Desertor
Desertor is defined by Modestinus to be one qui per prolixum tempus vagatus, reducitur,
and differs from an emansor, qui diu vagatus ad castra egreditur
(Dig. 49, tit. 16, s. 3). Those who deserted in time of peace were punished by reduction to the ranks (gradus dejectio, V. Max. 2.7.4), corporal chastisement, fines, or ignominious dismissal from the service (missio ignominiosa, [Caes.] B. Afr. 54). Those who left the standards in time of war were usually punished with death (Dionys. A. R. 11.43; Liv. Epit. lvi.; Tac. Ann. 13.36; Lamprid. Al. Sev. 51). The transfugae, or deserters to the enemy, when taken, were sometimes deprived of their hands or feet (Liv. 26.12; V. Max. 2.7.11), but generally were put to death. In imperial times they were exposed to wild beasts (Val. Max. l.c. § § 13, 14; Dig. l.c. § 10). (Marquardt, Staatsverw. 2.553.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.