Why frontier soldiers were more than part-time farmers

The review treats hostile claims about arrears and landholding cautiously, noting that property ownership did not automatically make soldiers amateurs. Land revenues may have supported troops and their families in peacetime, with cash payments becoming important when they served away from home. Justinian's arrangements in Africa and the legal provisions for training suggest an expectation that frontier troops could fight, especially in sieges and local defence. Later examples of frontier units performing well in battle or resisting transfer into the mobile army further complicate the stereotype of second-class soldier-farmers. Their role was to delay or contain threats until more mobile forces could assemble, a layered approach that depended on both echelons being capable.