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

246 The Roman Army
the soldiers, and associates himself with them by using the flattering term ‘fellowveterans’,
and by speaking of their deserved peaceful retirement after all the
labours of military life. The political relationship of emperor and army had not
changed significantly from the first and second centuries. In sum, veterans had
a considerable range of exemptions: from the poll and property tax, from
compulsory public services and duties on the local council to which they
otherwise might have been liable since they owned land, from market taxes,
and customs dues.
396 CTh 7. 20. 3, AD 325 (?)
The same Emperor (Constantine) to all veterans. In accordance with
our instructions, veterans are to receive unoccupied land and they are
to hold it tax-free in perpetuity. They are also to receive twenty-five
folles in cash in order to buy the necessities of rural life, and in addition
a pair of oxen and one hundred modii of assorted seeds. We grant that
any veteran who wishes to engage in business should have a sum
amounting to one hundred folles tax-free. In addition to these persons,
therefore, who are based in farming or business, all you who are without
land (?) and have no occupation, should make use of this assistance so
that you do not suffer from hardship.
Given on 13 October at Constantinople in the consulship of
Constantine Augustus for the sixth time and Constantinus Caesar (AD
320, but on this date Constantine was in Illyricum; Barnes (1982:76)
suggests 325).
As in the early empire, a veteran could receive a plot of land or a cash handout
as superannuation. Jones (1964:636) has calculated, on the basis of the amount
of seed, that the allocations would have consisted of about twenty iugera of
arable land and perhaps as much again for the alternate fallow year. Since the
lands used for these distributions were unoccupied, the condition of the soil
may have deteriorated, but it was an important concession that the land was
tax-exempt.
397 CTh 7. 20. 5, AD 328
The same Emperor (Constantine) to Maximus, Praetorian Prefect. Care
must be taken that veterans honoured with the status of an imperial
bodyguard (protector), or who have achieved various distinctions
through their merits, should not be subjected to unseemly abuse, and if
anyone is caught while committing this crime, it is right that provincial
governors should refer the matter to your court and send the above
mentioned persons to your office, so that the offence can be most easily
punished in accordance with its gravity.