NO NEW ANSWERS HERE - JUST QUESTIONS. AND THE QUESTIONS THEMSELVES ARE NOT REALLY NEW! BUT THEY HAVE BEEN BOTHERING ME FOR AWHILE NOW, AND PERHAPS BY DISCUSSING THEM "OUT LOUD" SOME PROGRESS MIGHT BE MADE ON SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF THE LUCIUS ARTORIUS CASTUS INSCRIPTION.
Those who have studied the LAC memorial stone have typically been aggravated (or intrigued) by two things:
1) It refers to a man, a prefect of the Sixth Legion of Britain, who claims to be dux (temporary commander) of the entire legionary complement of the province. Epigraphers and historians have always assumed that LAC implied he was commander of vexillations or detachments drawn from the three legions. But if so, this is the only known example of someone leaving out vexillations and assuming that his audience would know what he meant. Of course, it is always possible this is mere hyperbole, the product of a very vain man who was fond of boasting about his military achievements.
2) The fragmentary ARM[...]S has been read either as ARMORICOS (difficult to fit in the space provided and no where else found on inscriptions) or ARMENIOS (fits perfectly on the stone, although based solely on a supposed formulaic use of /proc centenario/ the date may be too late [1]). ARMATOS, recently proposed by Dr. Linda Malcor and colleagues, has been rejected on all counts by every academic I have personally asked about it. The standard argument against ARMATOS is that it is too vague and nonspecific. "Who else would LAC being fighting against than armed men - inermes [unarmed men]?" I do understand why it was chosen, as it allows us to assume the enemy was in Britain, and that would make more sense of LAC's claim that he was leading all three British legions. It is said that ARMATOS was used to describe several different enemies. As LAC did not have room to mention them on the stone, he lumped them all together as 'armed men/soldiers/troops.'
On this last point, however, I would call attention to the large amount of extra space to the left and right sides of the last line. I have highlighted these spaces in red in the above posted photo. Seems to me that there was plenty of room for LAC to have both inserted any of the known abbreviations for vexillationes and to have given us a bit more than the 'armed men.'
The question is, then, why didn't he?
To add insult to injury, LAC could have compressed even more (without having to resort to more ligatures, like the NTE of CENTE). Professor Lawrence Keppie has recently told me that
To add insult to injury, LAC could have compressed even more (without having to resort to more ligatures, like the NTE of CENTE). Professor Lawrence Keppie has recently told me that
"The stonecutter (or Castus himself) is guilty of overkill, in emphasising his personal involvement: the words IPSE and SIBI aren't both needed. I looked up the combination of these words, and there's only a couple of other examples."
Thus there could have been even more room in the last line! And thus even more room for vexillationes and a more detailed accounting of his enemies in Britain two lines up.
Thus there could have been even more room in the last line! And thus even more room for vexillationes and a more detailed accounting of his enemies in Britain two lines up.
Professor Roger Tomlin wondered why if more space was needed, ADVERSUS could not have been abbreviated. Or, he added, why not use CONTRA instead?
CENTENARIO, though subjected to a NTE ligature, could literally have been abbreviated as a C with a tilde over it.
So what is going on with this stone?
Well, I think the absence of vexillations can be explained in only one way - if we wish to avoid calling LAC a braggart or liar (or an idiot). Tomlin once told me that the entire legionary complement of a province would not be moved anywhere. Certainly, not outside of the province. But, he did say that it is certainly possible that LAC as prefect of the Sixth may have moved that entire legion together with vexillations from the other two British legions within Britain. If that is what he did, then he might say he was dux of three British legions for no other reason than it took way too much space to say he was dux of the Sixth Legion (or dux of the same, as he had just previously said he was prefect of the Sixth) plus vexillations drawn from the other two British legions (which might have had to be listed separately and thus named).
Well, I think the absence of vexillations can be explained in only one way - if we wish to avoid calling LAC a braggart or liar (or an idiot). Tomlin once told me that the entire legionary complement of a province would not be moved anywhere. Certainly, not outside of the province. But, he did say that it is certainly possible that LAC as prefect of the Sixth may have moved that entire legion together with vexillations from the other two British legions within Britain. If that is what he did, then he might say he was dux of three British legions for no other reason than it took way too much space to say he was dux of the Sixth Legion (or dux of the same, as he had just previously said he was prefect of the Sixth) plus vexillations drawn from the other two British legions (which might have had to be listed separately and thus named).
But if this is what he did, who or what was ARM[...]S?
Well, for the entire period we are considering (from Marcus Aurelius through Septimius Severus), the problems in Britain were twofold [2]: there was what seemed to be an ongoing mutinous state among the soldiers there, and successive incursions from the North of various tribes, among which the Caledonii and Maeatae are specifically mentioned as being the "two principal races of the Britons" (Life of Septimius Severus in the Augustan History). Birley and others have commented on Marcus' sending 5,500 Sarmatians there, saying this was not only done to remove them from their homeland, but because Britain was in dire need of such troops. There is something to be said by the supporters of the "in-country action" idea for LAC, as it seems problematic to be removing large numbers of troops from the island when internal problems were so severe. And this is true despite the fact that the British garrison was an unusually large one. We have one instance of troops being sent from Britain to Germany (https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1322), but this was in c. a.d. 155-9, when Britain was in a peaceful state. I once argued in favor of ARMENIOS for ARM[...]S, but this is a hard position to sustain when we are told that when Statius Priscus is sent to Armenia and replaced immediately by Sextus Calpunius Agricola, "war was threatening in Britain (The Life of Marcus Aurelius in the Augustan History)." Such would not be the time to send away three legionary vexillations.
A reading of ARMORICOS has similar problems. Britain was still in jeopardy during the so-called Deserters' War on the Continent. In fact, we are told that in response to Perennis' policies (specifically his replacing senators with equestrians), 1500 British spearmen were sent to Rome. Since Alfoldy's time it has been customary to associate these troops with some sent over to fight the deserters. But there is nothing in the account as we have to to suggest that they had anything whatsoever to do with the Deserters' War. Instead, they were reacting to being punished or censured for insubordination, viz. their attempt to make the legate Priscus emperor. And while Picard has made a case for destruction at the right time in Armorica, we are not told in a single source that Britain was involved in this war. Commodus makes the call for troop support from the affected provinces, that is true, but the only ones mentioned are Gaul, Spain and Italy. Some scholars have drawn upon other archaeological evidence to bring Germany into the areas that saw disruption. If the Deserters' War had spread to Britain, it would have been dealt with internally - not by sending troops to the Continent.
It goes without saying that no one who ever came across LAC's stone and read it would believe for a second that he took the entire province's legionary complement to either Armenia or Armorica!
Are we to believe that this man LAC, who makes sure to tell us his stone was made while he was
still alive (presumably, in part, as a claim regarding its accuracy), would intentionally leave
out vexillations when there was no reason for him to do so?
Where does this leave us?
With LAC of the Sixth, which was based at York, taking legionary forces against someone or something in Britain itself, doubtless in the North, during a time of great trouble in the province. That someone or something is designated ARM[...]S.
With LAC of the Sixth, which was based at York, taking legionary forces against someone or something in Britain itself, doubtless in the North, during a time of great trouble in the province. That someone or something is designated ARM[...]S.
And I'm now prepared to provisionally accept ARMATOS.
The best placement of LAC in terms of time and event is A.D. 184, when the following happened (quoting Dio Cassius):
"He [Commodus] also had some wars with the barbarians beyond Dacia, in which Albinus and Niger, who later fought against the emperor Severus, won fame; but the greatest struggle was the one with the Britons. p87 2 When the tribes in that island, crossing the wall that separated them from the Roman legions, proceeded to do much mischief and cut down a general together with his troops, Commodus became alarmed but sent Ulpius Marcellus against them."
These tribes were defeated by Ulpius Marcellus, and Commodus was acclaimed Imperator for the seventh time and assumed the title Britannicus.
We can safely assume that the general and these troops belonged to the Sixth legion. If so, whoever the general was might well have been replaced by LAC, who naturally was granted dux status. Vexillations from the other two legions were immediately sent, not only to deal with the emergency but to bolster the diminished ranks of the Sixth. The governor Ulpius Marcellus shows up on the scene to spearhead the counter-offensive.
This is quite a plausible scenario. Speculative, of course, as always. But it reads better than having LAC go outside of Britain with a force he claimed to be equivalent to three legions during an era when Britain was always in peril. We are also not warranted in assigning LAC to the delegation of 1500 spearman sent to Rome, as there is nothing on the stone to indicate that he might have played a part in that operation.
[1]
C. Annius Flavianus. Ergänzungen zu AE 1980, 959
Gabriele Wesch-Klein
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Bd. 77 (1989), pp. 151-154 (5 pages)
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
Procurator c at 190 A.D. He is twice described as PROC C, and the second C has a tilde over it, indicating abbreviation, i.e. c(entenario).
We do have evidence for pay grades on inscriptions and in literary sources prior to Commodus, but no instance of procurator centenarius on a stone.
[2]
The relevant passages from texts on problems with native Britons from the reign of Marcus Aurelius to that of Severus:
7 And besides this, war was threatening in Britain, and the Chatti59 had burst into Germany and Raetia. 8 Against the Britons Calpurnius Agricola60 was sent
16 The Iazyges were defeated and came to terms, Zanticus himself appearing as a suppliant before Antoninus. Previously they had imprisoned Banadaspus, their second king, for making overtures to him; but now all the chief men came with Zanticus and made the same compact as that to which the Quadi and the Marcomani had agreed, except that they were required to dwell twice as far away from p37 the Ister as those tribes. Indeed, the emperor had wished to exterminate them utterly. For that they were still strong at this time and had done the Romans great harm was evident from the fact that they returned a hundred thousand captives that were still in their hands even after the many who had been sold, had died, or had escaped, and that they promptly furnished as their contribution to the alliance eight thousand cavalry, fifty-five hundred of whom he sent to Britain.
46 In 184. According to Dio, LXXII.8, the Britons living north of the boundary-wall invaded the province and annihilated a detachment of Roman soldiers. They were finally defeated by Ulpius Marcellus, and Commodus was acclaimed Imperator for the seventh time and assumed the title Britannicus; see c. viii.4 and coins with the legend Vict(oria) Brit(annica), Cohen III2 p349, no. 945.
8 He also had some wars with the barbarians beyond Dacia, in which Albinus and Niger, who later fought against the emperor Severus, won fame; but the greatest struggle was the one with the Britons. p87 2 When the tribes in that island, crossing the wall that separated them from the Roman legions, proceeded to do much mischief and cut down a general together with his troops, Commodus became alarmed but sent Ulpius Marcellus against them. 3 This man, who was temperate and frugal and always lived like a soldier in the matter of his food as well as in everything else when he was at war, was becoming haughty and arrogant; he was most conspicuously incorruptible, and yet was not of a pleasant or kindly nature. 4 He showed himself more wakeful than any other general, and as he wished the others who were associated with him to be alert also, he used to write orders on twelve tablets, such as are made out of linden wood, almost every evening, and bid an aide to deliver them to such-and‑such persons at various hours, so that these officers, believing the general the always awake, might not themselves take their fill of sleep. For nature in the first place had made him able to resist sleep, and he had developed this faculty by the discipline of fasting. 5 For in general he would never eat to satiety, and in order that he might not take his fill even of bread, he used to send to Rome for it. This was not because he could not eat the bread of the country, but in order that his bread might be so stale that he should be unable to eat even a small portion more than was absolutely necessary; for his gums were tender and, if the bread was very dry, would soon begin to bleed. However, he purposely exaggerated his natural tendency by simulating, in order that he might have the greatest possible reputation for p89 wakefulness. 6 Such a man was Marcellus; and he ruthlessly put down the barbarians of Britain,
After Perennis had been put to death, Commodus made amends to Pertinax, and in a letter asked him to set out for Britain.23 6 After his arrival there he kept the soldiers from any revolt, for they wished to set up some other man as emperor, preferably Pertinax himself. 7 And now Pertinax acquired an evil character for enviousness, for he was said to have laid before Commodus the charge that Antistius Burrus and Arrius Antoninus were aspiring to the throne.24 8 And certainly he did suppress a mutiny against himself in Britain, but in so doing he came into great danger; for in a mutiny of a legion he was almost killed, and indeed was left among the slain. 9 This mutiny Pertinax punished very severely. 10 Later on, however, he petitioned to be excused from his governorship, saying that the legions were hostile to him because he had been strict in his discipline
2 He built a wall129 across the island of Britain from sea to sea, and thus made the province secure — the crowning glory of his reign; in recognition thereof he was given the name Britannicus.130
129 This does not refer to the construction of a new wall, but to the restoration probably of the wall of Hadrian (see Hadr. xi.2; Pius v.4).
130 Britannicus Maximus; it appears in his inscriptions of 210. The cognomen Britannicus is found on his coins of 211, bearing the legend Victoriae Britannicae; see Cohen, IV2 p75 f., no. 722 f.
19 1 In the eighteenth year of his reign, now an old man and overcome by a most grievous disease, he died at Eboracum in Britain, after subduing various tribes that seemed a possible menace to the p417 province.136
136 Especially the Caledonii and the Maeatae, the former of whom lived north of the "wall which divides the island into two parts," the latter south of it; see Dio, LXXVI.12.1.
11 1 Severus, seeing that his sons were changing their mode of life and that the legions were becoming enervated by idleness, made a campaign against Britain, though he knew that he should not return. He knew this chiefly from the stars under which he had been born, for he had caused them to be painted on the ceilings of the rooms in the palace where he was wont to hold court, so that they were visible to all, with the exception of that portion of the sky which, as astrologers express it, "observed the hour" when he first saw the light; for this portion he had not depicted in the same way in both rooms. He knew his fate also by what he had heard from the seers; 2 for a thunderbolt had struck a statue of p263 his which stood near the gates through which he was intending to march out and looked toward the road leading to his destination, and it had erased three letters from his name. For this reason, as the seers made clear, he did not return, but died in the third year. He took along with him an immense amount of money.
12 1 There are two principal races of the Britons, the Caledonians and the Maeatae, and the names of the others have been merged in these two. The Maeatae live next to the cross-wall which cuts the island in half, and the Caledonians are beyond them. Both tribes inhabit wild and waterless mountains and desolate and swampy plains, and possess neither walls, cities, nor tilled fields, but live on their flocks, wild game, and certain fruits; 2 for they do not touch the fish which are there found in immense and inexhaustible quantities. They dwell in tents, naked and unshod, possess their women in common, and in common rear all the offspring. Their form of rule is democratic for the most part, and they are very fond of plundering; consequently they choose their boldest men as rulers. 3 They go into battle in chariots, and have small, swift horses; there are also foot-soldiers, very swift in running and very firm in standing their ground. For arms they have a shield p265 and a short spear, with a bronze apple attached to the end of the spear-shaft, so that when it is shaken it may clash and terrify the enemy; and they also have daggers. 4 They can endure hunger and cold and any kind of hardship; for they plunge into the swamps and exist there for many days with only their heads above water, and in the forests they support themselves upon bark and roots, and for all emergencies they prepare a certain kind of food, the eating of a small portion of which, the size of a bean, prevents them from feeling either hunger or thirst.
5 Such is the general character of the island of Britain such are the inhabitants of at least the hostile part of it. For it is an island, and the fact, as I have stated, was clearly proved at that time. Its length is 951 miles, its greatest breadth 308, and its least 40. Of all this territory we hold a little less than one half.
13 1 Severus, accordingly, desiring to subjugate the whole of it, invaded Caledonia. But as he advanced through the country he experienced countless hardships in cutting down the forests, levelling the heights, filling up the swamps, and bridging the rivers; 2 but he fought no battle and beheld no enemy in battle array. The enemy purposely put sheep p267 and cattle in front of the soldiers for them to seize, in order that they might be lured on still further until they were worn out; for in fact the water caused great suffering to the Romans, and when they became scattered, they would be attacked. Then, unable to walk, they would be slain by their own men, in order to avoid capture, so that a full fifty thousand died. 3 But Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island. Here he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the length of the days and the nights in summer and winter respectively. 4 Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way, on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should abandon a large part of their territory.
15 1 When the inhabitants of the island again revolted, he summoned the soldiers and ordered them to invade the rebels' country, killing everybody they met; and he quoted these words:
"Let no one escape sheer destruction,
No one our hands, not even the babe in the womb of the mother,
If it be male; let it nevertheless not escape sheer destruction."
2 When this had been done, and the Caledonians had joined the revolt of the Maeatae, he began preparing to make war upon them in person. While he was thus engaged, his sickness carried him off on the fourth of February, not without some help, they say, from Antoninus.
And references to mutinous behavior among the British troops from the same material:
Perennis,6 who commanded the Pretorians after Paternus, met his death as the result of a mutiny of the soldiers. For, inasmuch as Commodus had given himself up to chariot-racing and licentiousness and performed scarcely any of the duties pertaining to his office, Perennis was compelled to manage not only the military affairs, but everything else as well, and to stand at the head of the State. 21 The soldiers, accordingly, whenever any matter did not turn out to their satisfaction, laid the blame upon Perennis and were angry with him.
2a The soldiers in Britain chose Priscus, a lieutenant, emperor; but he declined, saying: I am no more an emperor than you are soldiers"
The lieutenants in Britain, accordingly, having been rebuked for their insubordination, — they did not become quiet, in fact, until Pertinax quelled them, — now chose out of their number fifteen hundred javelin men and sent them into Italy. 3 These men had already drawn near to Rome without encountering any resistance, when Commodus met them and asked: "What is the meaning of this, soldiers? What is your purpose in coming?" And when they p91 answered, "We are here because Perennis is plotting against you and plans to make his son emperor," Commodus believed them, especially as Cleander insisted; for this man had often been prevented by Perennis from doing all that he desired, and consequently he hated him bitterly. 4 He accordingly delivered up the prefect to very soldiers whose commander he was, and had not the courage to scorn fifteen hundred men, though he had many times that number of Pretorians. 10 So Perennis was maltreated and struck down by those men, and his wife, his sister, and two sons were also killed.
8 According to Dio, LXXII.9, it was at the demand of a delegation of 1500 soldiers of the army of Britain, whom Perennis had censured for mutinous conduct (cf. c. viii.4). (p279)The mutiny was finally quelled by Pertinax; see Pert. iii.5‑8.
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