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

The army, the local community, the law 151
Titus Aurelius Sarapammon, son of Titus, of the tribe Pollia, in the camp
Titus Flavius Apollinaris, son of Titus, of the tribe Pollia, in the camp
Marcus Furfanius Longus, son of Marcus, of the tribe Collina, from
Paraetonium
Century of Marinus
Marcus Aurelius Herodes, son of Marcus, of the tribe Pollia, in the
camp
Of the forty-one soldiers whose origins are mentioned, thirty-two come from
Egypt, and twenty-four of these state the military camp (castris) as their
birthplace, all but one having the tribe Pollia. These men obviously had no
municipium or colony to cite as their birthplace, and it is likely that most of
them were illegitimate sons born to soldiers from women living in the canabae;
those who were non-citizens (see pp. 153–60) could be attracted into the army
by the offer of citizenship on enlistment, a practice that should be linked with
the development of local recruiting. For example, around AD 161–192 about
25 per cent of the known soldiers of the III Augusta in Africa were recruited
from the town of Lambaesis or castris, rising to 39 per cent in the Severan era
(Le Bohec 1989b:491–530).
250 Salway, 1965: no. 26, inscription, Carriden, Britain, 2nd/3rd (?)
C.AD
To Jupiter Best and Greatest, the people of the vicus dwelling at the
fort of Velunia (?), happily, willingly, and deservedly paid their vow,
under the direction of Aelius Mansuetus.
Vici (the inhabitants are vicani) grew up along the approach roads to smaller
forts, and contained workshops and dwellings and related farmland and
cemeteries. Note the development near the fort on the river Phasis, described
by Arrian (text no. 146). Vici were distinguished from canabae by their size
and also by the fact that there were probably fewer Roman citizens in them.
There is some confusion in terminology in that vicus retained its basic meaning
of a ‘subdivision’ of a larger entity, so large canabae were sometimes subdivided
into vici (Salway 1965:9–13; Jones and Mattingly 1990:158–61).
SOLDIERS, MARRIAGE, AND FAMILY LIFE
A rule that almost certainly originated with Augustus forbade Roman
soldiers to marry during service. In a long-service, professional army it
was of course impossible to prevent them from forming liaisons with
local women and from begetting children, but by denying them the
consequences of a legally valid marriage the government could hope to
discourage such unions. Certainly there was no obligation on it to make