Why were the Triarii differently equipped?

[Renatus]

I am following a plan outline by Professor Ridley to publish a certain number and then freely distributed them among the libraries around the world. Professor Ridley will be the one deciding which libraries will receive a copy. I am keeping a small number to give to those who helped me throughout the project. Three copies are already allocated to RAT members.

While deferring to the wisdom of Prof. Ridley, I hope that this does not mean that, apart from the copies that you distribute personally, the rest disappear into the maws of the libraries, never to be seen again. I recall that, about ten years ago, I tracked down a published French thesis on Roman military law that interested me. The British Library did not have it and the only copy that I could find in the whole of the UK was in the library of Balliol College, Oxford. Although I had no connection with the college, they kindly let me study it. It was published in 1907 and the pages were still uncut!

I would like your book have as wide a circulation as possible and to be properly reviewed in respected academic journals and I wonder if they would trouble to do this, if it were not available on the open market. There may well be reviewers who do not accept your thesis but I want to see the arguments for and against and to assess the merits and demerits of each, before reaching my final conclusion.