Vegetius’ analysis is grounded on three main assumptions. They are the conditions to define a good army:
(EB) An army is good if and only if
(a) is organized rationally,
(b) each unit is efficient in relation to its role,
(c) is able to have sufficient means to act.
Points (a) and (b) are poorly formulated because they already imply and require a quality assessment, which makes the Vegetius’ definition slightly circular – it implies already an account of what a good army is even though he is explaining exactly that point. However, at least in the first glance, these principles immediately able to be grasped by anyone who is not a philosopher who naturally needs more rigor. In any case, let’s eliminate the problematic terms (“rational” and “efficient”) to obtain greater clarity regarding our topic: