Silvanus (357 AD)
My name is Lucius Ulpius Silvanus from the tribe of the Nemetes (1). I was born in MLXXXV a.u.c. (2) in our family’s rural manor near the town of Nemeta (3) as first and only son of Marcus Ulpius Aeton and Ursa. Ever since he retired from the army, my father earns our living with viticulture and trade, and, being a renowned veteran, he is held in high esteem in the city. The more so as our family owns the civil rights (4) for over 200 years now, when our ancestor Aeton obtained them in the Dacian Wars (5) under the aegis of the Emperor Traianus (6).
Hence it is tradition among us to serve within the ranks of the Vindices (7), border guards of our district. I began my career with them eight years ago and have now, at the age of 25, risen to the ranks of a secondary officer. At this ceremonial occasion my father bestowed upon me his costly eagle-head spatha, which was once given to him by the Emperor Constantinus (8) for his faithful service.
My workday life is far less splendid... as I have known hunting and riding from an early age , I am often out as a scout, a negotiator or to hand out tribute fees to our foederati (9).
My services are sought for ever more desperately and my assignments become more risky every time, for about five years ago, due to the treason of the Emperor Constantius (10), many of the Alamanni from the counties across the Rhine rebelled against us and are marauding all across our land or hiding in abandoned farmsteads.
Yet others of the Alamanni are our loyal allies. Many of my unit come from the Bucinobantes (11). It is long since I began to learn their odd tongue, and it wasn’t so easy for the first months- at home we primarily speak a Gaulish dialect, while in the cities and at the imperial court of Treveris (12) the customary language is Latin. When my sister Luna comes to visit me in the burgus (13), she is often believed to be a Germanic girl for her fair hair, yet she can hardly understand my comrades in arms.
Personally I get along with them really well- they’re quite open-minded regarding our culture, and we also often adopt a thing or two from them, notably when it comes to fighting in small, lightly equipped brigades. Our border garrisons are ever poorly supplied, so we have to improvise a lot and learn how to use the terrain to our advantage, how to carry out sudden strikes and how to increase the fighting power of every single man. The Alamanni are well experienced in this. Thus we sing the Germanic barritus (14) during exercise und later we all gather at the ceremonial feast for Mithras (15). This friend of Sol (16) and fighter against the darkness they revere very much; they also pray to Mars, whom they call Tivar, and to their god of the dead, Wodan. I myself pay my tribute to Iupiter and Mercur, I honour our Manes (17) and Silvanus (18), the god of woods and acres I’m named after, and I dedicate most of my sacrifices to the old gods of our lands, Taranis (19), Epona (20), Nantosvelta (21) and the Matrones (22).
Many of the young soldiers are surprised when I tell them that some centuries ago my tribe also came from the lands where their families live nowadays, for, needless to say, they think of us as Romans, while the Italics derogatorily name us Gauls. I rather think we’re the best of both.
I’m of tall stature with green eyes, yet dark and curly hair which I wear in long strands as it is the manner of the Germanics under my command. I like the custom and my appearance seems to earn me some additional respect from them. Sure, my father deems it barbaric. What can I say? He’s old, and times are changing.
Maybe we have to get used to Germanics and their customs more than ever, if young Caesar Iulianus (23) does not succeed in throwing them out again. He’s a hearty man of whom are told a lot of stories, with a wild beard and full of ideas, loyally dedicated to our old gods and well literate in the doctrines of philosophy. The Christians in Rome, Treves and Constantinople do not appreciate him, but here he raises high hopes among the simple men and soldiers and we all feel courage fighting in his command. Ever more often I’m riding up the Rhine valley, carrying messages from Treves to his camp near Rauracum (24) or leading the ways of newly-arranged troops to join forces with him. Yet in all this time I have only once spoke to him briefly.
Now, in the fall of MCX a.u.c., our situation is more desperate than ever- Nemeta is under the sway of the Alamanni, as are many towns along the Rhine. We had no choice but to give up the burgus and flee from the city on our ships at night, upstream past Tabernae (25). Many of our auxiliaries (26) have deserted or aligned themselves with the Alamannic hordes; most of the Nemeteans have retreated into the woods on the western end of our district. I haven’t heard from my family since some weeks now.
In a few days we, the remaining Vindices, will set out for Argentorate (27) on secret paths across the Mons Vosegus (28), to fight the invaders side-by-side with Iulianus.
I dearly hope that I don’t have to see the faces of my former friends and allies on the battlefield, for they do not wear helmets like us... and yet stronger than my wrath for the old emperor Constantius, who turned the Alamanni against us down-and-dirty, is my grief for all that was lost in war.
I will dedicate a stone to Vosegus if we should indeed cross his realm unharmed and undetected and reach Iulianus in the right time. Our fortune is in his hands.
1. The Nemeteans were a Celtic or Germanic tribe on the right border of the Rhine whoare accounted in the writings of Caesar and Tacitus. As auxiliary tribe of the Romans they are said to have settled in the area of nowadays Southern Palatinate in the first century AD. Epigraphic testimonies suggest a swift fusion with the residential Celtic Mediomatrices and immigrated Romans.
2. The given reckoning ab urbe condita, “since foundation of the city [of Rome]” 753 BC, has been common until the early middle-ages and was then replaced by the common era according to Dionysius Exiguus. The given year thus equals to 332 AD.
3. Speyer
4. The hereditary Roman civil rights could in former times only be obtained by the empire’s provincial dwellers through the honourable retirement after 25 years of military service. New citizens often received their family names according to the ruling emperor’s family. Finally in the Constitutio Antoniana of 212, Caracalla granted the civil rights to every free inhabitant of the empire.
5. In the Dacian Wars 101/102 and 105 AD, Dacia was gained as province for Rome and with it the rich gold deposits in the Western Carpathians. In the area of the last riots, around the capital Sarmizeghetusa Regia, Germanic auxiliaries were stationed as scouts (exploratores).
6. Traian, 98-117 AD
7. The vindices („avengers“) were border unit of the local Roman army of late antiquity at the “watery Limes”. Their blazon, a standard with two wolves’ heads, is depicted in the military manuscript Notitia Dignitatum.
8. Constantine I. („the Great“), 306-337 AD
9. Tribes living in the autonomous parts of Germania, who had made contracts with the Romans to secure the imperial borders from the outside.
10. Constantius II., 337-361
11. The Bucinobantes settled on the right side of the Rhine opposite to Mainz. They played an important political role in the time of Iulian Apostata and Valentinian I. and according to the Notitia Dignitatum formed an own strategic unit of the late Roman army.
12. Treves
13. The late antique version of the castrum; it consists of a much smaller court surrounded by polygonal and heavily fortified towers and walls, is commonly built on a hillside or cliff and thus way easier to defend by a small number of men.
14. The barritus is a growled and low-pitched war chant of Germanic origin. It was in usage also among the Roman army; Ammianus Marcellinus mentions it in the battle of Adrianople in 378 AD.
15. A divine hero of Persian origin, his cult was organised in a strict hierarchy and became very popular within the Roman army.
16. Roman sun god, finally raised as state entity by Aurelian in 274. His annual birth was celebrated on the 25th of December.
17. The spirits of the dead, often revered as ancestors.
18. The former Etruscan god of forests Selvans, who often occurs in the form of a satyr. In the Roman Empire he is mainly appearing as a bearded man holding a sickle or vine knife, often accompanied by a hound.
19. Gaulish god of sky and thunder, his symbol is the wheel.
20. Horse goddess of the Gauls; she was adopted into the Roman pantheon and was highly regarded by carters and riders.
21. Nantosvelta is a gaulish goddess of supposed chthonic character and appears often as companion of the hammer god Sucellos. Her exact domain is unknown.
22. Three goddesses of fertility, mainly worshipped in the Rhineland.
23. Iulian Apostata, Caesar since 355, Augustus from 261 to 363, broke away from his Christian education and became the last pagan emperor of the Roman Empire.
24. Kaiseraugst (CH)
25. Rheinzabern
26. Non-roman supplemental soldiers
27. Strasbourg
28. The contemporary Vosges mountains in Alsace and parts of the Palatian woods; the name refers to the celtic local deity Vosagus or Vosegus.
