[2] Paternus first appears as ab epistulis Latinis for emperor Marcus Aurelius, who had entered into negotiations with the Cotini to ally with them against their neighbors the Marcomanni.
[5] Paternus is next documented as one of the witnesses to the Tabula Banasitana, a bronze tablet dated to 6 July 177, which records the grant of Roman citizenship to a family in Mauretania Tingitana.
[6] The witnesses are drawn from the Imperial amici or senior courtiers, who include consular senators such as Marcus Gavius Squilla Gallicanus, Manius Acilius Glabrio Gnaeus Cornelius Severus, and Titus Sextius Lateranus; senior eques such as the former praetorian prefect Marcus Bassaeus Rufus, the current pretorian prefect Sextus Tigidius Perennis, praefectus vigilum Quintus Cervidius Scaevola, and praefectus annonae Titus Flavius Piso—as well as Tarrutenius Paternus.
[8] Anthony Birley is inclined to accept the account of the Historia Augusta over that of Cassius Dio, noting that Salvius Julianus' kinsman Didius Julianus, who was governor of Germania Inferior at the time, was accused with being complicit with Salvius in treason against Commodus, but managed to clear himself and was allowed to withdraw to his native Milan.
Extracts from the work appear in Justinian's Digest; Aemilius Macer and Vegetius call him "diligentissimus juris militaris adsertor.