Flavius Vegetius Renatus
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus ( Vegetius for short , German also outdated Vegez ) was a war theorist of the late 4th century and author of a major work on ancient war studies (Epitoma rei militaris) and a veterinary medicine textbook dealing primarily with equine medicine . Little is known of his life, career and military experience. In ancient sources it is called vir illustris and comes . Accordingly, he belonged to the high Roman imperial aristocracy and was a member of the imperial court. In the preface to his main work, he describes himself as a Christian.
Epitoma rei militaris
Vegetius' main work, the treatise Epitoma rei militaris (also: De re militari ) was written at the Milanese imperial court and is only so generally dedicated that the addressees include the Emperor Theodosius I the Great (ruled 379–395), but possibly also his son Honorius , as well as Theodosius II. and Valentinian III. come into question. The dating is therefore not entirely certain.
According to Vegetius, sources are Cato , Aulus Cornelius Celsus , Frontinus , Paternus and the imperial army regulations of Augustus , Trajan and Hadrian .
The first of the five books deals with the recruitment and training of soldiers. It vividly depicts the military decline of the late Roman Empire and is a plea for a fundamental reform of the army of its time.
In the second book, Vegetius describes in detail the structure, training and equipment of the legions of earlier epochs (especially the early imperial period).
The third book on strategy and tactics contains a number of military maxims that became the basis of military thought for European generals from Charles the Bald to William of Orange to Frederick the Great . It was only with the outbreak of the French Revolution - the revolutionary wars that were waged differently under the heading of a “ nation en armes ” (German: “People in Arms”) - that Vegetius was increasingly forgotten. Some of its principles may illustrate the principles of a war with limited political objectives:
- "What is beneficial to the enemy becomes a disadvantage to you, and what helps you is harmful to the enemy."
- “The crucial point in warfare is securing one's own supplies and destroying the enemy through starvation. Hunger is worse than the sword. "
- "Nobody belongs on the battlefield who is not experienced and tried."
- "It is better to cut off supplies from the enemy and fight them with raids and ambushes than to accept an open field battle, for the outcome of which chance often plays a greater role than determination."
- "If you want peace, prepare (prepare) for war."
Such maxims can already be found in a similar form in Sunzi's Art of War and correspond to a philosophy of warfare that was generally accepted from ancient times to the time of the Napoleonic Wars. His “seven usual dispositions for battle”, once revered by European adepts of the war craft, can certainly be transferred to more modern conditions.
His fourth book on siege engineering is important as it contains the best description of it for the period of late antiquity and the Middle Ages up to the 10th century. For example, it describes in detail the onager , a machine that was used in sieges before the development of modern cannons.
Finally, the fifth book is a list of the personnel and supplies of the Roman fleet .
Vegetius primarily complains about the decline of the Roman army of his time, the late 4th century. To shed some light on this, he glorifies the army of the early imperial era. Above all, he emphasizes the high standard of the recruits and the quality of their training as well as the officer corps.
Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae
A separate treatise on animal, especially equine medicine ( Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae ), in which he writes of the "Thuringians" as a horse breed particularly suitable for military service, is also the earliest mention of this name.
Reception history of the epitoma
Five manuscripts of the Epitoma rei militaris can be traced for the 9th century and some extracts even for the 7th century. Copies of the Epitoma have been extremely popular since they were first published . Their rules of siege technique were observed well into the Middle Ages. That this work was widespread in the Middle Ages is shown by the number of copies, which rose from 25 to 304 between the 10th and 15th centuries. The war books of the early Renaissance intended for a princely audience, such as Konrad Kyeser's Bellifortis , but also the gunsmith's books intended for technicians of the war, seem to be more and more popular with Vegetius. Dealing with this subject seems to have had a strong influence on early modern engineering.
The first printed editions of the Latin text appeared in Utrecht (1473), Cologne (1476), Paris (1478), Rome (in Veteres de re mil. Scriptores , 1487) and Pisa (1488).
Before the invention of printing, the work was translated into English, French (by Jean de Meung and Christine de Pisan ), Italian (by Bono Giamboni and others), Catalan, Spanish, Czech and Yiddish. There are several translations into German on the threshold between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, as the early humanists in particular were interested in the text as a potential rulership knowledge for princes and their now expanding training. In 1394/95 the text was first translated into German by Johann Seffner under the name “ler der streit”. Another translation was made shortly before 1437 at the University of Vienna. A third German translation by Ludwig Hohenwang was printed by Johann Wiener in Augsburg around 1476 and later in other places. An early English version (based on the French version) was published by Caxton in 1489. Vegetius' outstanding position as an authority on the field of warfare was thus secured for a long time. In the 18th century, the French lieutenant général Puysegur still professed Vegetius' principles and made them explicitly the basis of his own work. Charles Joseph de Ligne wrote in 1770: " C'est un livre d'or ".
The most reliable modern edition is from Michael D. Reeve (Oxford, 2004). A detailed and critical statement on Vegetius' work and significance is provided by Max Jähns , History of War Studies, i. 109-125 (Munich, 1889). More recently, in a lecture by the DFG research group “Image of War” on March 5, 1999 , Rainer Leng points out that the Epitoma rei militaris was only rarely used as a textbook for military action: “Most of the time, they were seen as moral - ascetic Scripture or, at best, viewed as a political-ideological draft, and thus more philosophy and the Artes are attributed than the science of war. ”According to the system of Aristotle, the text was more useful as a political and moral knowledge for a prince, for example about the importance of leadership and preparations and planning for war.
Text editions and translations
- De re militari . Attached works: Sextus Julius Frontinus: Strategemata . Pseudo-Modestus: De vocabulis rei militaris . Aelianus Tacticus: De instruendis aciebus (transl .: Theorus Gaza). Onosander: De optimo imperatore (Translator: Nicolaus Sagundinus). Eucharius silver, Rome 24. X. 1494 a. 3. XI. 1494 digitized version
- Renatus Publius Vegetius: Artis veterinariae sive mulo-medicinae libri quatuor. With a foreword by Count Hermann von Neuenahr , Basel (Johan Faber) 1528.
- Quatre livres de Puble Végèce Renay de la medicine des chevaux malades et autres veterinaires alienez et alterez de leur naturel. Translated from the Latin by Bernarddu Poy Monclor, Paris (Ch. Perier) 1563.
- Yo. Matthias Gesnerus : Vegetii Renati Artis veterinariae sive mulomedicinae libri quatuor. Mannheim 1781.
- P. Vegetii Renati Digestorum Artis Mulomedicinae Libri. Edited by Ernestus Lommatzsch , Leipzig 1903.
- Flavius Vegetius Renatus: Ain Buchlein vonn right and warhaffter art of Artzney allerlay kranckheyten, necessary and external of all thyer, something like that must be described [...] previously by Vegetium Renatum in Latin [...] Augsburg (Hainrich Stainer) 1532.
- Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus: Outline of the military system. Latin and German . With an introduction, explanations and indices by Friedhelm L. Müller . Steiner, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-07178-4 ( Epitoma rei militaris ).
- Flavius Vegetius Renatus: Epitoma rei militaris (= American university studies 11 (recte 17)). Edited by Leo F. Stelten. Lang, New York et al. a. 1990, ISBN 0-8204-1403-4 (with English translation)
- Flavius Vegetius Renatus: Epitome of Military Science . Edited by NP Milner. 2nd, revised edition. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1995, ISBN 0-85323-910-X , ( Translated texts for historians 16).
literature
- Christopher Allmond: The De Re Militari of Vegetius. The reception, transmission and legacy of a roman text in the middle ages , Cambridge University Press 2011.
- Frank Fürbeth: The 'Epitoma rei militaris' of Vegetius between knightly training and learned-humanistic reading. Another unknown German translation from the Vienna Artistic Faculty . In: Contributions to the history of German language and literature 124 (2002), pp. 302–338.
- Frank Fürbeth: On the German-language reception of the 'Epitoma rei militaris' of Vegetius in the Middle Ages . In: Horst Brunner (Ed.): The perception and representation of wars in the Middle Ages and in the early modern times. Wiesbaden 2000, pp. 141-165.
- Volker Schmidtchen: Warfare in the late Middle Ages. Technology, tactics, theory . Acta Humaniora et al. a., Weinheim 1990, ISBN 3-527-17580-6 .
- Dietwulf Baatz , Ronald Bockius: Vegetius and the Roman fleet. Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Praecepta belli navalis. Advice for Naval Warfare. Text with translation, commentary and introduction. Publishing house of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-88467-038-7 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Flavius Vegetius Renatus in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Flavius Vegetius Renatus in the German Digital Library
- Des establissemens apartenanz a chevalerie - Mscr.Dresd.Oc.57 . [Sl] 1325, online edition of a French translation of the Mulomedicina from 1325 in the Saxon State Library - Dresden State and University Library
- Romanesque art of war . Franckfurt 1616, online edition of the Saxon State Library - Dresden State and University Library
- Flavii Vegetii Renati Ain booklet, from the right and warhaffter art of Artzney, Allerlay kranckheyten necessary and external of all Thyer, something like that, like a horse, donkey… and other… Also how one should recognize allerlay kranckhayten art and pressed… Augsburg 1532 Online edition of the German translation of the Mulomedicina from 1532 in the Bavarian State Library in Munich
Remarks
- ↑ Lawrence Freedman: Strategy. A history. Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-932515-3 , p. 47.
- ↑ Fürbeth 2002.
- ↑ Marburg Repertory on Translation Literature in Early German Humanism 41401
- ↑ Fürbeth 2002.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Flavius Vegetius Renatus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Vegetius; Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus; Vegez |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roman war theorist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th century or 5th century |