Given the paucity of information concerning Orientius himself, dating his poem has proven difficult, although there are several clues that have helped scholars construct a timeframe in which the "Commonitorium" was likely written and published. First, a short section in the poem's second book explicitly references the AD 406 invasion of Gaul by various barbarian tribes, suggesting that the poem was written sometime after this event. Second, the "Vita S. Martini" claims that when Orientius was near the end of his life, he was sent sometime in the mid-5th century by the Visigothic king Theodoric I (d. 451) to Roman commanders Flavius Aetius (d. 454) and Litorius (d. 439) to negotiate peace between Rome and the Visigoths. Given these reference points, Tobin suggests that the poem was likely written AD 430.