Vegetius Epitome of Military Science

Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.

ISBN: 9780853239109 | 085323910X
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 1/1/1997

Rent

(Recommended)

$39.13

Term

Due

Price

Semester

Dec 12

$41.19

Quarter

Aug 13

$39.13

Short Term

Jul 23

$37.07

*This item is part of an exclusive publisher rental program and requires an additional convenience fee. This fee will be reflected in the shopping bag.
Buy New

Usually Ships in 3-5 Business Days

$52.74

The only Latin art of war to survive, Vegetius'Epitomewas for long a part of the medieval prince's military education. The core of his proposals, the maintenance of a professional standing army, was revolutionary for medieval Europe, while his theory of deterrence through strength remains the foundation of modern Western defense policy. "by far the best English translation of Vegetius available ..."Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Preface

Introduction

xiii

§1. The work

xiii

§2. The author

xxxi

§3. The date

xxxvii

§4. The late-Roman army

xlii

Ancient Synopsis

(1)

Book I

(28)

Preface

(1)

(Recruitment, ch. 1-7)

(7)

1. That the Romans conquered all peoples solely because of their military training

(1)

2. From what regions recruits should be levied

(1)

3. Whether recruits from the country or from the city are more useful

(1)

4. At what age recruits should be approved

(1)

5. At what height recruits should be approved

(1)

6. That the potentially better recruits are recognized at selection from the face and physical posture

(1)

7. Of what trades recruits should be selected or rejected

(2)

(Training, ch. 8-28)

(20)

8. When recruits should be marked

(1)

9. Recruits should be trained in the military step, in running and in jumping

(1)

10. Recruits should be trained in the art of swimming

(1)

11. How the ancients trained recruits with wicker shields and with posts

(1)

12. Recruits should be taught to strike not with the edge, but with the point

(1)

13. Recruits should be taught armatura

(2)

14. Recruits should be trained at throwing javelins

(1)

15. Recruits should be thoroughly trained in arrows

(1)

16. Recruits should be trained at firing stones from slings

(1)

17. On training with lead-weighted darts

(1)

18. How recruits should be trained in mounting horses

(1)

19. Recruits should be trained in carrying a burden

(1)

20. What kind of arms and armour the ancients used

(4)

21. On building camps

(1)

22. In what kind of places camps should be built

(1)

23. In what shape camps should be marked out

(1)

24. The sorts of fortification of a camp

(1)

25. How a camp should be built when under threat from the enemy

26. How recruits are trained to keep ranks and intervals in the line

(21)

27. The distance that they should advance and retire, and how often a month the exercise should take place, whereby soldiers are led out on marching manoeuvres

(1)

28. On encouraging military science and Roman valour

(2)

Book II

(33)

Preface

(1)

(The armed services, ch. 1-3)

(5)

1. Into how many categories military science is divided

(2)

2. The difference between legions and auxilia

(1)

3. What caused the legions to become depleted

(2)

(The formation and structure of the Ancient Legion, ch. 4-14)

(13)

4. How many legions the ancient generals led to war

(1)

5. How the legion is formed

(1)

6. How many cohorts there are in a legion, and how many soldiers in a cohort

(1)

7. The titles and grades of officers of the legion

(4)

8. The titles of the officers who led the ancient centuries

(1)

9. The duties of the Prefect of the legion

(1)

10. The duties of the Prefect of the camp

(1)

11. The duties of the Prefect of engineers

(1)

12. The duties of the Tribune of soldiers

(1)

13. The centuries and ensigns of infantry

(1)

14. The troops of legionary cavalry

(2)

(The Ancient Legion in battle-order, ch. 15-18)

(4)

15. How the lines of the legions are drawn up

(2)

16. How triarii and centurions were armed

(1)

17. When battle commences the heavy armament stands like a wall

(1)

18. The names and ranks of soldiers are to be written on the face of their shields

(1)

(The administration of the Ancient Legion, ch. 19-25)

(11)

19. As well as physical strength, skills in short-hand writing and computation are required of recruits

(3)

20. Soldiers ought to deposit half their donative "with the standards", to be kept in savings for them

(1)

21. Promotions in the legion are made in such a way that those promoted pass through all cohorts

(1)

22. The difference between trumpeters, hornblowers and the bugle call

(1)

23. The training of soldiers

(2)

24. Examples to encourage military exercises, drawn from other arts

(1)

25. Catalogue of the legion's tools and machines

(3)

Book III

(58)

Preface

(1)

(Logistics, commissariat, discipline, signals, castrametation, ch. 1-8)

(20)

1. The proper size of an army

(2)

2. How the army's health is controlled

(2)

3. How much attention should be devoted to the procurement and storage of fodder and grain

(2)

4. Measures needed to ensure that soldiers do not mutiny

(2)

5. How many kinds of military signals there are

(2)

6. The degree of caution to be observed when an army moves in the vicinity of the enemy

(5)

7. How to cross large rivers

(1)

8. How to lay out a camp

(4)

(Pre-battle strategy, ch. 9-13)

(10)

9. What and how many things are to be considered when judging whether to engage the enemy in raids and ambushes or else in pitched battle

(3)

10. What to do if one has an army unaccustomed to fighting or newly recruited

(4)

11. Precautions to be taken on the day of engaging in a general action

(2)

12. One should find out how soldiers are feeling before battle

(1)

13. How a suitable place is chosen for battle

(1)

(Battle tactics and strategies, ch. 14-26)

(27)

14. How the line should be drawn up to render it invincible in battle

(3)

15. Counting the square-footage, how much space in the line should be left abreast between each man, and in depth between each rank

(2)

16. On deploying cavalry

(1)

17. On reserves, which are posted behind the line

(1)

18. In what position the commander-in-chief, the second- and third-in-command should stand

100

(2)

19. Remedies to counter the strength and stratagems of the enemy in battle

102

(2)

20. How many modes for engaging in a pitched battle there are, and how the side that is inferior in numbers and strength may prevail

104

(3)

21. An escape-route should be offered to the enemy so that they may be more easily destroyed in full flight

107

(1)

22. How to retreat from the enemy if the plan to fight is rejected

108

(2)

23. On the camels and armoured cavalry

110

(2)

24. How scythed chariots and elephants may be resisted in battle

112

(2)

25. What to do, if part or if all of the army is routed

114

(2)

26. General rules of war

116

(4)

Book IV

120

(33)

Preface

120

(1)

(Fortifications, ch. 1-6)

121

(2)

1. Cities should be fortified either by nature or by works

121

(1)

2. Walls should be built not straight, but with angles

121

(1)

3. How a terreplein is attached to the wall from ground-level

122

(1)

4. On portcullises and gates, protecting them from fire

122

(1)

5. On making fosses

122

(1)

6. On preventing men on the walls from being injured by enemy arrows

123

(1)

(Preparations for a siege, ch. 7-11)

123

(4)

7. Measures to be taken so that the besieged do not suffer famine

123

(1)

8. What supplies should be procured for the defence of walls

124

(1)

9. What to do if the supply of sinews runs out

125

(1)

10. What to do to ensure that the besieged suffer no shortage of water

126

(1)

11. If salt runs out

127

(1)

(Siege-strategies of attack and defence, ch. 12-30)

127

(13)

12. What to do when the first assault is pressed to the walls

127

(1)

13. List of machines used in storming walls

127

(1)

14. The ram, siege-hook and "tortoise"

127

(1)

15. "Vines", screens and the siege-mound

128

(1)

16. Mantelets

129

(1)

17. Mobile towers

130

(1)

18. How a mobile tower may be fired

131

(1)

19. How height is added to the walls

131

(1)

20. How the ground may be undermined so that the machine can be rendered harmless

132

21. Ladders, drawbridge, "thrust-bridge" and swing-beam

(101)

22. Catapults, mangonels, "scorpions", crossbows, "sling-staves" and slings, torsion-engines by which the wall is defended

133

(2)

23. Mattresses, nooses, grapnels and heavy columns are useful against rams

135

(1)

24. On saps, whereby the wall is undermined or the city penetrated

135

(1)

25. What the besieged should do if the enemy break into the city

136

(1)

26. What precautions should be taken to prevent the enemy occupying the wall by stratagem

136

(1)

27. When surprise attacks are made on the besieged

137

(1)

28. What the besiegers do to avoid suffering surprise attacks from the besieged

138

(1)

29. The type of torsion-engines with which a city is defended

138

(1)

30. How the measurement is obtained for making ladders and machines

139

(1)

(The Navy, ch. 31-33)

140

(2)

31. Precepts of naval warfare

140

(1)

32. The titles of the officers commanding the fleet

141

(1)

33. How warships got their name

141

(1)

(Shipbuilding, ch. 34-37)

142

(2)

34. The care with which warships are built

142

(1)

35. The astronomical observations according to which timber should be cut

142

(1)

36. The months in which timber should be cut

143

(1)

37. The size of warships

143

(1)

(The art of navigation, ch. 38-43)

144

(5)

38. The names and number of the winds

144

(2)

39. In which months it is safe to sail

146

(1)

40. How the signs of storms should be astronomically observed

147

(1)

41. On signs of the weather

147

(1)

42. On tidal waters, that is, ebb and flow

148

(1)

43. On navigational knowledge and oarsmen

149

(1)

(Naval warfare, ch. 44-46)

149

(4)

44. On naval weapons and torsion-engines

149

(1)

45. How ambushes are set in naval warfare

150

(1)

46. What to do when naval battle is joined in an open engagement

151

(2)

Abbreviations and Bibliography

153

(1)

Select Bibliography

154

(4)

Index of Gods, People and Places

158

Please wait while the item is added to your bag...

FREE SHIPPING

Rent More, Save More! Use code: BBRENTAL

5% off 1 book, 7% off 2 books, 10% off 3+ books

Vegetius Epitome of Military Science

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

FREE SHIPPING

Rent More, Save More! Use code: BBRENTAL

5% off 1 book, 7% off 2 books, 10% off 3+ books

Vegetius Epitome of Military Science

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Digital License