I.
The Transition from Roman to Mediæval Forms in War.
A.D. 378-582.
[From the battle of Adrianople to the Accession of Maurice.]
Between the middle of the fourth and the end of the sixth century lies a period of transition in military history, an epoch of transformations as strange and as complete as those contemporary changes which turned into a new channel the course of political history and civilisation in Europe. In war, as in all else, the institutions of the ancient world are seen to pass away, and a new order of things develops itself.
Numerous and striking as are the symptoms of that period of transition, none is more characteristic than the gradual disuse of the honoured name of 'Legion,' the title intimately bound with all the ages of Roman greatness. Surviving in a very limited acceptance in the time of Justinian[1], it had fifty years later become obsolete. It represented a form of military efficiency which had no completely vanished. That wonderful combination of strength and flexibility, so solid and yet so agile and easy to handle, had ceased to correspond to the needs of the time. The day of the sword and pilum had give place to that of the lance and bow. The typical Roman soldier was no longer the iron legionary, who, with shield fitted close to his left shoulder and sword-hilt sunk low, cut his way
- ↑ Lord Mahon in his Life of Belisarius is wrong in asserting that the legion was no longer known in Justinian's day. The term is mentined, though rarely, in Procopius, who more frequently calls the legionary troops οἱ ἐκ τῶν καταλόγων.
B 2
