The Letters of Cassiodorus
functions, order of precedence, and number of attendants of the
various officers of the Civil Service as well as of the Imperial army
were minutely and punctiliously regulated. This system, which, as
forming the pattern upon which the nobility of mediaeval Europe was to
a great extent modelled, perhaps deserves even more careful study than
it has yet received, is admirably illustrated by the letters of
Cassiodorus. The _Notitia Utriusque Imperii_, our copies of which must
have been compiled in the early years of the Fifth Century, furnishes
us with a picture of official life which, after we have made allowance
for the fact that the Empire of the West has shrunk into the
Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy (with the addition of Dalmatia and some
other portions of Illyricum), is almost precisely reproduced in the
pages of the 'Various Letters.' In order that the student may
understand the full significance of many passages in those letters,
and especially of the superscriptions by which each letter is
prefaced, it will be well to give a brief outline of the system which
existed alike under Theodosius and Theodoric.
[Sidenote: Nobilissimi.]
In the first place, then, we come to what is rather a family than a
class, the persons bearing the title _Nobilissimus_[110]. These were
the nearest relatives of the reigning Emperor; his brothers, sisters,
sons, and daughters. The title therefore is not unlike that of Royal
or Imperial Highness in modern monarchies. I am not sure whether any
trace can be found of the survival of this title in the Ostrogothic
Court. Theodahad, nephew of Theodoric, is addressed simply as 'Vir
Senator[111],' and he is spoken of as 'praecelsus et amplissimus
vir[112].' It is not so, however, in respect of the three great
official classes which follow--the Illustres, Spectabiles, and
Clarissimi--whose titles were rendered as punctiliously in the Italy
of Theodoric as ever they were in the Italy of Diocletian and
Constantine.
[Footnote 110: The existence of this title is proved not only by the
language of Arcadius in the Theodosian Code x. 25. 1, concerning
'Nobilissimae puellae, filiae meae,' but also by Zosimus (ii. 39), who
says that Constantine bestowed the dignity of Nobilissimus on his
brother Constantius and his nephew Hannibalianus ([Greek: tes tou
legomenou nobelissimou par' autou Konstantinou tuchontes axias aidoi
tes syngeneias]); and by Marcellinus Comes, s. a. 527, who says:
'Justinus Imperator Justinianum ex sorore sua nepotem, jamdudum a se
Nobilissimum designatum, participem quoque regni ani, successoremque
creavit.' It is evident that the title did not come by right of birth,
but that some sort of declaration of it was necessary.]
[Footnote 111: Var. iii. 15.]
[Footnote 112: Var. viii. 23.]
[Sidenote: Illustres.]
I. The _Illustres_ were a small and select circle of men, the chief
depositaries of power after the Sovereign, and they may with some
truth be compared to the Cabinet Ministers of our own political
system. The 'Notitia' mentions thirteen of them as bearing rule in the
Western Empire. They are:
1. The Praetorian Praefect of Italy.
2. The Praetorian Praefect of the Gauls.
3. The Praefect of the City of Rome.
4. The Master of the Foot Guards (Magister Peditum in Praesenti).
5. The Master of the Horse Guards (Magister Equitum in Praesenti).
6. The Master of the Horse for the Gauls (per Gallias).
7. The Grand Chamberlain (Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi).
8. The Master of the Offices.
9. The Quaestor.
10. The Count of Sacred Largesses.
11. The Count of the Private Domains (Comes Rerum Privatarum).
12. The Count of the Household Cavalry (Comes Domesticorum Equitum).
13. The Count of the Household Infantry (Comes Domesticorum Peditum).
Substantially these same titles were borne by the Illustres to whom
Cassiodorus (himself one of them) addressed his 'Various Letters.' The
second and the sixth (the Praetorian Praefect of the Gauls, and the
Master of the Horse for the Gauls) may possibly have disappeared; and
yet, in view of the fact that Theodoric was during the greater part of
his reign ruler of a portion of Gaul, it is not necessary to assume
even this change. Into the question of the military officers I will
not enter, as I confess that I do not understand the relations
(whether co-ordinate or subordinated one to another) of the two pairs
of officers, Nos. 4 and 5 and Nos. 12 and 13.
The rank and duties of the Praetorian Praefect of Italy, the Master of
the Offices, and the Quaestor have already been described in the first
chapter. It will be well to say a few words as to the four remaining
civil dignitaries, the Praefect of the City, the Grand Chamberlain,
the Count of Sacred Largesses, and the Count of the Private Domains.
[Sidenote: Praefect of the City.]
(_a_) The _Praefectus Urbis Romae_ was by virtue of his office head of
the Senate. He had the care of the Annona or corn-largesses to the
people, the command of the City-watch, and the duty of keeping the
aqueducts in proper repair. The shores and channel of the Tiber, the
vast _cloacae_ which carried off the refuse of the City, the quays and
warehouses of Portus at the river's mouth were also under his
authority. The officer who was charged with taking the census, the
officers charged with levying the duties on wine, the masters of the
markets, the superintendents of the granaries, the curators of the
statues, baths, theatres, and the other public buildings with which
the City was adorned, all owned the supreme control of the Urban
Praefect. At the beginning of the Fifth Century the _Vicarius Urbis_
(whom it is difficult not to think of as in some sort subject to the
_Praefectus Urbis_), had jurisdiction over all central and southern
Italy and Sicily. But if this was the arrangement then, it must have
been altered before the time of Cassiodorus, who certainly appears as
Praetorian Praefect to have wielded authority over the greater part of
Italy. He states, however[113], that the Urban Praefect had, by an
ancient law, jurisdiction, not only over Rome itself, but over all the
district within 100 miles of the capital.
[Footnote 113: Var. vi. 4.]
[Sidenote: Grand Chamberlain.]
(_b_) The _Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi_ had under his orders the large
staff of Grooms of the Bedchamber, at whose head stood the
_Primicerius Cubiculariorum_, an officer of 'respectable' rank. The
_Castrensis_, Butler or Seneschal, with his army of lacqueys and pages
who attended to the spreading and serving of the royal table; the
_Comes Sacrae Vestis_, who with similar assistance took charge of the
royal wardrobe; the _Comes Domorum_, who perhaps superintended the
needful repairs of the royal palace, all took their orders in the last
resort from the Grand Chamberlain. So, too, did the three Decurions,
officers with a splendid career of advancement before them, who
marshalled the thirty brilliantly armed Silentiarii, that paced
backwards and forwards before the purple veil guarding the slumbers of
the Sovereign.
[Sidenote: Count of Sacred Largesses.]
(_c_) The _Comes Sacrarum Largitionum_, theoretically only the Grand
Almoner of the Sovereign, discharged in practice many of the duties of
Chancellor of the Exchequer. The mines, the mint, the Imperial linen
factories, the receipt of the tribute of the Provinces, and many other
departments of the public revenue were originally under the care of
this functionary, whose office however, as we are expressly told by
Cassiodorus, had lost part of its lustre, probably by a transfer of
some of these duties to the Count of the Private Domains.
[Sidenote: Count of Private Domains.]
(_d_) This Minister, the _Comes Rerum Privatarum_, had the
superintendence of the Imperial estates in Italy and the Provinces.
Confiscations and the absorption by the State of the properties of
defaulting tax-payers were probably always tending to increase the
extent of these estates, and to make the office of Count of the Domain
more important. The collection of the land-tax, far the most important
item of the Imperial revenue, was also made subject to his authority.
Finally, in order, as Cassiodorus quaintly observes[114], that his
jurisdiction should not be exercised only over slaves (the cultivators
of the State domains), some authority was given to him within the
City, and by a curious division of labour all charges of incestuous
crime, or of the spoliation of graves, were brought before the
tribunal of the Comes Privatarum.
[Footnote 114: Var. vi. 8.]
Besides the thirteen persons who, as acting Ministers of the highest
class, were entitled to the designation of Illustris, there were also
those whom we may call honorary members of the class: the persons who
had received the dignity of the Patriciate--a dignity which was
frequently bestowed on those who had filled the office of Consul, and
which, unlike the others of which we have been speaking, was held for
life.
It is a question on which I think we need further information, whether
a person who had once filled an Illustrious office lost the right to
be so addressed on vacating it. I am not sure that we have any clear
case in the following collection of an ex-official holding this
courtesy-rank; but it seems probable that such would be the case.
Considering also the great show of honour with which the Consulate,
though now destitute of all real power, was still greeted, it seems
probable that the Consuls for the year would rank as Illustres; but
here, too, we seem to require fuller details.
[Sidenote: Spectabiles.]
II. We now come to the Second Class, the _Spectabiles_, which consists
chiefly of the lieutenants and deputies of the Illustres.
For instance, every Praetorian Praefect had immediately under him a
certain number of _Vicarii_, each of whom was a Spectabilis. The
Praefecture included an extent of territory equivalent to two or three
countries of Modern Europe (for instance, the Praefecture of the Gauls
embraced Britain, Gaul, a considerable slice of Germany, Spain, and
Morocco). This was divided into Dioceses (in the instance above
referred to Britain formed one Diocese, Gaul another, and Spain with
its attendant portion of Africa a third), and the Diocese was again
divided into Provinces. The title of the ruler of the Diocese, who in
his restricted but still ample domain wielded a similar authority to
that of the Illustrious Praefect, was _Spectabilis Vicarius_.
But the Praefect and the Vicar controlled only the civil government of
the territories over which they respectively bore sway. The military
command of the Diocese was vested in a _Spectabilis Comes_, who was
under the orders of the Illustrious Magister Militum. Subordinate in
some way to the Comes was the _Dux_, who was also a Spectabilis, but
whose precise relation to his superior the Comes is, to me at least,
not yet clear[115].
[Footnote 115: I think the usual account of the matter is that which I
have given elsewhere (Italy and her Invaders, i. 227), that the Comes
had military command in the Diocese and the Dux in the Province. But
on closer examination I cannot find that the Notitia altogether bears
out this view. It gives us for the Western Empire eight Comites and
twelve Duces. The former pretty nearly correspond to the Dioceses, but
the latter are far too few for the Provinces, which number forty-two,
excluding all the Provinces of Italy. Besides, in some cases the
jurisdiction appears to be the same. Thus we have both a Dux and a
Comes Britanniarum, and the Dux Mauritaniae Caesariensis must, one
would think, have held command in a region as large or larger than the
Comes Tingitaniae. Again, we have a Comes Argentoratensis and a Dux
Moguntiacensis, two officers whose power, one would think, was pretty