[1474] …and also served as praepositus of III Augusta (CIL III 4855), after this legion had been shifted [to a different location] as an act of punishment. II Italica’s obedience to the legitimate emperor Gallienus, at least until about 261 AD, is shown by coins struck with her emblem and her surname V pia V fidelis, VI pia VI fidelis, and VII pia VII fidelis (cp. Kolb Wiener Numismatische Zeitschrift V 1873, 71 pl. IV 5). After Septimius Severus reorganized the praetorian cohorts and replenished them with soldiers from the legions, members of II Italica were also taken up into the guard; an example for such a translation is the inscription CIL VI 2672: Aur(elio) Saturnino eq(uiti) coh. VIII pr(aetoriae)… militavit in leg(ione) secunda Italica tesserarius ann(is) VI. In the chaos of the late 3rd century, probably no sooner than in Maximian and Constantius’ great wars against the Germans, a mobilized force of II Italica was transferred to the lower Rhine, where it became an independent unit and formed the Cologne bridgehead Deutz (Divitia) garrison, from which place it took over its surname. After Constantine’s reorganization of the armies of Gaul and the Rhine area, this legion was one of the best units. When this army moved over the Alps in 312 AD, in order to make Constantine emperor instead of Maxentius, the Legio II Divitensium was taking part in the campaign. Witnesses for her losses in the bloody battles are several tombstones found at several places near the Via Flaminia, along which Constantine advanced towards Rome (CIL XI 4787 (Spoletium) Florio Baudioni viro ducenario protectori ex ordinario leg. II Ital. Divite(nsium) placed by Val(erius) Vario optio leg. II Divit(ensium); to the same time belongs CIL XI 4085 (Ocriculum) Val(eri) Saturnini mil(itis) leg. II Ital(icae)…) After Constantine’s army had entered Rome victoriously, Val(erius) Genialis milex legionis secunde Divitensium Italice singnifer died there at age 50, after 26 years of service (CIL VI 3637). This unit, which was later just called the Divitenses, had, together with her similarly created sister-legion, the Tongrecani, an especially high position in Constantine’s elite field army, the legiones palatinae (Not. dign. occ. V 4 = 147. VII 5). However, this is not the place to describe her changeful story in the course of the 4th century. Her mother-legion, II Italica, stayed in her old garrison province of Noricum, but in the context of the large-scale changes of the entire armed forces since the late 3rd century, the legion was placed among the lowest group of units, the legiones ripenses (border-legions = [“Grenzlegionen”]). In the early 5th century, II Italica was still in this position according to the “Notitia Dignitatum” (Not. dign. occ. XXXIV 37-39) and under the command of the dux Pannoniae Primae and Norici Ripensis. The main headquarters was still at Lauriacum, but sub-units where stationed at Lentia (Linz), and equipped with liburnae [swift galleys] for river traffic surveillance at Ioviacum (Schlägen).[= Schlögen]