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

The army in the later empire 243
[Maximinus Augustus for the second time, Emperors] on 10 June, at
Serdica.
The prescript to this letter was added later. Although in his grant of privileges
Constantine specifically mentions the Illyrian troops, the general tone of his
letter must mean that all troops in the parts of the empire he then controlled
were similarly treated and received an appropriately worded copy of his
instructions. The repeated expressions of concern for the welfare of the troops,
the generosity of the privileges of exemption, and the special arrangements for
the issue of discharge certificates, remind us that in AD 311 Constantine and
Licinius had made an agreement against Maximinus Daia and Maxentius, and
that with civil war imminent, the absolute loyalty of their soldiers was crucial,
whatever the price. Constantine was subsequently to revise these concessions
(see below). The organization of the army at this time did not include a formal
provision for the field army (comitatenses), a designation which is not specifically
attested until AD 325 (text no. 394), although Constantine’s version of the
field army probably originated in the campaign against Maxentius in AD 312.
394 CTh 7. 20. 4, AD 325
The same Emperor (Constantine) to Maximus, Prefect of the City
(probably an error for Vicar of the East). Soldiers of the field army
(comitatenses), territorial soldiers (ripenses), and imperial bodyguards
(protectores) may all exempt from tax, themselves, and their father
and mother and wife, if they are still alive, and if they have been entered
on the tax lists. If, however, the soldiers should lack any one of these
people or have none of them, they are to exempt in respect of their
own property only so much as they would have been able to exempt
for these people, if they had not been lacking. However, they are not to
make an agreement with another person so that they gain exemption
for property belonging to another by pretending to own it, but they
must exempt only that property specifically belonging to them.
{We sanction that veterans after they have received letters confirming
their full completion of service, are to be exempt from taxes in respect
of their own person and that of their wives, while the others who receive
honourable discharge, shall be exempt only in respect of their own
person}. We grant that all veterans from any army whatsoever (i.e.
field and territorial troops) along with their wives should enjoy
exemption in respect of one person each. A veteran of the territorial
troops who in accordance with an earlier law after twenty-four years
of service and the award of an honourable discharge, used to enjoy
exemption in respect of one person, even if he acquires an honourable
discharge after twenty years of service, shall nevertheless have exemption