Dating

The first problem when dealing with Vegetius concerns that of the dating of the piece.  As I have already stated, I do not intend to go into the various proposed dates in depth; all I intend to say here is that I believe that the proposition in favour of dating the work to the reign of Theodosius I carries more conviction, mainly due to those arguments put forward by Milner in his introduction to the translation.[2]  I therefore intend to concentrate the discussion on those points relevant to conditions prevailing in the reign of Theodosius, noting in passing any main differences between the situation under his rule and that of Valentinian III.  This is due to the fact that the piece may date to the later reign and so may lead to a major change in the interpretation of the work.