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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

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