Viatorinus
Viatorinus: fourth-century Roman soldier, killed in action in a fight with the Franks.
The fourth-century tombstone of Viatorinus was found near the Gereonskloster in Cologne. In the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, it is 13.8274; the stone, which contains a writing error in the second line, was made by an inexperienced sculptor. Today, it can be seen in Cologne's Römisch-Germanisches Museum.
The soldier's rank was that of protector, which originally meant something like bodyguard, but had become an officer's title. Viatorinus served in Divitia (Deutz). The monument is remarkable because it records that the man was killed in action by a Frank. Between the lines, we might read that the officer who erected the monument admitted that his unit, the Cohors II Italica Divitiensium, had failed.
| VIATORINVS PROT- ECTOR MILITAVIT AN- NOS TRIGINTA O- CCISVS IN BAR- BARICO IVXTA D- IVITIA A FRANCO VICARIVS DIVITiEnSIvm POSvit |
| The protector Viatorinus served thirty years and was killed by a Frank in the country of the barbarians, near Divitia. The deputy commander of the Divitian garrison erected this monument. |