Is this the most outrageous statement in a book?

[ValentinianVictrix]

My point Duncan is that Lenski is actually making this as a statement of fact, and this I find so astounding. Thompson's translation and notes does not state this, and I have found no other clues to this in my library. Did any of the ballista in the De Rebus Bellicis see the light of day? Did Valens put them in the mile forts (which were started by Valentinian I by the way), did he not know about the 'portable bridges' Julian used?

I just find it difficult to understand why no historian or academic has seen fit to challenge the statement I posted, or have they?