Entry (Details):

He served under Constantine I Amm. XV 5.19 Constantini magnus erat conmilito; perhaps to be identified with Vrsicinus 1.

MAGISTER EQVITVMiRole name: MAGISTER EQVITVM a. 349-59: he was apparently appointed to the East in 349 Amm. XVIII 6.2 nihil amiserat per decennium (in 359); to be identified with the unnamed magister equitum in the East in 353 Amm. XIV 2.20 quoniam magister equitum longius ea tempestate distinebatur; in 354 Gallus summoned him from Nisibis to Antioch to investigate treason charges Amm. XIV 9.1.3 imaginarius iudex equitum resedit magister. Following intrigues by Arbitio 2 and Eusebius 11 Amm. XIV 9.2, 11.2-3 he was recalled to court by Constantius in 354, allegedly for consultations, and Prosper was appointed his deputy in the East Amm. XIV 11.4-5. After the fall of Gallus he was again the object of intrigues Amm. XV 2.1ff. but in 355 when Silvanus 2 revolted he was sent to Gaul to overthrow him Amm. XV 5.18-31. In 355-6 he served as magister equitum in Gaul Amm. XV 13.3 magistro equitum agente etiam tum in Galliis, but was replaced in 356 by Marcellus 3 Amm. XVI 2.8 (Julian assembled at Rheims an army ‘cui praesidebat Vrsicini successor Marcellus et ipse Vrsicinus, ad usque expeditionis finem agere praeceptus isdem in locis’). In 357 he was called to Sirmium by Constantius and sent back to his Eastern command Amm. XVI 10.21 in Orientem cum magisterii remittitur potestate. In 359 he was present at Samosata Amm. XVIII 4.7.

MAGISTER PEDITVMiRole name: MAGISTER PEDITVM a. 359-60: in 359 following intrigues by Eusebius 11 and other eunuchs he was recalled to court to succeed Barbatio as magister peditum Amm. XVIII 4.2ff., 5.4ff. and was succeeded in the East by Sabinianus 3 Amm. XVIII 5.5 stetitque sententia ut Sabinianus cultus quidem senex et bene nummatus sed inbellis et ignavus et ab impetranda magisterii dignitate per obscuritatem adhuc longe discretus praeficiendus eois partibus mitteretur, Vrsicinus vero curaturus pedestrem militiam et successurus Barbationi ad comitatum reverteretur. He left for the West amid the laments of the provincials Amm. XVIII 6.1-2 but had only reached the Hebrus when he received imperial orders to return to the East as the Persians were attacking Amm. XVIII 6.5 omni causatione posthabita reverti Mesopotamiam, sine apparitione ulla expeditionem curaturi periculosam, ad alium omni potestate translata. He returned to Nisibis Amm. XVIII 6.8 and underwent various adventures Amm. XVIII 6.10ff., 8.1ff. He failed to persuade Sabinianus to relieve Amida Amm. XIX 3.1 maerens quod ex alterius pendebat arbitrio, and after its fall withdrew from Melitene to Antioch Amm. XIX 8.12. During the winter (a. 359/60) he was recalled to take up his post as magister peditum Amm. XX 2.1 Vrsicinum ad conmilitium principis ut peditum magistrum reversum (successisse enim eum Barbationi praediximus) obtrectatores excipiunt, but as a result of the enquiry by Arbitio and Florentius 3 into the fall of Amida he was dismissed and replaced by Agilo Amm. XX 2.2-5.

He is possibly mentioned on various tiles from Pannonia Superior III 4668, 11856, AE 1954, 15, AE 1955, 16 of. arn. Vrsicini m(a)g. (unless ‘magister’ is here a technical official).

Vrsicinus is described by Ammianus, who served on his staff, as ‘bellicosus sane milesque semper et militum ductor, sed forensibus iurgiis longe discretus’ Amm. XIV 9.1, and as ‘disciplinae veteris et longo usu bellandi artis Persicae scientissimus' Amm. XVIII 6.1; the account of him in Ammianus, with its insistence that he was the victim of court intrigues, is coloured in his favour.

He had several sons Amm. XIV 11.3, one of them being Potentius Amm. XXXI 13.18. He owned a house in Antioch Amm. XVIII 4.3.