immense quantities of equipment, including damaged armour, at Newstead. This has been taken as clear evidence of hostile action. The frontier was withdrawn from the Antonine Wall to the line of the Stanegate, the future Hadrian's Wall. Marcellus certainly managed at least a portion of this major reorganization. Neratius Marcellus was a friend of Pliny the Younger. Although none of Pliny's letters to Marcellus have survived, one of his extant letters does mention him. Pliny had requested that Marcellus make Suetonius a tribune in Britain. When he succeeded in obtaining this favor for Suetonius, the latter eventually declined the post, which Pliny then transferred to a relative of Suetonius' in his place. This story indicates that Marcellus was able to make military appointments easily through the network of patronage, apparently without consulting the army. Another illustration of Marcellus' role in the network of patronage of his time is a draft of a letter recovered from the Roman fort at Vindolanda. The commander of the Ninth Cohort of Batavians stationed there, Flavius Cerialis, writes to his friend Crispinus about meeting with governor Marcellus. The text is damaged at this point, and there have been several theories proposed by modern historians as to the purpose of this communication. Anthony Birley suggested Cerialis was asking Crispinus to intercede on his behalf for a promotion or transfer; M. P. Speidel and R. Seider suggest this was an example of litterae commendaticiae, or a letter introducing himself to Crispinus; in their edition of the letter, Alan K. Bowman and J. David Thomas offer a more prosaic interpretation: "The writer is asking Crispinus to... make his military service pleasant by putting him on good terms with as many influential people as possible." The next record of Neratius Marcellus comes decades after he returned from Britain, when he was elected consul ordinarius in AD 129, serving alongside Publius Juventius Celsus Titus Aufidius Hoenius Severianus. Observing that the emperor Hadrian relied on his brother for advice, Birley believes that Marcellus was "on familiar terms" with Hadrian, which may be the reason for the signal honour of a second consulship. However, Birley then notes that "it may be that he came to a sad end soon afterwards, for among Hadrian's close friends... the author of the Historia Augusta'' lists a Marcellus, forced to suicide by the emperor." References Citations Bibliography 1st-century Romans 2nd-century Romans Ancient Roman adoptees Ancient Romans