A Theory About Vegetius

[ValentinianVictrix]

It may well be that Vegetius never saw a 'Roman' soldier. He is stated as writing his 'Epitome' before the sack of Rome in 410AD, and its not clear where he was when he wrote it, in a city in the west or east, so he may have encountered the troops of the armies of Alaric and Gainas, both of which were predominately Goths. Depictions of Goths in the pen & ink drawings of the now mostly destroyed Column of Arcadius show Goths in either a mail hauberk or unarmoured, the Column of Theodosius shows the Goths as unarmoured.