''De rebus bellicis'' ("On the Things of Wars") is an anonymous work of the 4th or 5th century which suggests remedies for the military and financial problems in the Roman Empire, including a number of fanciful war machines. It was written after the death of

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

in 337 (it is explicitly stated that Constantine was dead when the work was written) and before the fall of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

in 476. Some researchers suggest that it may refer to the

Battle of Adrianople The Battle of Adrianople (9 August 378), sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between an Eastern Roman army led by the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels (largely Thervings as well as Greutungs, non-Gothic A ...

of 378 (it refers to the serious threat posed by the barbarian tribes to the empire), or even the death of Emperor

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two ...

in 395, as it uses the plural form of the word "princeps", the title of the emperor, which may refer to the split of the Empire between Honorius and Arcadius after the death of Theodosius.

Editions

*''Anonymi Auctoris De Rebus Bellicis''. recensvit Robert I. Ireland (Bibliotheca scriptorvm Graecorvm et Romanorvm Tevbneriana), Lipsiae, 1984. * "Anónimo Sobre Asuntos Militares", Edited, trans. and comm. by Álvaro Sánchez–Ostiz (EUNSA), Pamplona, 2004. * "Le cose della guerra", Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary by Andrea Giardina, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, Arnoldo Mondadori 1989.

, ''Zeitkritik in der Spätantike. Untersuchungen zu den Reformvorschlägen des Anonymus De rebus bellicis'' (Munich 1988) (Vestigia 40). * J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, "Realism and Phantasy: The Anonymous ''De Rebus Bellicis'' and its Afterlife," in Idem. ''Decline and Change in Late Antiquity: Religion, Barbarians and their Historiography'' (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006) (Variorum Collected Studies). * E. A. Thompson, ''A Roman Reformer and Inventor: Being a new Text of the Treatise De Rebus Bellicis with Translation and Introduction'' (Oxford 1952). * S. Mazzarino, "Aspetti sociali del IV secolo. Ricerche di Storia tardo-romana" (Roma 1951; Milano 2002).

External links

{{Commonscat-inline, De Rebus Bellicis, De rebus bellicis
Anonymi Auctoris De rebus bellicis
(full Latin text from Ireland's 1979 edition) 4th-century Latin books 5th-century Latin books Latin military books Military technology books Roman military writers

Editions

Further reading

External links