Rights Granted
The veteran was granted Roman citizenship, which carried important legal and fiscal advantages, including exemption from the poll tax (tributum capitis) payable by all non-citizen subjects of the empire. Citizenship was also granted to the veteran's natural children, but not to his female partner. Until ca. 140, all children born to the veteran during his term of service were eligible. After that date, it appears that the grant was restricted to children born after the veteran's discharge (unless the veteran had registered children born before his enlistment). This seemingly retrogressive step has been doubted by some historians, and it is possible that the available evidence is garbled.
Until the time of emperor Septimius Severus (r. 197-211), serving soldiers were legally prohibited to marry. In practice, many formed stable relationships with local women and brought up families. Diplomas retrospectively regularised such unions by granting the discharged veteran, in addition to citizenship, the right of connubium ("inter-marriage"), which was necessary as Roman citizens were not legally permitted to marry non-citizens (unless the latter possessed "Latin Rights").
An exceptional constitutio of emperor Hadrian (r. 117-38) is known from 3 diplomas, which granted citizenship to the beneficiaries' parents and siblings, in addition to their children.
Read more about this topic: Roman Military Diploma
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