The Military Institutions of the Romans: De Re Militari

The most influential military treatise in the western world from Roman times to the 19th Century was Vegetius’ De Re Militari. Its influence on our own traditions of discipline and organization are evident everywhere.

Richard Coeur de Lion carried De Re Militari everywhere with him in his campaigns, as did his father, Henry II of England.

Manuscript copies survive from the 10th to the 15th centuries. It was translated into English, French, and Bulgarian before the invention of printing. The first English printed edition was by William Caxton in 1489.

Flavius Vegetius Renatus was a Roman of high rank in the late fourth century. In some manuscripts he is given the title of count, but unfortunately little else is known of his life.

He states quite frankly that his purpose was to collect and synthesize from ancient manuscripts and regulations the military customs and wisdom that made ancient Rome such a powerful military force. According to his statement, his principal sources were Cato the Elder, Cornelius Celsus, Paternus, Frontinus, and the regulations and ordinances of Augustus, Trajan and Hadrian.

The first book treats of the choice and exercises of new troops; the second explains the establishment of the legion and the method of discipline; and the third contains the dispositions for action.