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The term beneficiarius can be interpreted in light of the fact that such men were effectively beneficiaries of double pay, increased status, frequent detachments and often the patronage of key provincial level decision makers (ibid). It is therefore unsurprising that such men are well attested in the epigraphic record. Over 600 inscriptions have thus far been recovered that are connected with the activity of the beneficiarii, and the number continues to grow. A very interesting site has been discovered by archaeologists at Osterburken in Germany, at which was found a small temple with several altars dedicated by beneficiarii, from which archaeologists were to recover much valuable data concerning service conditions and tour lengths of these individuals (Dise, 1997b). The vast bulk of beneficiarii inscriptions date from after the Antonine period. There is a suggestion that the office was reconstituted during this era, with beneficiarii growing more independent from their governors (Dise, 1997a). It is interesting that towards the late second century AD onwards, we can see the appearance of the beneficiarii within the Roman army almost as a clique or sub group, effectively policing the police. A fascinating letter of complaint has been identified amongst the writing tablets found at Vindolanda, which identifies a beneficiarius as guilty of ignoring pleas for justice from a civilian who had been roughed up by a bunch of soldiers! (Bowman, 1994). An inscription from Tarraco [CIL II.2610], modern day Tarragona, neatly describes the career path of L. Pompeius Faber, a beneficiarius serving on the staff of a tribune, who subsequently served as tesserarius, optio and then signifer in a century and finally cornicularius (Roth, 1991). Not all beneficiarii were as capable or lucky as Pompeius, although the rank of beneficiarius itself was no mean achievement. Interestingly, commentaries on the life of the Saint Fructuosus, Bishop of Tarragona, record that he was arrested by a squad of six beneficiarii (Dise, 1997b). According to the Historia Augusta, a beneficiarius was given the highly significant tasking of carrying news of the death of the emperor Nerva to Trajan, his successor (ibid). With the growing significance of the beneficiarii in provincial affairs, came a sense of identity borne out within distinct dress and equipment. As the bulk of evidence for beneficiarii dates from after the Antonine reforms, it is less easy to find evidence for the appearance of such soldiers for the era which our group commonly represents, the mid to late first century AD. The subsequent article summarises our research into first century beneficiarius equipment thus far, with the intended goal of developing the reconstruction of such a role within our society. The Lance Traditionally, the badge of office for the beneficiarius was his lance, and by the third century AD many beneficiarii lances were being highly embellished, with complex openwork designs and inlay of gold and silver. However, there have been few obvious finds of beneficiarius lances dating to the first century AD. This may be due to the fact that the rank was not as significant in this era as it would be barely a century later, or perhaps more likely, that the beneficiarius lance in our era might have had a marked semblance to contemporary standard tips and spearheads, and thus potentially be misinterpreted by modern archaeologists. |