One of the items in the regular display at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn was a Roman discharge certificate. Although very interesting, those normally don't catch my attention like this one did.

This one caught my eye, because unlike the hundreds of auxiliary and fleet discharge certificates, this 'diploma' is the left half of a certificate actually given to a legionary.

This is the Latin text:

Aufidius Cores/nius Marcellus / leg(atus) Aug(usti) pr(o) pr(aetore) / dedi honest/am missione/m Septimio / Bubati mil(iti) / leg(ionis) I M(inerviae) Seve/riane Alex{s}/andrianae candidato / [

(RMD IV, p 611 = AE 2002, 1772)

In translation:

Aufidius Coresnius Marcellus, imperial legate of praetorian rank grants honorary discharge to Septimius Bubatus, soldier of legion I Minervia Severiana Alexandriana, candidate for promotion. The certificate breaks of there and would presumably have continued to spell out what the soldier's rewards and legal rights were.

The certificate can be easily dated to the reign of Alexander Severus (222-235 AD) through the appearance of his name in the legionary epithet, a common usage in the third century meant to bind the legion's allegiance to the emperor.

Despite this sensitivity to the loyalty of legionaries, it is striking that the certificate has been made out by the legion's legate, while in the case of 'normal' diplomas, this would have been done by decree and in the name of the emperor to make sure that the soldiers understood who gave them their new privileges and to whom they would still owe allegiance. That really makes me wonder which goodies (for the new veteran) would have been mentioned on the right-hand tablet. We'll never know...