Feeding the Soldiers

[Robert Vermaat]

Vegetius does make a mistake when he invents the 'ducentenarius' (leader of 200), a mistake for the 'ducenarius'.

Really? Not in Lang, Stelton, Önnerfors or Reeve.

... when he invents the 'ducentenarius' (leader of 200), a mistake for the 'ducenarius'.

I think Vegetius' mistake is in assuming that there was a unit of 200 men requiring a commander. From at least the time of Claudius, ducenarius indicated a procurator who was "paid 200" (i.e. 200 sesterces per annum).

You're both right, I was wrong. :? Indeed, Vegetius never used the rank of 'ducentenarius', but he assumed that the ducenarius commanded 200 men. The ducentenarius was a modern assumption as possibly lying behind that thought. A ducentenarius as commander of 200 men did exist, but not in Roman times - Bede is the first to mention it.