The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
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174 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Roman</strong> <strong>Army</strong><br />
ask that you should think it appropriate to commend him to Annius<br />
Equester, centurion responsible for the region, at Luguvalium (Carlisle).<br />
[By doing this] you will place me in your debt [both in his] name and<br />
[in mine]. I hope that you are having the best of fortune and are well.<br />
(Second hand) Farewell, brother.<br />
(Back) To Cerialis, prefect.<br />
This is the earliest evidence we have for a centurion of a district, though there<br />
is no indication of what kind of jurisdiction, if any, he exercised. <strong>The</strong>re are<br />
other examples from Bath (text no. 211) and Ribchester in Britain, Egypt,<br />
Galatia, Lugdunensis, Noricum, and Pannonia.<br />
Many ostraca from Mons Claudianus in Egypt show that a centurion of<br />
this fort was responsible for issuing passes for travellers on the road which<br />
descended from Mons Claudianus towards the valley of the Nile; they were<br />
addressed to stationarii, who were responsible for supervision of the roads<br />
leading to the fort and the mines in the area—‘Antoninus, centurion, to the<br />
stationarii, greetings. Allow to pass a woman and two children. 10 Phaophi’<br />
(2nd C. AD; see Bingen et al. 1992:57–74, especially no. 58).<br />
290 Petronius (1st (?) C.AD), Satyricon 82<br />
(Encolpius rushes into the street with his hand on his sword hilt) <strong>The</strong>n<br />
a soldier spotted me; he was probably a deserter or a nocturnal<br />
cutthroat; ‘Hey, comrade’, he said, ‘what legion or whose century do<br />
you belong to?’ I lied boldly about my legion and century, but he said:<br />
‘Well then, in your army do the soldiers walk about wearing white<br />
slippers?’ Since my expression and my trembling gave away that I had<br />
been lying, he ordered me to hand over my sword and to watch out for<br />
myself. So, I was robbed…<br />
Petronius is writing a novel in which his hero, Encolpius, is at large in southern<br />
Italy, perhaps near Puteoli; the author imagines that an encounter with a soldier<br />
could be frightening and violent, and that soldiers could be casual thieves; he<br />
must have expected this to be credible to his audience. Apuleius, in his novel<br />
<strong>The</strong> Golden Ass, imagines the same kind of incident in a provincial setting.<br />
291 Apuleius (2nd C.AD), <strong>The</strong> Golden Ass 9. 39; 42; 10. 1; 13<br />
(extracts)<br />
(<strong>The</strong> hero has been turned into an ass and is in the service of a<br />
gardener) But our return was not free from trouble. For we<br />
encountered a tall legionary soldier, as his dress and appearance<br />
indicated, who arrogantly and abusively demanded where he (the<br />
gardener) was taking the unladen ass. But my master, who was still