Lawyers

Evocatus ( lat. Evocatus , plural evocati ) - a soldier of the Roman army who served a term and retired, but returned to service voluntarily at the invitation ( lat. Evocatio ) of the consul or other commander ^[1] . Such volunteers enjoyed a particularly honorable position in the army as experienced, seasoned soldiers. They were assigned to special units, most often consisting of the commander as his personal guard and especially trusted guard ^[2] .

Before the 1st century BC, evocates are relatively rare; references to them are becoming more frequent in the era of the great military commanders-politicians - Maria , Pompeii , Octavian . Almost none of the commanders of that time deny themselves such detachments; they play an outstanding role in civil unrest, when they are often strengthened by newly recruited armies and for this they are distributed in a certain number of individual tactical units ^[2] .

According to their position, the evocates approach the centurions . They get a high salary. Usually attracts them to the ranks of the army, in addition to loyalty to the leader, the promise of a special reward at the end of the cause for which they are called. They were, however, subjected to ordinary soldier laborers. With the advent of the regular army and with the consolidation as a principle of recruiting, mainly, those wishing in the era of the Empire, the evocative units are becoming more and more rare, but a special corps of lat. evocati Augusti , in contrast to which soldiers in long service are usually called lat. revocati . Evocati Augusti - creation of the emperor Augustus ^[2] .

Information about them is available mainly in inscriptions, the number of which is relatively large. By a combination of inscriptions and a few literary data, Theodor Mommsen managed to establish the following. Imperial evocates make up the corps of the former Praetorians (ordinary legionnaires are relatively rare), distributed in Rome and in other garrisons; evocates are made both in the Praetorian cohorts and in the legions. Here they occupy a relatively high position: a lawyer can expect to become a centurion. They receive not the salary ( lat. Stipendium ) of the soldiers, but a special (more significant) reward ( lat. Sularium ). In every tactical unit, there is in any case more than one lawyer ^[2] .

Where the inscriptions indicate the special functions of the evocates, these are not military functions, but civilian functions, mainly related to the economic life of detachments: here it is lat. agrimensor (land surveyor) for the needs of legionary land tenure ( lat. territorium legionis ^[3] ), and the imperial architect ( lat. architectus armamentarii imperatoris ^[4] ), and the prison registrar ( lat. acommentariis custodiarum ^[5] ), etc. Judging by one inscription ^[6] , the main business of the evocates was the management of the provisions in the legions, with which, perhaps, we should compare the title of lat. maioriarius mensorum ^[7] (the senior measurer, perhaps the head of the Latin. mensores frumentarii military units ^[8] ). An important role was played by the lawyers in the bread allowance of the Praetorians and urban soldiers ( lat. Urbani ) in Rome. Judging by the appearance of their names on lead stamps of bread distribution, they have been intermediaries between soldiers and officials in charge of bread distribution since the time when the Praetorians were included in the Lat. plebs frumentaria , that is, the urban population who enjoyed the right to receive state bread for free.

In a word, evocati Augusti was a corps of persons who acquired some technical and economic knowledge during the service, which were utilized for organizing and controlling the military, technical and clerical life of the troops. Technical and economic functions distinguished evocates from real soldiers, giving them a more civilian character. Accordingly, their insignia was a simple stick. The institute of evocates existed until the late empire.