The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

The army in peacetime 125
Romula, built the circuit of the walls from the base up by means of a
body of soldiers.
204 CIL 8. 2728=ILS 5795, inscription, Lambaesis, Africa, AD 152
(extracts)
Endurance Courage Hope
[To Marcus Valerius] Etruscus (legate of III Augusta): The most
illustrious community of Saldae and I, along with the citizens of Saldae,
ask you, sir, that you ask Nonius Datus, veteran of the legion III Augusta,
surveyor, to come to Saldae to complete what remains of his work.
I (Nonius Datus) set out and on the way encountered bandits;
stripped and wounded I got away with my companions and came to
Saldae. I met the procurator, Clemens. He took me to the mountain,
where they were lamenting the tunnel as a doubtful piece of work which
they thought would have to be abandoned…
(There follows a description of how the tunnelling procedure had
gone wrong). When I was allocating the work so that they should know
who was responsible for each section of the tunnelling, I arranged for
there to be rivalry in the work between men from the fleet and the
auxiliary troops, and on this basis they worked together in tunnelling
through the mountain. Therefore I, who had originally conducted the
survey and marked out the course, decided that it should be done in
accordance with the plan which I had given to the procurator Petronius
Celer (procurator of Mauretania Caesariensis in AD 137). When the
work was completed and the water was sent through the channel, Varius
Clemens the procurator (AD 152) dedicated it. Five modii (quantity of
water flowing in the channel at one moment ?).
I have appended some letters so that my work on this tunnel at
Saldae may emerge more clearly.
Letter of Porcius Vetustinus (procurator of Mauretania, AD 150) to
Crispinus (legate of III Augusta, AD 147–50): You acted very kindly,
sir, and in keeping with your consideration and goodwill on other
occasions, in sending me Nonius Datus, reservist, so that I could discuss
with him the work which he undertook to look after. So, although I
was pressed for time and was hurrying to Caesarea, nevertheless I made
the journey to Saldae and inspected the water channel which had started
well, although it was a large undertaking and could not be completed
without the attention of Nonius Datus, who dealt with the matter
carefully and conscientiously. I was therefore going to ask that we be
permitted to detain him for several months to take charge of the work,
if he had not been taken ill as a result of [ _ _ _