Veteran Status

[Geoffrey]

At what point during a legionary’s carrier does he gain veteran status? I’ve noticed while reading the Conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar had the utmost respect for his veterans and their fighting spirit. Does the legionary gain this status after a certain number of campaigns, or is it determined by years of service?

[Carlton Bach]

This is different between Republic and Empire and not always easy to understand, but basically:

- in the imperial army, a veteran is a former soldier. It seems that in Augustan times, soldiers who technically were due their discharge were kept on as 'veterani', possibly voluntary, possibly against their will. It is possible that this was technically a form of reserve duty rather than full duty, but I have yet to see this explained fully. Afterwards, if you find the designation 'veteranus', it means a dicharged soldier (many veterans don't use it but instead identify as soldiers on gravestones even years after retirement).

- in the Republic, a veteranus is a soldier who has been to war, come back and was honourably discharged. I suspect Caesar mnerely uses it to mean 'his old guard', though possibly they are reactivated troops from earlier conflicts.

[SOCL]

Would evocati be simply a synonym for veterani, or was there a difference in status/use?

[Carlton Bach]

Would evocati be simply a synonym for veterani, or was there a difference in status/use?

The 'kleiner Pauly' says synonym, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a different thing entirely. I've certainly never seen a retired 'veteranus' describe himself as 'evocatus', that seems to be a serving soldier thing.

[SOCL]

So perhaps the distinction between a veteranus and an evocatus would be serving and not serving? Perhaps evocati were "reenlisted" legionaries whereas veterani were simply once-served, but not necessarily reenlisted? :?

[D B Campbell]

I've certainly never seen a retired 'veteranus' describe himself as 'evocatus', that seems to be a serving soldier thing.

Quite so. Under the Republic, evocati were simply time-expired soldiers ("veterans") recalled for further service.
Under the Empire, they were time-served legionaries or, increasingly, Praetorians, who chose to re-enlist, often in some specialist capacity. (Auxiliaries in the same position may have been known as voluntarii.)

Whereas during the Republic, they are simply veteran soldiers prolonging their service, under the Empire the Praetorian evocati approached (without quite reaching) the status of centurions (e.g. their dona are usually quite lavish).

[Geoffrey]

From what I have read in Julius Caesar’s “Gallic Warsâ€

[lisa]

I've noted some places in Tacitus, while browsing for other things, where he uses the word "veteranus" in an imperial context, and he seems to be referring to serving soldiers.

A couple of examples (I haven't looked systematically):
Annales, 13.35: Satis constitit fuisse in eo exercitu veteranos, qui non stationem, non vigilias inissent, vallum fossamque quasi nova et mira viserent...
"It was well known that the army contained veterans who had never been on piquet duty or on night guard, to whom the rampart and the fosse were new and strange sights..." (Hadas 1942: 304).

Histories, 2.14: Trevirorum turmae obtulere se hosti incaute, cum exciperet contra veteranus miles....
"The squadrons of the Treveri charged the enemy incautiously, and found themselves encountered in front by the veteran troops..." (Hadas 1942: 484).

Particularly with the first one, the context seems to me to suggest that the soldiers are serving soldiers with a lot of experience, rather than time served soldiers in special groups. Maybe Tacitus is evoking Caesar with his vocabulary use (always possible) or maybe there's some further nuance in the term that we don't fully grasp? Again, this isn't something I've looked into in depth, just something I've noted.

*Translations from M. Hadas, ed., 1942, Complete Works of Tacitus, Modern Library College Editions: New York.

[Paullus Scipio]

...I think you are right, Lisa.
Our word 'veteran' is taken direct from the Latin, and just as 'veteran' in English can mean 'experienced soldier still serving', or alternately 'former soldier', depending on the context, I'd be willing to bet it was the same in the Latin original.