Originally the commandant of the legion was the legate (legatus), who was a political appointee of senatorial rank, although he was expected to have served before as a military tribune – staff officer – and so to have learned generalship. Since the reign of Gallienus, the camp prefect had supplanted him. There is no need here to describe other functionaries.
Many legions had existed for hundreds of years, and some had been based at their sites for almost as long. Strangely enough, considering the vital function of the centurions, they were quite commonly assigned and reassigned to different legions, sometimes across the width of the Empire. Probably the government did not want too close bonds of mutual personal loyalty between such career officers and the enlisted men. Gratillonius had not held the rank sufficiently long for this to have happened to him, but likely it would have if Maximus had not entrusted him with a mission that brought him to an unforeseen fate.
Or perhaps it would not have happened. What we have just been describing no longer existed in the eastern part of the Empire. There infantry was largely made up of limitanei, reservists who were called on to fight only in the areas where they lived, while the core of the armed forces was the cavalry, composed mostly of Germanic mercenaries. By the end of the fourth century, the strength of a legion was no more than 1500 men, set to garrison and other minor duty.
However, though these transformations were also taking place in the West, they were much slower, and quite likely had scarcely begun in Britain or northwestern Gaul. For one thing, there the principal menaces to Rome – Saxons, Franks, Alemanni, etc. – were not yet horsemen. Military reforms like those enacted at Constantinople were indeed imperative, but the enfeebled government of the West was incapable of doing anything quickly or efficiently.
Thus a soldier such as Gratillonius could have begun his service in a unit in a legion not very different from, say, one of Marcus Aurelius’s – aside from the large number of auxiliary troops – and ended it in an army not vastly different from, say, William the Conqueror’s.
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Sails: Roman transport ships did not use oars, except for steering. Warcraft generally did, making sails the auxiliary power. It is worth remarking that the rowers were free men, and rather well paid. Galley slaves did not appear until the Middle Ages.
Pharos: Lighthouse. The beacon was a fire on its top after dark; by day, the tower was a landmark helpful to navigators. The Dover pharos, of which a part still exists, was about 80 feet high.
Dobunni: A tribe occupying, approximately, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and some adjacent areas.
Deputy: Second in command of a century, chosen by the centurion himself, hence the Latin name optio.
Regnenses: A tribe in Sussex.
Demetae: A tribe in the western part of southern Wales.
Coritani: A tribe occupying, approximately, Lincolnshire and adjacent territories.
Navy: The classis Britannica that guarded the coasts around the Channel and the North Sea approaches disappears from history about the middle of the third century. Its former base at Dover, abandoned even earlier, was converted to a fort of the Saxon Shore. However, Dover remained a seaport, and surely the military still needed some ships of their own.
Prefect of the cohort (praefectus cohortis): Commander of a unit of infantry auxiliaries. The word ‘praefectus’ was used in a number of different contexts. Lanterns: These, with panes of glass or thin-scraped horn, were known to the Romans. Some were quite elaborately made.
Hostel (Latin mansio): Accommodations for persons travelling on business of the state were maintained at rather frequent intervals along major routes. It seems reasonable to us that the one closest to a small city such as Gesoriacum would be outside rather than inside the walls, to save valuable building space and for the benefit of persons who arrived belatedly. On the other hand, there would probably have been at least one hostel near the centre of any large and important city.
Candles: The Romans had both wax and tallow candles. The latter, at least, were considered much inferior to lamps, if only because of the smell, while the single material available for the former, beeswax, was too expensive for any but the richest people. Nevertheless tallow candles were much used, especially in areas where oil for lamps was scarce and thus costly. Publican: The publicans of the Bible were not jolly taverners, as many moderns suppose, but tax farmers. Only Jesus, among decent people, could find it in his heart to associate with them. Their circumstances and practices changed as the Empire grew old, but not their spirit.
Tax in kind: This had become especially important as debasement made currency increasingly worthless. Diocletian and Constantine had reformed the coinage, but honest money remained scarce.
Couriers: The Roman postal service must still have been functioning reasonably well in most areas, since we have a considerable volume of correspondence among clergy and other learned men. Graffiti show that literacy was not confined to the upper classes, either. However, in regions as distressed as the northern Gallic littoral now was, the mails had surely deteriorated. Massilia: Marseilles. (Civitas) Baiocassium: Bayeux.
Hoofs: Horseshoes had not yet been invented, but a kind of sandals or slippers was sometimes put on the animals when ground was bad.
Standard bearer: The signifer wore an animal skin of a sort traditional for his unit. In a small detachment like this, it would make sense to rotate the duty. The standard was not the legionary eagle but a banner. Rations: Archaeology has revealed that the legions enjoyed a more varied diet, with more meat in it, than historians had thought.
Beans: Broadbeans (fava), the only kind known in Europe before the discovery of America.
Lent: As yet, the formula for calculating the date of Easter had not been finally settled upon, but varied from area to area and was the subject of much controversy. Nor was there agreement on how long a period of abstention should precede it, or on what austerities should be minimally required. For that matter, there was no standardized weekly practice of self-denial, such as the meatless Friday of later centuries. One may presume that even soldiers who were devout would not trouble themselves about that, at least while on duty. However, Easter, the holiest day in the Church calendar, and observances directly related to it, would be of concern. Strictly speaking, therefore, our use of the word ‘Lent’ is anachronistic – but it conveys, in brief, approximately what Budic had in mind.
Sunday: The week as we know it had not yet been officially taken into the Roman calendar, though of course it was ancient in the East. One may well wonder how many ordinary soldiers were conscious of it, especially when in the field.
Nodens: A Celtic god, especially revered at the Severn mouth, in which flow great tidal bores.
Leagues: The Gallic leuga equalled 1.59 English or 1.68 Roman mile. Rhenus: Rhine.
Caletes: A tribe in northeastern Gallia Lugdunensis, occupying approximately Seine-Maritime, Oise, and Somme. Osismii: A tribe in the far west of Brittany, occupying approximately Finistére and part of Côtes-du-Nord. Place names and other clues seem to show they were not purely Celtic, nor were neighbouring tribes. Rather, Celtic invaders probably imposed an aristocracy which interbred and became identified with the people. Meanwhile the language, too, became largely Celtic. The earlier race was not necessarily descended straight from the megalith builders; there could have been more than one set of newcomers over the centuries. Yet nothing appears to forbid our supposition that the Armoricans believed the ‘Old Folk’ were among their ancestors. An analogous tradition exists in Ireland.
Honestiores: Great landholders, virtual feudal overlords. Alani: An Iranian-Altaic people, originally living in what is now southern Russia. Under pressure from the Huns, the western branch of them mingled with the Germans and joined these in that great migration into Roman territory which was just getting well under way at the time of our story.
Ingena: Avranches. Today it is Norman rather than Breton, but of course neither of those peoples had yet reached France.
Vorgium (later Osismiis): Carhaix. Folk etymology derives the present name from ‘Ker-Ahes’ (‘Stronghold of Ahes’, the latter name being given to Dahut in some versions of the Ys legend), but this is false. Mauretania: approximately, northern Morocco. Condate Redonum: Rennes.
Veneti: A tribe in south Brittany, occupying approximately Morbihan.
Fanum Martis: Corseul. The tower is still there, in remarkably good condition.
Garomagus: There was a Roman town of some small importance – as we describe later – in the area of modern Douarnenez, but its name is not known. Garomagus’ is our conjecture, referring to its production of garum, a fish sauce which was a major item of Armorican trade. Passage grave occupied by refugees: A case of this is known. There were probably more. Ahriman: The supreme lord of evil in the Zoroastrian religion and its Mithraic offshoot, as Ahura-Mazda (or Ormazd) was the lord of good.
Franks in Condate Redonum: Those tribes lumped together as Franks (Latin Franci) originated in western Germany and the Netherlands. As yet they had not overrun Gaul, but some had entered and settled in various areas. The laeti at Rennes and their open paganism, including even human sacrifice, just at the time when Gratillonius passed through, are attested.
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Sena: Île de Sein. Archaeology shows it to have been occupied since prehistoric times, but we suppose that for several centuries it was reserved exclusively for the use of the Gallicenae – as the first-century geographer Pomponius Mela says was the case in his own period. House: There are traces, now submerged, of what is believed to have been a Roman building at Île de Sein. Was this actually the sanctuary of its priestesses, remodelled under Roman influence?
Stones: These two megaliths are still on the island. Cernunnos: A major Celtic god, represented as a man with stag’s antlers.
Yes, yea, aye: You may have noticed that hitherto no person in the story has used any of these words. This is because Latin and the Celtic languages have no exact equivalent. We suppose that Semitic influence on the evolution of the Ysan tongue, otherwise basically Celtic, produced such words in it, just as the Germanic example would cause the Romance languages to develop them. Latin and Celtic do not employ a simple ‘No’ either when giving a negative response. However, we have supplied it in rendering the former, in order that that may seem colloquial to the modern reader, and have also provided Ysan with it.
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Astrology: Belief in this prevailed throughout the late Roman Empire, along with countless other superstitions. Since it appears to have been part of the Mithraic faith, Gratillonius was heterodox in his reservations about it.
Book: The codex may go back as far as the first century. Towards the end of the fourth it had displaced the scroll except for legal and other special purposes. Elaborate illumination of the medieval sort was not yet done, but illustration of a simpler kind was, and it seems quite likely that the binding of some religious manuscripts was ornate and costly.
Twenty miles: Roman miles, of course.
Gobaean Promontory (Promontorium Gobaeum): The Cap Sizun area.
AVC: Anno Urbis Conditae (‘V’ was habitually used for ‘U’ in inscriptions), year after the founding of Rome, for which the traditional date corresponded to 753 B.C. The Romans themselves rarely counted time from this baseline, but the reference was not unknown. SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus, The Roman Senate and People’, proud motto of the Republic, long borne on standards of the legions.
Fortress and maritime station: The remnant of the fortress can still be seen on Pointe de Castelmeur. There must have been more of it extant in Gratillonius’s day. The station is rather conjectural.
Key: By Roman times, locks had developed into bolt-and-pin types not too unlike modern sorts. Their keys had corresponding prongs. When a key was inserted, these prongs pushed up the pins, whereupon a sidewise pull drew back the bolt.
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Fresh-made laurel wreath: The laurel is an evergreen. Cape Rach: Pointe du Raz (hypothetical reconstruction of the aboriginal name). The ch is supposed to be as in modern Scottish or German.
Refusing the crown: While today our knowledge of Mithraism is scanty, this detail is attested.
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Point Vanis: Pointe du Van (hypothetical reconstruction of the aboriginal name).
Nummus (plural nummi): A coin of the late Empire, minuscule and debased. It took more than 14,000 to equal one gold solidus. Archaeology shows that Gresham’s Law was as operative in Roman times as it is now. Thule: It is not certain what the Classical geographers meant by this name. Iceland and Norway are among the more common suggestions. We incline towards the latter. The sea gate of Ys: Today one would solve the problem of protecting a harbour from overwhelming tides by constructing locks. These, however, were not developed until much later.
Saxons (Saxones): This name did not distinguish any single tribe or kingdom. Rather, it was a general term used by the Romans for all those robbers and invaders who came across the North Sea from the northern Netherlands, the German littoral, Jutland, and possibly regions still more distant.
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Soap: This appears to have been a Gallic invention, regarded by the Romans more often as a medicinal for the skin than as a cleansing agent.
Basilica: In this period and earlier, the word referred to a building for public business – administration, trials at law, etc.
The layout of the church: Private homes were frequently converted for this purpose, but it is clear that no one in Ys who might be willing to make such a donation possessed a suitable one; so, as happened elsewhere (for example, to the Parthenon), this pagan temple was expropriated by Imperial decree. Normally there would be a baptistry, but in Ys there was no resident bishop, and a chorespiscopus had no authority to administer this sacrament – which was not usually given children anyway. Vide infra. Believers who had not received it could enter no farther than the porch or vestibule, and were dismissed before the Communion service began in the sanctuary. Even in the great churches, furniture was basically the same as described here. Such amenities as pews were for a later era.
Redonic: Of the tribe of the Redones, around Rennes. Audiarna: Audierne, on the River Goyen, some nine English miles east of the Baie des Trépassés. There are traces of Roman occupation. Our Latin name is conjectural, and we assume the name of St Audierne comes from the town rather than vice versa. Consecrated bread and wine: At this period, only a bishop could consecrate the bread and wine for the Eucharist, or perform several other important functions. This consecration was generally of large quantities at a time, which were then distributed among churches. Eucherius would seldom have to restock. Not only was his congregation tiny, but the majority of it were unbaptized, having only the status of catechumens and therefore unqualified to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Baptism was a rite regarded with great awe. It must be done by a bishop or, at least, under the supervision of one; as a rule, this was just once or twice a year, notably at Easter. Most believers received it comparatively late in life, not uncommonly when on their deathbeds – as in the case of Constantine I. After all, it washed away prior sins, but was of no avail against any that might be committed afterwards, which indeed would then be the deadlier.
Eucherius’s heresy: It anticipated that of Pelagius, in some small degree; such ideas were in the air. The appointment of Eucherius: At this time the Church organization that we know today, including the Papacy itself, was still nascent. Originally each congregation had had its own bishop, the priests and deacons being merely his councillors and assistants, but eventually the numbers of the faithful were such as to require something more elaborate, which naturally came to be modelled on the Roman state. The process was under way in the decades around 400 A.D., but as yet there was a great deal of local variation, arbitrariness, and outright irregularity. For example, St Patrick may well have consecrated himself a bishop. The chorepiscopus served most of the functions later assigned the parish priest, but by no means all of them.
Neapolis: Napl
es.
(Gallia) Aquitania: A Roman province occupying, approximately, the part of France south of the Loire, west of the Allier, and north of the Pyrenees. Tamesis: The Thames.
The Hooded Three: The genii cucullati, a trio of gods (?) in Britain about which we have little more information than some representations and votive inscriptions. Handclasp: The handshake as we know it seems to be of Germanic origin, but might have appeared independently in Ys, or been observed by travellers and become a custom at home.
Niall and the women: In sleeping with women of various households, the King was not exerting any special prerogative nor giving any offence. Early Irish society gave a great deal of freedom to women other than slaves, including the right to choose which of several different forms of marriage or cohabitation they wanted. Wives often took lovers, with their husbands knowledge and consent. Mag Slecht: In present-day County Cavan. Cromb Croche (later Crom Cruach) and the twelve attendant divinities were probably pillar stones, sheathed in gold and bronze. There will be more about them later. Ruirthech: The Liffey.
Clón Tarui: Now Clontarf, a district of Dublin on the north shore of the bay. It became the site of a famous battle in the year 1016.
Public hostel: There were several classes of these in early Ireland, endowed by kings or communities with enough land to support the provision of free food and shelter to all travellers. Such hospitality was required to maintain honour; and, to be sure, it encouraged trade. The innkeepers were usually men, but sometimes women. Border of the Lagini: The River Liffey does not mark the border of present-day Leinster. It did, though, come to form one frontier of lands subject to the southern Uí Néill. Given the enormous uncertainties about conditions at the time of their great ancestor, we think it reasonable to suppose that Mide extended this far. After all, Niall could scarcely have ravaged Britain as repeatedly and thoroughly as the chronicles say, did he not have at least one port of embarkation on the east coast of Ireland. Boru tribute: About this, more later. Imposed of old by Connaught on Leinster, it came to be claimed by the Tara kings, but more often than not they had to collect it by force, and oftener still it went unpaid. In large part this was because it was exorbitant (though one need not take literally the traditional list of cattle and other treasure). King Brian, eleventh-century victor at Clontarf, got the nickname Bóruma – now usually rendered as Boru –because he did succeed in exacting it.
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