As the plague swept through Europe, the Eastern Roman Empire struggled to find enough men to join its army. This was in part a result of the depleted population, but also because the collapse of the tax base forced Justinian to cancel the gold bonus that had been paid regularly to assure the loyalty of legionnaires for the past 200 years. Before the plague, the total size of the Byzantine army was about 350,000 and it was not uncommon to send 25,000–30,000 soldiers onto the battlefield at one time. A few decades after the plague first struck, the army totaled 150,000 and had difficulty
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