..please safeguard him from going abroad with the field army

[Ti Cl Nero]

Salvete
Just wanted to share this; I find it interesting, particularly for late-imperial guys.
It is from one of the letters in the Abinnaeus archive (as you know, Flavius Abinnaeus was praefectus of ala Quinta Praelectorum at Dionysias, Fayyum, Egypt, in early 340's - we have a wide collection of papyri relating to his correspondance).
One of the Papyri is a letter addressed to Abinnaeus, from a guy begging for "special treatment" about a relative who had to be enlisted:

"[...] a drink of water to one of these little ones shall not lose his reward. Let not your soul be vexed that you are troubled, but trust in God and cease. I am writing to you about my wife Naomi's brother. He is a soldier's son, and he has been enrolled to go for a soldier. If you can release him again it is a fine thing you do, first of all on God's account, secondly on mine, since his mother is a widow and has nothing but him. But if he must serve, please safeguard him from going abroad with the draft for the field army, and may God make return to you fo your charity and elevate you to greater things. [.......] To his beloved brother Abinnaeus..."

(Abinnaeus archive, 19 - translated from greek in Bell,Martin,Turner,van Berchem, "The Abinnaeus archive", Oxford, 1962)

Besides the interesting insight about a paraefectus alae being in charge of chosing in which contingent to inscribe recruits' names, I find fascinating the reading of such an explicit attempt to avoid the field army.
Valete

[Robert Vermaat]

Ah, very nice Carlo, a laudes!

Provides good insight into the apprehensions of the family in regards to military service... Also, a reminder that alae existed in some areas, while more 'modern' cavalry units were raised elsewhere. I think in Egypt, alae and cohortes exited until the end in the 7th c.

[Tarbicus]

Is this one of the reasons the army saw less and less citizens signing up?

Great extract, thanks.

[Ti Cl Nero]

Jim,
very interesting comment about recruiting.
I think this papyrus mainly refers to one interesting issue: due to manpower shortage at that time, besides volunteers and occasional conscription, new recruiting systems had to be adopted.
One of these systems relates to veterans’ sons: since 319 AD (a law by Constantine) , veterans’ sons, as long as they were phisically and mentally suitable, *had* to enlist by law.
Codex Theodosianus offers an interesting collection of laws showing the evolution of this system (CTh VII.22.1-12), starting with the law by Constantine in 319AD; last recorded law in the Codex about this matter is by Arcadius and Honorius, addressed to Stilicho, in 398.
This evolution shows an increasing harshness in the application of this law: lower age limit for suitable veterans’ sons decreases while punishment for those who try to avoid enlistment get harder and harder.
Thus, I find extremely interesting the explict mention of this in the papyrus:â€

[Mitra]

Jim, i think in all period of Roman eras (and in other times; in the Iliad the poet affirm that a king pays a horse to Agamennon for dont take part to the war), long time of services or war in not easy nations, aren't viewed in good terms. Rostovzev reports of problem with the enrolment in Spain during the Trajan's wars.

[Tarbicus]

One of the reasons my comment came to mind was that I believe we know recruitment from the citizenry became harder and harder, especially as the Roman social structure became more like a feudal system, where landlords would withhold those under their sway from service IIRC. This brings to light an interesting alternative that may have ran side by side with such factors keeping men from service. The increasing harshness of penalties for "draft dodging" is actually an absolutely typical establishment reaction to try to stop this, and it would probably be unusual if the opposite reaction happened.

What strikes me is that the request is made, so it can't really be out of the bounds of possibility that it could be granted.

[TITVS SABATINVS AQVILIVS]

BTW, taking a look about the forced recruitment of the veterans' sons in the Codex Theodosianus, I've found the term primipilarium, is it referred to a Centenarius (late Centurion)? Existed the Primipili and the Centurions' hierarchy in the small units of the late IV century yet?

7.22.11

Idem aa. Have, Neoteri, karissime nobis.

pr. Si filii primipilarium reperti fuerint, qui ingressi legitimos annos nullis stipendiis fulciuntur, sed anno proximo, quo ad curiam fuerint lacessiti, semet militiae manciparint, ad curiam teneantur, ita ut ne officii quidem, cum transacto anno esse coeperint curiales, praepostera audiatur circa eius personam ac sera petitio. (380 sept. 8 ).

1. Quod si in eadem domo duo filii erunt et latum adeo felixque patrimonium, quod possit duplicium necessitatum suscipere functiones, unum oportebit militiae, unum curiae vindicari. Quod servandum pari norma erit, si tres aut quattuor liberi vel etiam plures numero familiam eiusdem stirpis ornaverint, ut etiam ex numerosis fratribus unus ad curiam devocetur.

Dat. VI id. sept. Sirmio Gratiano V et Theodosio I aa. conss. (380 sept. 8 ).

Valete,

[Mitra]

This type of letter is typical; it is a request of favor to a more influential man or at the same level. The "making favour" gains in reputation, honour and influence (this letters are conserved because let seen "a tout le monde"), the petitioner gain a favor and a creditor.

[Marcus Julius]

What strikes me is that the request is made, so it can't really be out of the bounds of possibility that it could be granted.

Not out of the grounds of possibility, no. Nothing is out of the grounds of possibility until proven otherwise.
However, I wouldn't try using this letter as a suggestion of it's possibility. Imagine how many American wives and mothers have written to their senators asking that their Johnny not be sent to Iraq with the rest of his unit? Guess what? Beloved Johnny is marching the streets of Baghdad.

[Tarbicus]

That's true, and I'm not calling it a definite. What interests me also is the appeal in the name of God, which I doubt would have ever been used in other, non-Christian, eras. It's a very interesting letter.

Let not your soul be vexed that you are troubled, but trust in God and cease.

first of all on God's account

and may God make return to you for your charity and elevate you to greater things.

[Marcus Julius]

Indeed, the new merciful, forgiving God. The theological depth of that letter could spur a whole other thread.

[Tarbicus]

Indeed, the new merciful, forgiving God. The theological depth of that letter could spur a whole other thread.

Well, I wouldn't want to get into all that :wink:

Consider this; as pointed out, there were always appeals and excuses given to get someone excluded from service. But, add to all of those reasons one more that could influence everyone possibly in a way never seen before - a religious one. The effect must have been fairly dramatic over time, especially if the request was made by a holy man.

[Ti Cl Nero]

Infact.
Davide is right in pointing out that this kind of letter is not uncommon, even among our sources.
But the reason why I posted this one, is the wide range of topics it brings in (thanks also to Daniele for his post, good question; and also the interesting recruiting matter should still be discussed at length).
I agree with Jim and Brian about this letter not being a proof that this kind of attempt had good chance of being succesful.
Infact, I found extremely interesting the pattern of this letter: a first request, probably hopeless (to have the relative released) in order to give strength to a second, possibly more acceptable, request (even though not necessarily granted either) : to have him sent to a local unit of limitanei rather than the field-army (request which is not surprising and certainly wasn't uncommon, again as Brian points out), which was possibly the real aim of the begger.

As for the reference to God, that’s another matter who makes this letter very interesting.
It shows an approach to religion whose discussion would bring us far away from this topic, as you say.
It is also meaningful (even if this also should not surprise) the fact the besides the constant reference to God in the Abinnaeus documents, his soldiers (or at least part of the unit) were still rightfully devoted to pagan deities as Victoria and Fortuna, since remains of a contemporary statue of these deities have been excavated in the castra ad Dionysia (for references see again the book I mentioned in the first post of the topic)
Valete

[Robert Vermaat]

I'm not sure if we should look at this like a letter to a senator - the senator is a respresentative of the people the ala commander is none such thing. Therefore, I read this in a more private way - the referral to the family relation and the religious connection makes me think that the writer knew the commander in one way or another. That he mentions the name of his wife indicates to me that she may be the connection - maybe the commander knew here, maybe through his own wife?

[TITVS SABATINVS AQVILIVS]

About Abinnaeus:

http://lhpc.arts.kuleuven.be/archives/texts/1.pdf

Most probably Abinneus was christian, anyway don't forget the Solar monoteism of Deus Sol Inuictus/Helios/Mithra was still very diffused and confused with the christian worship, especially in the military society:

To go deeper about the religious changing in that area,

http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/fa ... thesis.pdf

Valete,