Past discussions on Vegetius' epitoma rei militaris have tended to focus on two questions.  The first of these concerns the dating of the work, with the general consensus favouring either Theodosius I or Valentinian III as the emperor for whom it was written.  The second revolves around the debate on whether the antiqua legio that is described in Book Two is a fabrication, constructed from a variety of sources by Vegetius, or whether it existed in reality; and, if it did exist, to what date it can be assigned.[i]  

However in this work I intend in the main to avoid these questions whenever possible and concentrate instead upon what relevance the work had to the period in which it was written, and to consider whether the recommendations therein were in any way implementable in the context of the late-fourth or early- fifth century Roman Empire.