What if that militar accused of treason in Roman Law..?
This is a fantastic question, as it really explores the grey area of Roman law. I don’t know that there was in fact a clear cut answer. If I had to venture an educated guess, the child would have had the status of his father as he was born. Then again, military punishments in the Roman legions were very severe (if you fell asleep during guard duty, you were to be clubbed to death by your own squad-mates.) So a crime as dire as treason probably would have gotten the soldier summarily executed. However, circumstances circumvent the question. During the Republican and early Imperial eras, soldiers were expressly fobidden from being married. And if I recall correctly, llegitimate children did not enjoy their father’s patronage. Around the start of the third century, these laws were relaxed as military installations along the frontier became permanent, and cities sprung up around the army’s camp. Right as this was occuring, Emperor Caracalla made everyone within Rome’s boundaries a free cit
