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

212 The Roman Army
colonies, or deliberately to establish recruiting areas; in the main,
colonies were ad hoc arrangements made when it suited the government.
Emperors gradually stopped founding colonies as new land became
more difficult and expensive to obtain. More importantly, veterans
preferred to settle close to where they had served, not in an organized
colony situated elsewhere. There had indeed been problems over this
even in the first century AD. By the second century local recruitment
was the norm and military units tended to be permanently stationed in
one location, with the result that soldiers and their families were more
closely tied to this area.
The evidence for veteran colonies is fragmentary: scattered allusions
in literary sources, archaeological remains of colonies, inscriptions from
the sites confirming colonial status and showing the veterans who were
settled there and their legions, and the texts of the land surveyors. In
their discussions of land division and allocation, in which they had a
crucial role, surveyors not only provide useful general observations,
but also cite many examples, which seem in the main to be accurate,
and provide evidence of unparalleled detail on the mechanism and
problems of colonial foundations (Keppie 1983; 1984b; Mann 1983;
land survey—Dilke 1971; Hinrichs 1974).
342 Hyginus Gromaticus (1st–2nd? C.AD), The Establishment of
‘Limites’ (Thulin 1913:140–2)
When the struggles of the great wars had been brought to an end,
distinguished Romans founded cities to enlarge the Roman state,
assigning them either to the victorious citizens of the Roman people or
to discharged soldiers, and called them colonies since these lands were
newly given over to agriculture (colo; cultura). Colonies were allocated
to these victorious men who had taken up arms in an emergency. For
the Roman people did not have enough soldiers to keep pace with the
expansion of the state. At that time land was a prize and was considered
a reward for completion of service. It happened that many legionaries
luckily survived the wars and from their first rank in military service
passed to a hard-working life of peace and quiet in cultivating the fields.
Now, when they were being settled along with their standards, eagle,
centurions, and tribunes, land was allocated in proportion to the rank
they had held… The divine Julius Caesar…kept his soldiers on after
they had served their time, and when the veterans baulked at this,
dismissed them. But soon when these very soldiers asked to be allowed
to share his military service again, he took them back and after several