Epitoma rei militaris (Oxford Classical Texts) [Hardcover]

Vegetius (Author), M. D. Reeve (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0199264643 | ISBN-13: 978-0199264643 | Publication Date: May 6, 2004

Few secular works of antiquity were as popular in the Middle Ages as Vegetius' Epitoma, the broadest ancient manual of Roman warfare. This edition is the first to be based on a comprehensive investigation of over 200 surviving manuscripts. The apparatus gives a full account of the readings that medieval scribes inherited from antiquity.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Latin (translation)
Original Language: Latin --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

M. D. Reeve is Kennedy Professor of Latin in the University of Cambridge

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199264643
• ISBN-13: 978-0199264643
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,134,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Primary Source On the Conduct Of Roman Warfare, December 15, 2007

By 

Michael A Neulander "Political Philosophy" (VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Epitoma rei militaris (Oxford Classical Texts) (Hardcover)

I read this book for a graduate course in Roman history.

It is important to understand that the army of the Republic was by no means a second rate militia force. "Discipline and training were its hallmarks; the care with which the camp was laid out reveals no ordinary grouping of amateur warriors. The Romans adopted professional attitudes to warfare long before the army had professional institutions." The army's professionalism is proven by reading the one military training manual still extant, Vegetiu's fourth century CE Epitome of Military Science. Most experts agree that Vegetius' Epitome was certainly a compilation of earlier Roman military training and doctrine manuals that have not survived. This manual is replete with information for the commander on how to recruit, train, supply, billet, and employ his legion in combat.

Rome had an army from its earliest beginnings as a small city-state. There is little known of the structure of the military in early Roman history. "At first, military service in the Roman Army entailed a man being away from his home...for a few weeks or months over the summer. The campaign season opened in March and closed in October, as official festivals in the Roman calendar make clear." Servius Tullius was the sixth king of Rome who reigned from about 580-530 BCE. Servius instituted many reforms in both the political and military structures of Rome which were codified in the Sevian Constitution. He conducted the first census of the citizenry and used this information to divide the population into classes based on wealth. The class structure was then used both politically for voting classification and militarily to determine in what portion of the legion a man would serve in to defend Rome. The men were organized into centuries (hundreds) within the class structure. Militarily, the class ranking was based on wealth, which determined where a man would serve in the legion based on his ability to provide his own weapons and equipment. The wealthiest class in Roman society served in the equites or the Roman cavalry, of which there were eighteen centuries. Obviously, these men had the financial ability to provide their own horses. The majority of the population was divided into five classes who served in the infantry. Men who had no property had no military obligation. The military tactics used were similar to the Greek hoplite formation.

"Members of the `first class' were to be armed with a bronze cuirass, spear, sword, shield and greaves to protect the legs; the `second class' with much the same panoply minus the cuirass; the `third', the
same but lacking the greaves; the `fourth; the shield and spear only, and the `fifth' was armed only with slings or stones.

During the period of the Republic, the structure of the army went through some changes after the enactment of the Servian Constitution. When a Roman citizen volunteered or was drafted, it was to fight in a specific campaign rather than for a specific length of time. Since Rome's empire was expanding in the second century BCE, it might not be uncommon for soldiers to serve in successive campaigns with a length of service reaching six years--the usual maximum length of service. In some very rare instances a soldier could volunteer to serve longer terms of service, mainly for the booty reward available to soldiers. Normally, a soldier would be maintained in a citizen reserve for sixteen years after his initial term of service. If a soldier was mobilized later, it was unlikely he would retain his former rank. This fact made it difficult for a man to make the army a lucrative profession in the Republic era. Even if a citizen showed exceptional aptitude and bravery in combat and rose to the rank of centurion, he would only have received double the pay of an ordinary soldier until Julius Caesar changed the pay and reward structure for his legions.

Recommended reading for those interested in Roman history, military history.