Subarmachius, Bacurius, and the Schola Scutariorum Sagittariorum

Our sole source for the late Roman officer Subarmachius is a notice in the Suda that has been identified as a fragment of the History by Eunapius of Sardis.1 Unfortunately, because of its very nature, this notice has usually been interpreted in isolation, with the result that its potential contribution to our understanding of the history of the imperial bodyguard units of the later Roman empire, the scholae palatinae, has passed unnoticed. It is my intention here to attempt to rectify this situation by reexamining this notice within a fuller historical context. The notice runs as follows: