A Soldier Life

Marcus Aurelius Marci

My name is Marcus Aurelius Marci - I am a Centurion of the mighty army of Rome

What rot hole do I find myself in these days . This glorious province of Britannia - my

chance to climb the ranks of the wondrous Legions of Rome . Although I have not done

bad for myself . I arrived here over thirty years ago as a foot soldier - the most senior

man in my contubernium - but I get ahead of myself . How I came from the dusty streets

of a village near

Napoli called Pompeii to this cold damp town of Winchester on this far

off soil

I grew up the second son of my father Marci . He was a middle class citizen of Rome -

a minor official in our village of Pompeii . His duties to the Empire was to track the

ownership of slaves in the households of the village . Life was not terribly hard on us -

although my older brother got all the perks of being a government officials son . He was

permitted to the schools in Napoli across the harbor - while I wound up serving the

Emperor in his Legions . As a second son - I had to make my own mark in my world

I have not looked back to Pompeii since I enlisted - that was the second year of the

reign of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (43 AD . He came to power

rather oddly - he was proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard of Rome after the

assassination...