De Re Militari (Flavius Vegetius Renatus)

[The Lawspeaker]

FLAVIUS VEGETIUS RENATUS
(http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/%7Emadsb/home/war/vegetius/)"MILITARY MATTERS" (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius.html)

(http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/%7Emadsb/home/war/vegetius/)


Translated from the Latin by Lieutenant John Clarke

Text written in 390 A.D. British translation published in 1767.




BOOK ONE
The Selection and Training of New Levies



THE ROMAN DISCIPLINE THE CAUSE OF THEIR GREATNESS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-1.html)
THE SELECTION OF RECRUITS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-2.html)
THE PROPER AGE FOR RECRUITS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-3.html)
THEIR SIZE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-4.html)
SIGNS OF DESIRABLE QUALITIES (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-5.html)
TRADES PROPER FOR NEW LEVIES (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-6.html)
THE MILITARY MARK (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-7.html)
INITIAL TRAINING (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-8.html)
TO LEARN TO SWIM (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-9.html)
THE POST EXERCISE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-10.html)
NOT TO CUT, BUT TO THRUST WITH THE SWORD (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-11.html)
THE DRILL CALLED ARMATURA (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-12.html)
THE USE OF MISSILE WEAPONS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-13.html)
THE USE OF THE BOW (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-14.html)
THE SLING (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-15.html)
THE LOADED JAVELIN (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-16.html)
TO BE TAUGHT TO VAULT (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-17.html)
AND TO CARRY BURDENS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-18.html)
THE ARMS OF THE ANCIENTS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-19.html)
ENTRENCHED CAMPS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-20.html)
EVOLUTIONS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-21.html)
MONTHLY MARCHES (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-22.html)
CONCLUSION (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius1-23.html)



BOOK TWO
The Organization of the Legion



THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-1.html)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LEGIONS AND AUXILIARIES (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-2.html)
CAUSES OF DECAY OF THE LEGION (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-3.html)
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGION (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-4.html)
THE OFFICERS OF THE LEGION (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-5.html)
THE PRAEFECT OF THE WORKMEN (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-6.html)
THE TRIBUNE OF THE SOLDIERS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-7.html)
CENTURIES AND ENSIGNS OF THE FOOT (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-8.html)
LEGIONARY TROOPS OF HORSE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-9.html)
DRAWING UP A LEGION IN ORDER OF BATTLE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-10.html)
NAMES OF SOLDIERS INSCRIBED ON THEIR SHIELDS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-11.html)
RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-12.html)
SOLDIER'S DEPOSITS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-13.html)
PROMOTION IN THE LEGION (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-14.html)
LEGIONARY MUSIC (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-15.html)
THE DRILLING OF THE TROOPS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-16.html)
MACHINES AND TOOLS OF THE LEGION (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius2-17.html)



BOOK THREE
Dispositions for Action




THE NUMBER WHICH SHOULD COMPOSE AN ARMY (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-1.html)
MEANS OF PRESERVING IT IN HEALTH (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-2.html)
CARE TO PROVIDE FORAGE AND PROVISIONS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-3.html)
METHODS TO PREVENT MUTINY IN AN ARMY (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-4.html)
MARCHES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE ENEMY (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-5.html)
PASSAGES OF RIVERS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-6.html)
RULES FOR ENCAMPING AN ARMY (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-7.html)
MOTIVES FOR THE PLAN OF OPERATIONS OF A CAMPAIGN (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-8.html)
HOW TO MANAGE RAW AND UNDISCIPLINED TROOPS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-9.html)
PREPARATIONS FOR A GENERAL ENGAGEMENT (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-10.html)
THE SENTIMENTS OF THE TROOPS SHOULD BE DETERMINED BEFORE BATTLE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-11.html)
CHOICE OF THE FIELD OF BATTLE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-12.html)
ORDER OF BATTLE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-13.html)
PROPER DISTANCES AND INTERVALS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-14.html)
DISPOSITION OF THE CAVALRY (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-15.html)
RESERVES (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-16.html)
THE POST OF THE GENERAL AND OF THE SECOND AND THIRD IN COMMAND (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-17.html)
MANEUVERS IN ACTION (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-18.html)
VARIOUS FORMATIONS FOR BATTLE (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-19.html)
THE FLIGHT OF AN ENEMY SHOULD NOT BE PREVENTED, BUT FACILITATED (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-20.html)
MANNER OF CONDUCTING A RETREAT (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-21.html)
ARMED CHARIOTS AND ELEPHANTS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-22.html)
RESOURCES IN CASE OF DEFEAT (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-23.html)
GENERAL MAXIMS (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius3-24.html)

[The Black Prince]

Good post Asega, earlier I have read parts of it in history books who quoted him by times. Never realized it was in total on the net, it has very interesting chapters.

One puzzling remark on FLVIS his chapter IV of book I

THEIR SIZE

We find the ancients very fond of procuring the tallest men they could for the service, since the standard for the cavalry of the wings and for the infantry of the first legionary cohorts was fixed at six feet, or at least five feet ten inches. These requirements might easily be kept up in those times when such numbers followed the profession of arms and before it was the fashion for the flower of Roman youth to devote themselves to the civil offices of state. But when necessity requires it, the height of a man is not to be regarded so much as his strength; and for this we have the authority of Homer, who tells us that the deficiency of stature in Tydeus was amply compensated by his vigor and courage.

The Roman foot (pes) was 296.2 mm ± 0.5 mm and a Roman inch (uncia) was 24.6cm. This makes a Roman of 6ft stand at 177.7cm and a Roman of 5'10 was 172.2cm.

Earlier in 2004 (it was published in 2005, Cambridge University Press) Koepke and Baten wrote their study about the biological living standard of Europe for the last 2000 years at the hand of bodystature trends. The neat part is that they grouped it according the main regions of Europe. Northern Europe (north of the Rhine), Central Europe (Alps and surrounding highlands), Eastern Europe and Western Europe (below the rhine and the Atlantic fringe).



We know that the most important migration streams went from the Mediterranean region into Central and Western Europe in the first to third century, and there was an important Germanic (and other) migration in the forth to sixth centuries from Northern Europe to Eastern, Central and Southern Europe and later to the British Isles.

Migrants from the Mediterranean to Central Europe (especially Roman soldiers and officers, as well as administrative staff) turned out to be 4 cm shorter than the rest of the population (Table 2, col.4).

...

The regional dummy variable coefficients confirm our expectations. Northern Europe with its low population density and traditionally high protein production per capita had the tallest heights, Eastern Europe with its also lower population density but probably lower number of cows per capita (given the soil structure) ranked below that, on a similar level as the “North Rhine” region around the Netherlands, Western Germany etc. Short people were dominant in the Bavarian/Austrian, the Mediterranean and the British regions, the latter especially in the Celto-Roman period.

Source: The Biological Standard of Living in Europe During the Last Two Millennia (http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/wwl/koepke_baten_twomillennia.pdf)


According to the study of Koepke & Baten the average length of women and men was 159.78cm in the Western- and Central European part of the Roman Empire.
The males were 7.97cm taller, that makes males in these parts 167.75cm.. However migrating Roman males (mostly veteran legionaires), excavated near Roman Colonii were 4.00cm smaller as this average, that makes 163.75cm for male ex-legionaire Romans.

If I take the minimal length of an Roman legionaire according to Flavius ca. 172cm and the average length of the excavated Roman males of 164cm, I still miss 8cm?

[beluga]

[QUOTE=Civis Batavi;130877][CENTER]FLAVIUS VEGETIUS RENATUS
(http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/%7Emadsb/home/war/vegetius/)"MILITARY MATTERS" (http://www.sonshi.com/vegetius.html)[URL="http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/%7Emadsb/home/war/vegetius/"]


Hello everyone!!! I am interesting to find a translate in englesh a Book 4 and 5 by Vegetius . Have anyone helpme with this ? Thank you !!!

[beluga]

I find few book about this subject but it is incomplete, without Chapter 4 and 5 ... I need bouth of them in english , and if is posible an internet read version with illustrations . I working on a history of diving, in Vegetius Book are few information about this . All quotes Vegetius but I want to check this information right to the source . So, I will thank anyone can help me ...