The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

and Valens passed laws to flush out deserters and return them to the ranks, punishing
the people who protected and hid them (Cod. Th. 7.18.1).
Leaves and Furloughs
So l d i ers of the Roman army had no statutory ri ght to a spec i f i ed nu m ber of
days’ leave of absence during the year, but they could arrange with their officers,
usually in the form of cash payments, to be released from fatigues and normal
duties. Tacitus indicates that up to a quarter of the men of a military unit could
be outside the fort on leave at any one time or in camp but would be excused fatigues,
having bribed their officers and in some cases having resorted to robbery
to obtain the money (Annals 1.17; Histories 1.46).
The wri ting tabl ets from Vi n dolanda contain a batch of l et ters requ e s ti n g
leave (commeatus), six of the letters being addressed to the same commander,
Cerialis (Bi rl ey, 2 0 0 2 ) . The majori ty adopt the same formu l a , ex pressing the
hope that the commander holds the soldier worthy to be granted leave. These
are not simply requests to be relieved of duties, but to go away to another place,
which in three cases is actually named in the letter. At the beginning of the second
century, a soldier called Julius Apollinaris serving in Egypt wrote to his rela
tives to say that he would try to come home for a visit as soon as his commander
started to grant periods of leave (Campbell, 1994). Another letter dated
to the third century records a family problem in that a young man who had enl
i s ted in a legi on wanted to become a cava l ryman in an a l a , but his rel a tive s
could not visit because they were re s tri cted by the leave gra n ted to the boy
(Campbell, 1994).
Unit Esprit de Corps
Tr ad i ti on s
C u lt u re o f t h e R o m a n A r m y 149
Before the Imperial standing army was established, the soldiers of the Republican
legi ons and all i ed troops devel oped a short - l ived pri de in their unit’s
achievements and the awards for bravery to individual men. Even in protracted
wars, however, when the units remained together for some considerable time,
there was always an impermanence about them that prevented the development
of a strong sense of corporate identity. When Marius reorganized his troops to
fight the invading Celtic tribes at the end of the second century bc, he gave each
legion its eagle standard that survived into and through the Empire, as an object
of veneration and a symbol of unit cohesion. Toward the end of the Republic, if
not earlier, distinguishing names were given to the legions, such as Caesar’s V