solution to this problem and in 380 was forced to legislate twice within two months to stop the sons of veterans avoiding the Gothic war.
