01-22-2017, 10:26 PM
It's dedicated to an emperor, but we don't know which one! Theodosius I seems the prevailing view.
But why not Valentinian III? Vegetius is writing about the army 'up to the time of Gratian' (as he says at one point) - but if he was writing in the 390s plenty of people would still have had first-hand experience of Gratian's army, and wouldn't need to be informed about it... If he were writing in the 430s or so, the pre-Adrianople army of fifty or more years before would seem like some lost golden age, which is pretty much how V presents it.
Admittedly, it's a lot to hang on one phrase in the Theodosian Code, but if Valentinian III was actively engaged in trying to rebuild or reconstruct the army of his forefathers (an army which by that point had been almost entirely eclipsed in Italy at least), then an ambitious courtier like Vegetius might have sensed an ideal opening for his book of suggestions...
But why not Valentinian III? Vegetius is writing about the army 'up to the time of Gratian' (as he says at one point) - but if he was writing in the 390s plenty of people would still have had first-hand experience of Gratian's army, and wouldn't need to be informed about it... If he were writing in the 430s or so, the pre-Adrianople army of fifty or more years before would seem like some lost golden age, which is pretty much how V presents it.
Admittedly, it's a lot to hang on one phrase in the Theodosian Code, but if Valentinian III was actively engaged in trying to rebuild or reconstruct the army of his forefathers (an army which by that point had been almost entirely eclipsed in Italy at least), then an ambitious courtier like Vegetius might have sensed an ideal opening for his book of suggestions...
Nathan Ross
