New Book on Roman Swords

[Alexand96]

Does Simon James supply any further details to support this and/or any references? Naturally out of curiosity I have some interest in this topic and would like to know how he has arrived at this conclusion.

Graham, that was the frustrating bit. I very much share your interest in this subject (visualizing the Romans/their world), and own and enjoy more than one of your works. I did not check into his references listed in the back of the book, to be honest, but if memory serves correct he more or less stated this as if it was an accepted fact. When I have time, hopefully this evening or soon thereafter, I'll check into it. I do specifically remember him stating that emperors would be keen to dress in contemporary military fashions, which he stated were intentionally muted to reflect traditional Roman militaristic piety, so as to identify directly with the legions. I am not trying to distort or misrepresent his views in any way, but I'm almost certain that he had an exact statement such as "The sagum/paenula was traditionally always brown." I think this statement is quite contemptible for various reasons.