A QUESTÃO DA INNOVATIO NOS MANUAIS MILITARES ROMANOS TARDO-ANTIGOS: RELENDO O COMPÊNDIO DA ARTE MILITAR DE VEGÉCIO E A OBRA SOBRE OS ASSUNTOS MILITARES (SÉC. IV D.C.)

Abstract

This dissertation presents an analysis of two works – De Rebus Bellicis and Epitoma Rei Militaris by using a comparative approach. The starting point for such analysis is the contextualization of historiographical practice and the changes in the field of Military History that took place in the last decades, followed by the presentation of the process of definition of the object of study, its problems and the hypotheses that guided this research. After that, there is a study on the transformations in the Roman army between the 3rd century BCE and the 4th century CE, based on some specific episodes (snapshots). Then, the study focuses on the second half of the 4th century CE, more precisely between the years 335 and 395 CE, a period which allows the exam of delicate military and political issues which took place between the rise of Julian and the death of Theodosius I; this period is particularly relevant because it is directly related to the production of the two military manuals that are the main object of study in this work. Before proceeding with the analysis of the two texts, there is a preliminary review of the history of the documents, considering biographical information about the authors and about the time of production of the texts, with the aim of presenting these military manuals as cultural artifacts and examining questions related to the definition, textual tradition and methodological limits. The comparative study of De Rebus Bellicis and Epitoma Rei Militaris proposed here adopts as parameter the conception of temporal order presented by these military manuals. From historical consciousness to the idea of a temporal breach in a passatist historicity regime, it compares the innouationes found in both military manuals, using as references for the analysis the construction of the idea of present of present things, the present of past things and the present of future things in both texts. The elaboration of crisis, its origin (and recurrence) and the confrontation between the magnitudo ingenii and the consuetudines antiquae show the convergences and divergences in the projects of the two authors and offer an interesting key for the understanding of the second half of the 4th century CE. From the theorical and methodological point of view, such comparative approach intends to widen the possibilities of analysis of texts belonging to the tradition of ancient military manuals.