Well, it may not be historically accurate, but as someone whose been involved in a couple of fights where my adversary had a knife -- and trust me, I don't care how good of a fighter you are, you get in a knife fight -- you're going to get cut -- I find them to be highly practical. The wrist is one of the most vulnerable spots on the human body, and I've seen guys bleed out (mostly due to adrenaline) that had no idea they were even hurt until it's too late. Wearing bracers would be one of the most common sense things a guy fighting with sharp, pokey things going up against a guy with sharp, pokey things could do.
As someone who follows "literary" history, and who has a collection of the writings of the Ancients, most literary scholars admit that we have only a tiny fraction of the writings of Caesar, Cicero, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, etc., so to suggest that we have every piece of written information from the age of Ancient Rome about what Roman soldiers did or did not wear is highly unlikely and suspect. Just my two cents.
As someone who follows "literary" history, and who has a collection of the writings of the Ancients, most literary scholars admit that we have only a tiny fraction of the writings of Caesar, Cicero, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, etc., so to suggest that we have every piece of written information from the age of Ancient Rome about what Roman soldiers did or did not wear is highly unlikely and suspect. Just my two cents.