Regarding the Gladius and Mail

[Dan Howard]

The overwhelming number of Rome's opponents were not wearing armour. The gladius (all types) was designed to be used against flesh and it was viciously effective at this. Even Roman soldiers left a lot of the body unarmoured - face, throat, armpit, forearm, thighs, stomach, groin, etc. Why aim an inneffective stab at armour when all of these other targets are available? The goal is to incapacitate an opponent and move on to the next one. A thrust to the foot does this just as well as one through the heart.