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VEGETIUS (FLAvjUS VEGETIUS RENATUS)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 968 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VEGETIUS (FLAvjUS VEGETIUS RENATUS) , a celebrated military writer of the 4th See also:century. Nothing is known of his See also:life, station and military experience, See also:save that in See also:MSS. he is called vir illustris and also comes. His See also:treatise, Epitoma rei militeris, sive institutorum :rei militaris libri quinque, was dedicated to the reigning See also:emperor (? See also:Theodosius the See also:Great). His See also:sources, according to his own statement, were See also:Cato, See also:Cornelius See also:Celsus, See also:Frontinus, Paternus and the imperial constitutions of See also:Augustus, See also:Trajan and See also:Hadrian. The See also:book, which is a See also:con-fused and unscientific compilation, has to be used with great caution, but is none the less invaluable to the student of the See also:ancient See also:art of See also:war. The first book is a plea for See also:army reform, and vividly portrays the military decadence of the See also:empire. The third contains a See also:series of military See also:maxims which were (rightly enough, considering the similarity in the military conditions of the two ages) the See also:foundation of military learning• for every See also:European See also:commander, from See also:William the Silent to See also:Frederick the Great. When the See also:French Revolution and the " nation in arms" came into See also:history, we hear little more of Vegetius. Some of the maxims may be mentioned here as illustrating the principles of a war for limited See also:political See also:objects (see Aiusy) with which he deals. All that is advantageous to the enemy is disadvantageous; to you, and all that is useful to you, See also:damages the enemy "; " No See also:man is to be employed in the See also:field who is not trained and tested in discipline "; It is better to See also:beat the enemy through want, surprises and care for difficult places (i.e. through manoeuvre) than by a See also:battle in the open field "--maxims that have guided the leaders of professional armies in all countries and at all times, as See also:witness the See also:Chinese generals See also:Sun and Wu (see E. F.

Calthrop, The Book of War, See also:

London, 1908). His " seven normal dispositions for battle," once in See also:honour amongst European students of the art of war, are equally ludicrous if applied to See also:present-See also:day conditions. His book on siegecraft is important as containing the best description of See also:late. empire and See also:medieval See also:siege matters, &c., and from it amongst other things we learn details of the siege See also:engine called onager, which afterwards played a great See also:part in sieges. • The fifth book is an See also:account of the material and personnel, of the See also:Roman See also:navy. In See also:manuscript, Vegetius's See also:work had a great See also:vogue from the first, and its rules of siegecraft were much studied in the See also:middle ages. It was translated into See also:English, French and even Bulgarian before the invention of See also:printing. The first printed See also:editions are assigned to See also:Utrecht (1473), See also:Cologne (1476), See also:Paris (1478), See also:Rome (in Ve4eres dere mil. scriptures, 1487), and See also:Pisa (1488). A See also:German See also:translation by See also:Ludwig Hohenwang appeared at See also:Ulm in 1475. Vegetius's position as the premier military critic was thenceforward assured. As late. as the 18th century we find so eminent a soldier as See also:Marshal Puysegur basing his own See also:works on this acknowledged. See also:model, and the famous See also:Prince de Ligne wrote " C'est un livre:d'or." The fullest and most important See also:modern edition is that of Karl See also:Lang (See also:Leipzig, 1869). An English version through the French was published by See also:Caxton in 1489. For a detailed See also:critical estimate of Vegetius's works and See also:influence see Max Jahns, Gesch. der Kriegswissenschaften, i.

109-125.

End of Article: VEGETIUS (FLAvjUS VEGETIUS RENATUS)

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