veterancy

He alſo laid hold of this opportunity, to aboliſh the indulgence of Veterancy at ſixteen years, which had been extorted by the ſeditious in Germany and Pannonia; and he reſtored the ordinances that made twenty years ſervice the condition of that privilege; proteſting, that otherwiſe the ſtate could not ſupport the expence of the armies it kept on foot.

1755, Jean Baptiste Louis Crevier, The History of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine, volume II, London, page 81