This work investigates the foundational principles of Roman military organization, training, and strategy as codified by Vegetius during the late Roman Empire. The author, writing for an imperial audience, synthesizes centuries of Roman military tradition into a comprehensive manual intended to restore the discipline and efficacy of the legions. This Oxford Classical Text edition utilizes a rigorous philological approach, drawing upon an extensive collation of over 200 surviving manuscripts to establish a definitive critical text for modern scholars.

Experts recognize this edition as the standard scholarly reference for the study of Vegetius due to its exhaustive manuscript investigation. Readers frequently note the academic density of the critical apparatus, which provides essential insights into the transmission of classical texts through the Middle Ages.