The storiesI / IX
Saint Martin the soldier: the recruit who served his servant
Martin was forced into the Roman army at fifteen and given a servant. He cleaned the man’s boots and waited on him at table.
Sabaria → Ticinum (today Szombathely, Hungary → Pavia, Italy)
He was born on the edge of the Empire, to a father who had fought his way up to tribune and believed in the old gods.
At ten the boy ran off to a church. At twelve he wanted the desert.
At fifteen an imperial decree came for the sons of veterans. His own father turned him in.
They chained him, swore him in, and gave him a servant.
He cleaned the servant’s boots. He served him at table.
Margin noteBorn c. 316 by the old reckoning, c. 336 by recent scholarship. I never asked him. He would have changed the subject.
From the book
Chapter II · From Pannonia to Italy: The boy who ran away to church and was taken to the army in chains
Martin was born at Sabaria, a town in the province of Pannonia, but grew up in Italy, at Ticinum. His family had a good social standing by the standards of the time, but his…
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