Arbogast (280 AD)
I’m Arbogast, son of Agilo, of the Iuthungi.
My parents came with hundreds of other families from the Grimma district down to the great river whom the Romans call Danuvius, some winters before I was born. This was in the year MII a.u.c. (1)
In a covenant with our king the Romans had promised good lands for our protection of their border, the Limes. At that time, there was discord among their own ranks and they did not only fight against the bands of the Alamanni, but also against each other. They paid in good silver and wine for our riders and spearmen, the best in the world. Thus many more of our tribe soon came down from the north, families from other districts and also Semnoni.
When the Romans stopped paying the promised tribute , some of our leaders decided to go and get what had been promised. Many men set out for Italy and looted great treasures there. Yet they were overrun and defeated by Roman military near Augusta Vindelicum. My father died there, too. Thereafter, the contracts with the Romans were renewed and five years later, like hundreds of other young men, I joined the Roman army. It was the year MXVIII a.u.c.
Our unit, the Ala I Iuthungorum, was distributed among different posts along the border. At first it was hard to speak in the Latin tongue; but now I know her like my mother tongue. I also know some bits of Gallic, which is still in common use among many people here. Like the other limitanei, we saw to it that the Alamannic predators who are settling in the Agri Decumates did not get away so easily on their raids. I did service for some years in the Castrum of Vindonissa on the Rhenus superior, after that in the Burgus near Vemania. In addition to the patrol rides, our duties were the collection of tolls for commerce and routes, the escort of tax collectors and the maintenance of law and order on the streets. Thieves and bandits were numerous and many a landholder thus gave up his rural estates and moved to Italy or Gaul. For us soldiers, living was easy. Provision was good, we were given costly arms and even armours and received our pay regularly, which sadly ended up with landlords, maids and gambling, most of the time. Though we as soldiers were not allowed to marry, our women and children lived with us in the castra or about the burgi, just like the innkeepers, artisans and merchants who made their fortune with us.
Shortly after Caesar Aurelianus had died, the Alamanni traversed the Rhine and ransacked eastern Gaul. Not until well a year later, Caesar Probus set himself against them, and our Ala joined the three-year-campaign of MXXVIII a.u.c. Mithras, Tiu and Mars gracefully accepted my sacrifices: We were very successful, and at last the Raetian border along the Rhenus and Danuvius was safe again. Our battle-loot and the supplementary payment were quite remarkable, and so, shortly before my resignation, I finally managed to save a little for later.
Now, in MXXXIII a.u.c., Caesar Probius recently died, my service is done and my soldier’s chest well filled. Most probably I will go back to my people and gather my own entourage. Whether we will raid behind the Limes with Regulus Gundomar of the Raetovari-Alamanni then or fight for Caesar Maximianus against the Bagaudes in Gaul remains to be seen. There have been others who had been soldiers among the Romans and have later become rich and powerful masters with numerous warriors in their hall. And if the gods do not envy me, I might succeed as well.
1 The year dates refer to Roman reckoning. This starts ab urbe condita, with the foundation of the city of Rome, converted to the year 753 BC. This calculation was valid until the early middle-ages and was then been replaced by the Christian reckoning according to the calculation of Dionysius Exiguus.
