Please, Sergeant-Major, can I have some underpants?

Complaints concerning lack of equipment are not confined to this century, nor are they peculiar to the British army.  According to some exhibits to be shown at the British Museum later this year entitled "Hadrian's Britain", officers and squaddies from the Roman army stationed near modern-day Hexham grumbled and complained about the cold, the Brits (or Pict's as they were called then), the lack of equipment and particularly the lack of the right clothing.  We know this, apparently, from slivers of wood, about the same size as contemporary post-cards, found about 35 years ago at the sight of a rubbish tip in the ruins of the Praetorium on the site of the former Vindolanda Fort dating from AD90 to 120.  These thin wooden tablets were the means by which letters could be written by scratching into them with a reed pen dipped in ink.  Apparently several of them show how desperate the men were for warm clothing to keep out the cold, as in this example in a shopping list letter sent home to his family by one long-suffering squaddie:

Paria udonum ab Sattua solearum duo et subligariorum duo. (Socks, two pairs of sandals and two pairs of underpants.)

Until today, and courtesy of the little 'Memsahib's' Daily Mail and an article in it by Harry Mount (can't find a link, unfortunately), I had never heard of the 'Vindolanda Tablets' and their unique glimpse into the 'everyday story of Roman army folk'.  Reading Mr. Mount's brief synopsis of them gives the reader, or at least it gives me, a peculiar thrill, almost like being in a Time Machine.  The exhibition at the British Museum is from July 24th to October 26th and I think I might treat myself to a visit. Why don't you?

Comments

[dearieme]

The last article that I read on this business said that the Romans on the wall called us "Britunculi" i.e. Wee Brits. Could it have been soldierly sarcasm because they/we were much taller than your average Roman? Or was the regiment concerned composed of lofty chaps from outside Italy, and they meant "wee" literally?

[David Duff]

'DM', I can't speak for Roman squaddies, only for modern-day Brit ones and in my experience irony was never their strong suit. So, on the basis that soldiers are soldiers where-ever or when ever, and to answer your question, I suspect that the more literal translation of "Britunculi" is "Fucking short-arse pygmies", or words to that effect!