The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

Veterans 201
Recorded and authenticated from the bronze plaque which is affixed
at Rome on the wall behind the temple of the divine Augustus at the
statue (?) of Minerva.
After discharge Secundus returned to his home town, Nicopolis ad Istrum,
founded by Trajan, which explains his irregular tribe name, Ulpia. This town
originally was part of Thrace but around AD 197 had been transferred by
Septimius Severus to Lower Moesia for administrative purposes.
All praetorians were of course Roman citizens and therefore did not require
a grant of citizenship. The diplomas appear to suggest, however, that they were
less privileged than veterans of the fleet and the auxilia, in that they received
citizenship only for children born after discharge. Yet this seems improbable
since the praetorian guard was the most privileged section of the army, and
emperors were especially keen to keep its goodwill. Now, it is unlikely that
there was any attempt at one moment to work out systematically all the rules
of discharge and benefits. Therefore at the start the government perhaps assumed
that most praetorians would associate with Italian women, who were likely to
be Roman citizens (especially when the guard was stationed in small Italian
towns), and that children of such unions would be citizens, even if not legitimate.
This attitude was then modified as problems arose, and in my view an ambiguous
form of wording was employed on the diplomas, which could be taken as
meaning that all children of praetorians were to be Roman citizens. So, in my
translation ‘tollant’ in the original is expressed as ‘raise’ rather than ‘beget’,
since the latter would make explicit that only children born after discharge
could be citizens (Campbell 1984:439–45; exhaustive discussion in Link 1989).
329 P.S.I. 1026=Smallwood NH 330, papyrus, Caesarea, Syria
Palaestina, AD 150
Recorded and authenticated from the petition published along with
others in the portico of Junia [ _ _ _ ], in which was written the text
which is written out below.
To Vilius Cadus, legate of the Emperor with propraetorian power,
from twenty-two veterans of Legion X Fretensis who began their
military service in the consulship of Glabrio and Torquatus or in the
consulship of Paulinus and Aquilinus (AD 124 and 125), and whose
names are listed below. Since, sir, we served in the praetorian fleet at
Misenum and then, after transfer to the Fretensis Legion through the
generosity of the divine Hadrian, conducted ourselves over twenty
[years] in every respect as good soldiers should, now indeed in these
most felicitous times we have been discharged from our military oath
and, as we are about to return to Egypt, to our native city of Alexandria,
we ask and request that you should think it appropriate to affirm for
us that we have been discharged by you, in order that it may be obvious