Alauna Civitas, Caledonia, May 132
The man was clothed like a thin stripe tribune and was escorted by half a dozen soldiers, all of them mounted, and a few pack mules with their minders. Thiophorus had never seen him before, thus he must have been one of the new cadre of officers sent to replace those who’d finished their turn…
The man did not carry a helmet and looked rather old for a tribune. Probably the scion of a minor family and a career man thought the former centurion. He hailed the man : “Legatus, do you want a cup of fine wine before you go further on this road ? Maybe with some roast vegetables and a piece of meat ?”
The officer looked at him and nodded before answering : “Yes, I’d like that very much, as well as take some time to look at this impressive statio. Is this your own place ?”
Tiophorus smiled and said : “Indeed it is, built thanks to the savings from my praemia. It is the best inn you’ll find anywhere on the wall, and thanks to my neighbors I also offer the best food there is to be had. I dare say that even the tribunes often grace my establishment with their presence, I even have a room especially held for officers of your rank, sir. By the way I’m the centurion Tiophorus son of Vaxadus, retired from the first dacian cohort, sir.”
The officer dismounted and one of the three slaves Tiophorus kept to run the inn ran to take his horse’s lead and bring him into the stable while the soldiers attached their own beasts to the wall. They were guided toward the main room while Tiophorus asked the officer whether he wanted to eat and drink with his men or in the more comfortable officer’s room.
“I’ll eat in the officer’s room but I’d like you to keep me company, centurion. By the way I’m Titus Valerius Sapiens, first tribune machinatorum of the VI Victrix legion. I’m in charge of helping the legion improve things, build machines and buildings, make sieges in time of war and the province richer in time of peace.”
“A new rank in the legion ? I’ve never heard of such a thing ! It must be a great honor for you to be the first to occupy it and to create a basis that will be a legacy for centuries to come ! But what do you mean by improving things ?” said the innkeeper, curious, while his slave brought a pitcher full of his best wine and a platter of fresh bread and pickled vegetables.
“Well the Emperor, in his travels, has seen many things in some places that he did not see in others despite the fact they could be beneficial. So he’s ordered for a new kind of officers who would learn about such things and go to provinces where none knew of them, and help build them. Already on my way I’ve seen fields not cultivated in ways that could be improved upon using some methods found in Germany and described by the elder Pliny half a century ago. But I expect the same from the war machines I’ll find in the various forts along the wall. I can also offer to villagers plans to build machines that will save them time, for instance mills that can quickly turn grain in flour without needing hours of work.”
Nodding, Tiophorus answered “You’d do fine talking with David, one of the farmers in the village down the road. He’s always looking for ways to improve his farm and the village’s production, if only to prevent famine. He’s had me send letters to friends and to former officers in Rome asking for information on how to better farm, although I’ve had few useful answers.”
“Well, why don’t you send for him ? Or even better, come with me to this village after I finish this wine, to talk with him and see how his efforts have gone ?”
An half hour later the tribune and Tiophorus took horses to go to the village while the soldiers stayed in the tavern, one of them having followed the innkeeper’s only female slave to her cubicula while the others drank, played dices or simply slept. As he got closer to the village he saw it was built of around thirty buildings, most being grouped next to a square, and a larger complex standing alone at a little distance, surrounded by pastures where animals grazed peacefully. On the other side of the village a few fields showed the first signs of the coming recoltes.
Alauna Civitas had changed since it had been built six years before. The large central square surrounded by the twenty-four houses was still there, a large expense of battered earth measuring some fifty meters on each side, but new houses had been built and created streets that lead toward the square and there were now only twelve buildings, each some ten meters wide, giving directly on the square.
The sturdy construction of Tiophorus’ inn next to the military road had guided the villagers : each house was now a large rectangular 10x5 meters building with a wall protecting a garden oriented to the south and giving each plot a square plan of 10x10 meters. Every building had a ground floor built of maçonated stones with vaulted rooms inside and a staircase leading toward a wooden top floor with windows giving onto the garden. Some had also built a second staircase leading to the roof. Inside the ground was covered in planks laid on top of stones, with some owners also digging a cellar accessed through a trap and a ladder. All the walls had been covered in plaster to help fight humidity and draft.
The ground floor was usually divided in three parts : an entrance corridor with doors at both ends, the entrance door and the garden door, as well as the staircase. Then the main living area, with a large chimney on the northern, street, wall, where cooking took place and which served for heating. Finally a small space served as a reserve in prevision for cold winters.
The houses on the square deviated from the standard plan as they had been slightly enlarged so as to touch the neighboring house. They had no reserve and the space thus won was opened to the square to become small shops. Not that there was much to sell, yet… Wooden walkways had been built in front of those houses, with small roofs supported by wooden columns protecting the future customers from the rain.
Each garden held three raised beds in which vegetables were cultivated as well as up to three young fruit trees, too small yet to provide fruits but which could help later. Together the vegetables and fruits would provide a large part of each family’s food supply, while the products of the fields and the animals managed in common by the villagers would provide exports. Water collected from the roof was stored in large jars that could be used for watering the vegetables.
Three of the buildings built on the the Southern side of the square were different from the houses : one was a large food storage building, built on the model of military granaries, one was built on a raised podium and was a small temple to all the gods, known and unknown, and the third was called the basilica, serving as the meeting point of the community.
The extension of the houses around the square meant that the square was still easy to defend should the need arise, as were each of the individual compounds, even those not on the square. A total of thirty houses had been built, as some settlers had come from other villages and a two veterans had decided to retire in Alauna Civitas, making it the most prosperous of the thirty-two villages built alongside the road of the wall.
All this Varius Sapiens saw as he came to the place in company of Tiophorus. It was impressive, especially when compared to what he’d seen in the province until then. They came to the central house of the eastern side of the main square and tied their horses to one of the column before the innkeeper knocked on the door and opened it. He then knocked on the inside door leading to the living quarter, which was opened by a little boy of around six who smiled when he saw Tiophorus : “Goodday to you centurion ! Have you brought me sweets ?”
Smiling sadly the veteran answered : “no, Solomon, not this time. I need to speak to your father, where can I find him ?” “Oh he’s in the garden with mother, they are checking that the straw on the vegetables has not roten with all the rain of the last few weeks !”
The boy then ran to the garden’s door : “mother, father, the centurion is there for you with a stranger !”, making the legate smile at the youth’s energy. He himself had a son back in Dalmatia, on his family estate, and he hoped the one year old would become as nice a lad as this young boy. Solomon, and odd name…
The two men followed the boy in the garden, where David and Esther were indeed replacing the straw and putting the old on a heap in one corner of the space, clearly a kind of compost heap. The man knew what to do to help his vegetable grow… He certainly looked like a man worth talking to !