DOCUMENT 6.3
Vegetius Epitome of Military Science, ca. 380–390 C.E.
We know very little about Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, the author of the Epitome of Military Science. He lived during the late empire and seems to have been a Roman imperial bureaucrat and a man of some wealth. The range of his interests is suggested by the subject of his only other surviving work, Digesta Artis Mulolmedicinae, a book on the treatment of horse and cattle ailments, but of the details of his life we know next to nothing.
We can, however, piece together something of his likely motives in writing the Epitome from the context in which it was written and the clues offered by the text itself. Vegetius wrote at a time when the Roman Empire was in marked decline. The latest date included in the Epitome was 383 C.E. Less than two decades later, in 410 C.E., Rome was sacked by a Visigothic force led by Alric I. Given this context, it should not surprise us that Vegetius did not look to his contemporaries for examples of Roman military prowess. Instead his manual drew heavily on the work of earlier Roman writers, turning to Rome’s past for models that might help the empire regain its former glory. The Epitome was, then, a call for military reform. As you read this excerpt from the Epitome on recruitment, ask yourself why Vegetius made such a close connection between the army and Roman greatness.
1. That the Romans conquered all peoples solely because of their military training.
In every battle it is not numbers and untaught bravery so much as skill and training that generally produce the victory. For we see no other explanation of the conquest of the world by the Roman People than their drill-at-arms, camp-discipline and military expertise. How else could small Roman forces have availed against hordes of Gauls? How could small stature have ventured to confront Germanic tallness? That the Spaniards surpassed our men not only in numbers but in physical strength is obvious. To Africans’ treachery and money we were always unequal. No one doubted that we were surpassed by the arts and intelligence of the Greeks. But what succeeded against all of them was careful selection of recruits, instruction in the rules, so to speak, of war, toughening in daily exercises, prior acquaintance in field practice with all possible eventualities in war and battle, and strict punishment of cowardice. Scientific knowledge of warfare nurtures courage in battle. No one is afraid to do what he is confident of having learned well. A small force which is highly trained in the conflicts of war is more apt to victory: a raw and untrained horde is always exposed to slaughter.
2. From what regions recruits should be levied.
The order of our subject demands that the first part should treat of the provinces and peoples from which recruits should be levied. Now it is common knowledge that cowards and brave men are born in all places. However, nation surpasses nation in warfare, and climate exerts an enormous influence on the strength of minds and bodies. In this connexion let us not omit what has won the approval of the most learned men. They tell us that all peoples that are near the sun, being parched by great heat, are more intelligent but have less blood, and therefore lack steadiness and confidence to fight at close quarters, because those who are conscious of having less blood are afraid of wounds. On the other hand the peoples of the north, remote from the sun’s heat, are less intelligent, but having a superabundance of blood are readiest for wars. Recruits should therefore be raised from the more temperate climes. The plenteousness of their blood supplies a contempt for wounds and death, and intelligence cannot be lacking either which preserves discipline in camp and is of no little assistance with counsel in battle.
3. Whether recruits from the country or from the city are more useful.
The next question is to consider whether a recruit from the country or from the city is more useful. On this subject I think it could never have been doubted that the rural populace is better suited for arms. They are nurtured under the open sky in a life of work, enduring the sun, careless of shade, unacquainted with bathhouses, ignorant of luxury, simple souled, content with a little, with limbs toughened to endure every kind of toil, and for whom wielding iron, digging a fosse and carrying a burden is what they are used to from the country.
Sometimes however necessity demands that city-dwellers also be conscripted. These, when they have given in their names for military service, must first learn to work, drill, carry a burden and endure heat and dust; they must adopt a moderate, rural diet, and camp now under the sky, now under tents. Only then should they be trained in the use of arms and, if a long campaign is in prospect, they should be detained for considerable periods on outpost-duty and be kept far away from the attractions of the city, so that by this means their physical and mental vigour may be increased.
It is undeniable that after the City was founded the Romans always set out for war from town. But in those days they were not enervated by luxury. Youth would wash off sweat collected in running and field exercises, swimming in the Tiber. The same man was both warrior and farmer, merely changing the style of equipment. This was so far true that by all accounts Quinctius Cincinnatus was offered the dictatorship while he was ploughing. From the country, then, the main strength of the army should be supplied. For, I am inclined to think, a man fears death less if he has less acquaintance with luxury in his life.
4. At what age recruits should be approved.
Next let us examine at what age it is appropriate to levy soldiers. Indeed if ancient custom is to be retained, everyone knows that those entering puberty should be brought to the levy. For those things are taught not only more quickly but even more completely which are learned from boyhood. Secondly military alacrity, jumping and running should be attempted before the body stiffens with age. For it is speed which, with training, makes a brave warrior. Adolescents are the ones to recruit, just as Sallust says: “Directly as soon as youth was able to endure war, it learned military practice in camp through labour.” For it is better that a trained young man should complain that he has not yet reached fighting age, than that he should regret that it has passed.
He should also have the time to learn everything. For the art of war does not seem a slight or trivial matter, whether you wish to train a cavalryman, a foot-archer or a scutatus, or teach all the routines and all the gestures of the armatura, not to desert one’s post, not to disorder the ranks, to hurl the javelin with a true aim and great force, to know how to dig a fosse and plant stakes in scientific fashion, handle a shield and deflect oncoming missiles with oblique movements, avoid a blow intelligently and inflict one boldly. For this recruit so trained, fighting against all manner of enemies in battle will be no terror but a delight.
5. At what height recruits should be approved.
The height of recruits was, I know, always required to be up to the incomma, so that men of 6 ft. or at least 5 ft. 10 in. were approved for the alares cavalry or the First cohorts of the legions. But in those days the population was greater, and more followed a military career. For civilian careers did not then take away the better class of youth. So if necessity demands, it is right to take account not so much of stature as of strength. Even Homer himself is not wanting as a witness, since he records that Tydeus was small in body but a strong warrior.
6. That the potentially better recruits are recognized at selection from the face and physical posture.
He who is charged with carrying out the levy procedure should take great pains to choose those able to fill the part of soldiers from the face, from the eyes, from the whole conformation of the limbs. For quality is indicated not only in men, but even in horses and dogs, by many points, as is understood in the teaching of the most learned men. Even in bees, the Mantuan author says, it is to be observed:
Two kinds there are, the better by its face
Distinguished and bright with ruddy scales;
The other type is shaggy and inert
And drags along its fat, cowardly paunch.
So let the adolescent who is to be selected for martial activity have alert eyes, straight neck, broad chest, muscular shoulders, strong arms, long fingers, let him be small in the stomach, slender in the buttocks, and have calves and feet that are not swollen by surplus fat but firm with hard muscle. When you see these points in a recruit, you need not greatly regret the absence of tall stature. It is more useful that soldiers be strong than big.
7. Of what trades recruits should be selected or rejected.
The next matter is for us to examine from what crafts soldiers should be selected or rejected utterly. Fishermen, fowlers, pastrycooks, weavers and all who shall seem to have dealt in anything pertaining to textile-mills should in my view be banned far from camp. Masons, blacksmiths, wainwrights, butchers and stag and boar-hunters may usefully be joined to the military. This is a matter on which the safety of the entire State depends, that recruits be levied who are outstanding both in physique and moral quality. The strength of the realm and the foundation of the Roman Empire depend on the initial examination of the levy. Let it not be thought an unimportant duty, nor one which may be delegated to anyone, anywhere. It is well-known that among his considerable range of qualities Sertorius was praised by the ancient [writers] for this in particular. For the youth in whose hands is to be placed the defence of provinces, the fortune of battles, ought to be of outstanding breeding if numbers suffice, and morals. Decent birth makes a suitable soldier, while a sense of shame prevents flight and makes him a victor.
For what benefit is there in training a coward, of his spending several years’ service in camp? An army never makes fast progress if the selection procedure in approving recruits has been awry. And as we know from practice and experience, it is from this cause that so many defeats have been inflicted on us everywhere by our enemies, whilst during long years of peace the levying of soldiers has been neglected, while all those of decent birth have been pursuing civilian careers, while recruits levied from landowners have through the corruption or neglect of those granting approval been joined to the army only when they were of the sort their lords disdained to keep. So suitable recruits should be levied with great care by great men.
Source: N. P. Milner, trans., Vegetius: Epitome of Military Science (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1996), pp. 2–8.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER