Section 2

Martin grew up in a military family and became a soldier, serving in the imperial guard under Constantius II. But from his earliest youth he desired to serve God, and as a soldier he was amazingly humble, kind, frugal, and generous.

Sabaria: Savaria, mod. Szombathely, Hungary. An important town in the province of Upper Pannonia. Satellite image. The emperor Septimius Severus was proclaimed Augutsus there, and Valentinian resided there for some time. Smith's Dictionary.

Pannoniarum: 'the Pannonias', a frontier zone along the Danube, including parts of modern Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. For military and administrative reasons Pannonia was successively subdivided until, in Martin's day, it included "Upper Pannonia" (Pannonia I and Savia, to the west) and and "Lower Pannonia" (Pannonia II and Valeria, to the east). Hence the plural "Pannonias." Pannonia was itself a subdivision of the larger area called Illyricum, embracing the whole Danube frontier area in the western Balkans.

oriundus: 'born' (the date was c. 316-17 AD)

Ticini: 'at Ticinum' (locative), the modern Pavia in the Po valley, northern Italy. A flourishing municipal town during the high empire, the main road that continued the Aemilian Way from Placentia to the foot of the Alps passed through it.

parentibus: 'of parents', abl. of origin.

saeculi dignitatem: 'the social status of the secular world'.

primum . . . post: 'at first . . . later'.

tribunus militum: 'commander', originally of a legion, but in this period of any active army detachment [Fontaine 2.437].

scholares alas: 'imperial guard'.

Constantio: Flavius Iulius Constantius, or Constantius II, second son of Constantine I, emperor AD 337-361.

Iuliano: Flavius Claudius Iulianus, or Julian the Apostate,emperor AD 361-3.

illustris: 'remarkable'.

spiravit: 'expressed the spirit of'. The subject is sacra . . . infantia.

invitis parentibus: 'against the will of his parents', abl. absolute.

mirum in modum: 'in an amazing way', 'amazingly'--a frequently used expression in this work.

conversus: 'having (been) turned toward' (w/ in + abl.). Classical Latin would use in or ad + acc. with this word.

eremus: (sc. locus) 'wilderness, desert'.

fecissetque votis satis: 'and he would have satisfied his desires' (> satis facere + dat., 'satisfy, give satisfaction to'). Pluperfect subj. in a contrary to fact condition. (AG 514)

meditabatur . . . quod . . . implevit: 'was rehearsing . . . that which . . . it carried out'.

devotus: 'when dedicated completely' (to God).

edictum esset: 'it had been decreed' (> edico).

regibus: 'the emperors'. Beginning in the late 3rd century there were usually more than one, sharing power.

scriberentur: 'be enrolled'.

actibus: 'actions' (> actus -us m.)

comite: 'as a companion' (> comes -itis m.).

tantum: 'only' (Adv.).

adeo ut: 'so much so, that' (a common way of introducing a result clause).

cibum una caperent: 'ate together with'.

hic: Martin.

in armis fuit: 'was under arms', i.e., served as a soldier.

multa illius . . . benignitas: 'much (was) the kindness of that man around his fellow-soldiers', i.e. 'he displayed much kindness toward his fellow-soldiers'. Classical Latin would prefer illi for illius and erga or in for circa.

qua usus est: 'which he had'.

agebat quendam . . . baptismi candidatum: 'he was acting as a kind of candidate for baptism' (quendam > quidam).

assistere...ferre, alere...vestire...reservare: these infinitives explain the previous clause: 'by assisting...by aiding, by feeding' etc. For this 'epexegetic' use of the infinitive, see AG 461.

laborantibus: 'the suffering', substantive use of the participle (AG 561).