The De re militari of Vegetius : the reception transmission and legacy of a Roman text in the Middle Ages Vegetius late Roman text became a well known and highly respected classic in the Middle Ages transformed by its readers into the authority on the waging of war. Christopher Allmand analyses the medieval afterlife of the De re militari tracing the growing interest in the text from the Carolingian world to the late Middle Ages suggesting how the written word may have influenced the development of military practice in that period. While emphasising that success depended on a commanders ability to outwit the enemy with a carefully selected well trained and disciplined army the De re militari inspired other unexpected developments such as that of the national army and helped create a context in which the role of the soldier assumed greater social and political importance. Allmand explores the significance of the text and the changes it brought for those who accepted the implications of its central messages Little is known about Publius Vegetius Renatus. He was probably born in the mid fourth century AD possibly in Spain. Although familiar with the language of the army it is unlikely that he was ever a soldier or had practical military experience. He was rather a member of the bureaucratic elite at the imperial court bearing the title Flavius which identifies him as a public servant as does the title comes found in one branch of the manuscript tradition. It is likely however that he had experience of the recruitment administration and provisioning of armies for these receive much of his attention. From the Mulomedicina a work on veterinary medicine which he almost certainly wrote we learn that he was a much travelled man. From the evidence of the De re militari it appears that he also appreciated literature as his references to the works of Virgil and Sallust testify