in the armies 417 



defeat of Alaric at Pollentia (402) is of interest in connexion with the 

 Roman army and the recruiting system. Of the confidence revived in 

 Rome by the appearance of Stilicho and his troops a vivid picture is 

 drawn, and he continues 'henceforth 1 no more pitiful conscription, no 

 more of reapers laying down the sickle and wielding the inglorious 

 javelin... nor the mean clamorous jangling of amateur leaders: no, this 

 is the presence of a genuine manhood, a genuine commander, a scene 

 of war in real life.' If this means anything, it implies that hasty levies 2 

 of raw countrymen were notoriously unfit to face hordes of barbarian 

 tribesmen in the field. True, no doubt; professional training had been 

 the basis of efficiency in Roman armies ever since the days of Marius. 

 But the words surely suggest further that conscription within the empire 

 was in Claudian's time not found a success, that is in producing a supply 

 of fit recruits to keep the legions up to strength. This also was doubt- 

 less true, as much other evidence attests, and was the main reason why 

 the 'Roman' soldiery of the period were mostly barbarians. But here, 

 as usual, the witness of the court-poet is in the form of admission rather 

 than statement. His business was to be more Roman than Rome. It 

 remains only to mention two similes, one of which perhaps refers to 

 free labour. An old crone 3 has 'poor girls' under her engaged in 

 weaving. They beg for a little holiday, but she keeps them at work 

 'to earn their joint livelihood.' This may be a scene from life, but is 

 more likely an echo from earlier poetry. When he illustrates 4 the effect 

 of Stilicho's coming on the peoples rising against Rome by comparing 

 them to slaves, deceived by false report of their lord's death, and caught 

 revelling by him when he unexpectedly returns, it is a scene that might 

 be enacted in any age. The little poem on the old man of Verona is 

 famous as a picture of humble contentment in rustic life. But the main 

 point of it as evidence is that the case is exceptional. 



LVI. VEGETIUS. 



Vegetius, a contemporary of Ammianus and Claudian, is credited 

 , with two surviving works, one on the military system, the other on 

 I veterinary practice. Both are largely compilations, and belong to the 

 class of technical writings which formed a great part of the literature 

 of this age. In discussing army matters the author looks back with 

 i regret to the sounder conditions of the past. Speaking 5 of the quality 

 | of recruits, he says 'It can surely never have been matter of doubt that 



1 non iam dilectus miseri nee fake per agros deposita iaculum vibrans ignobile messor,.. 

 ' vera iuventus, verus ductor adest et vivida Marlis imago. 



2 Cf Vegetius rei milit I 7, of disasters in recent times, dum longa pax militem incurio- 

 s legit. 



3 in Eutrop n 370-5. 4 de bell Goth 366-72. 5 epitoma rei militaris I 3. 

 H. A. 2? 



