Vegetius:Epitome of Military Science Translated with notes and introduction by N. P. Milner

THE ONLY LATIN ART OF WAR TO SURVIVE, Vegetius’Epitome was for long an essential part of the medieval prince’s
military education. The core of his proposals, the maintenance of
a highly-trained professional standing army and navy, was revolutionary for medieval Europe, while his theory of
deterrence through strength remains the foundation of modern Western defence policy. This annotated translation highlights the significance for his own age of Vegetius’ advice, written just
before the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, at a time when economic weakness and political disintegration threatened to undermine the strategic defensive structure that had underpinned
the Roman State for so long.The main thrust of his reforms is to confront the problems of the fragmentation of the army, the barbarization of its personnel, the loss of professional skills, and the substitution of mercenaries for
standing forces. The accent of the work is on the practicalities of recruiting and training new model armies (and navies) starting from scratch, and on the strategies appropriate to their use
against the barbarian invaders of the period.NP. MILNER took First Class Honours in Greats at Christ Church
Oxford, in 1982. After working for a time in the City and as a schoolmaster, he returned to Oxford to research Vegetius for a DPhil thesis. He has also been active in archaeological and epigraphical
survey work in S.W.Turkey undertaken at ancient sites by the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, and has worked on the epigraphical Nachlass of the late Alan Hall.