'There are cases in which men whom it is desirable for the Sovereign to honour are unable, from delicate health or slender fortunes, to enter upon an official career. For instance, a poor nobleman may dread the expenses of the Consulship; a man illustrious by his wisdom may be unable to bear the worries of a Praefecture; an eloquent tongue may shun the weight of a Quaestorship. In these cases the laws have wisely ordained that we may give such persons the rank which they merit by Codicilli Vacantes. It must always be understood, however, that in each dignity those who thus obtain it rank behind those who have earned it by actual service. Otherwise we should have all men flocking into these quiet posts, if the workers were not preferred to men of leisure[446].
'Take therefore, by these present codicils, the rank which you deserve, though you have not earned it by your official career.'
'The bestowal of honour, though it does not change the nature of a man, induces him to consider his own reputation more closely, and to abstain from that which may stain it[447].
'Take therefore the rank (without office) of an Illustrious Count of the Domestics[448], and enjoy that greatest luxury of worthy minds—power to attend to your own pursuits.
'For what can be sweeter than to find yourself honoured when you enter the City, and yet to be able to cultivate your own fields; to abstain from fraudful gains, and yet see your barns overflowing with the fruit of your own sweet toil?
'But even as the seed and the soil must co-operate to produce the harvest, so do we sow in you the seed of this dignity, trusting that your own goodness of heart will give the increase.'
[A similar honour to that which is conferred on an English statesman who, without receiving any place in the Ministry, is 'sworn of the Privy Council.']
'It is a delightful thing to enjoy the pleasures of high rank without having to undergo the toils and annoyances of office, which often make a man loathe the very dignity which he eagerly desired.
'The rank of Comes is one which is reached by Governors (Rectores) of Provinces after a year's tenure of office, and by the Counsellors of the Praefect, whose functions are so important that we look upon them as almost Quaestors.
'Their rank[449] gives the holder of it, though only a Spectabilis, admission to our Consistory, where he sits side by side with all the Illustres.
'We bestow it upon you, and name you a Comes Primi Ordinis, thereby indicating that you are to take your place at the head of all the other Spectabiles and next after the Illustres. See that you imitate the latter, and that you are not surpassed in excellence of character by any of those below you.'
'Great toils and great perils are the portion of an officer of the Courts in giving effect to their sentences. It is easy for the Judge to say, "Let so and so be done;" but on the unhappy officer falls all the difficulty and all the odium of doing it. He has to track out offenders and hunt them to their very beds, to compel the contumacious to obey the law, to make the proud learn their equality before it. If he lingers over the business assigned to him, the plaintiff complains; if he is energetic, the defendant calls out. The very honesty with which he addresses himself to the work is sure to make him enemies, enemies perhaps among powerful persons, who next year may be his superiors in office, and thus subjects him to all sorts of accusations which he may find it very hard to disprove. In short, if we may say it without offence to the higher dignitaries, it is far easier to discharge without censure the functions of a Judge than those of the humble officer who gives effect to his decrees.
'Wherefore, in reward for your long and faithful service, and in accordance with ancient usage, we bestow on you the rank of a Count of the First Order, and ordain that if anyone shall molest you on account of your acts done in the discharge of your duties, he shall pay a fine of so many [perhaps ten = £400] pounds of gold.'
[This letter will be found well worth studying in the original, as giving a picture of the kind of opposition met with by the men who were charged with the execution of the orders of the Rectores Provinciarum, and whose functions were themselves partly judicial, varying between those of a Master in Chancery and those of a Sheriff's officer. Throughout, the Civil Service is spoken of in military language. The officer is called miles, and his duty is excubiae.]
'We desire that our Senate should grow and flourish abundantly. As a parent sees the increase of his family, as a husbandman the growth of his trees with joy, so we the growth of the Senate. We therefore desire that Graius should be included in that virtuous and praiseworthy assembly[450]. This is a new kind of grafting, in which the less noble shoot is grafted on to the nobler stock. As a candle shines at night, but pales in the full sunlight, so does everyone, however illustrious by birth or character, who is introduced into your majestic body. Open your Curia, receive our candidate. He is already predestined to the Senate upon whom we have conferred the dignity of the Laticlave.'
'Though nominally only the agent of another [the Praefectus Urbi] you have powers and privileges of your own which almost entitle you to rank with the Praefects. Suitors plead before you in causes otherwise heard only before Praefects[451]; you pronounce sentence in the name of the King[452] [not of the Praefect]; and you have jurisdiction even in capital cases. You wear the chlamys, and are not to be saluted by passers-by except when thus arrayed, as if the law wished you to be always seen in military garb. [The chlamys was therefore at this time a strictly military dress.] In all these things the glory of the Praefecture seems to be exalted in you, as if one should say, "How great must the Praefect be, if his Vicar is thus honoured!" Like the highest dignitaries you ride in a state carriage[453]. You have jurisdiction everywhere within the fortieth milestone from the City. You preside over the games at Praeneste, sitting in the Consul's seat. You enter the Senate-house itself, that palace of liberty[454]. Even Senators and Consulars have to make their request to you, and may be injured by you.
'Take therefore this dignity, and wield it with moderation and courage.'
'It is most important that the secrets of the Sovereign, which many men so eagerly desire to discover, should be committed to persons of tried fidelity. A good secretary should be like a well-arranged escritoire, full of information when you want it, but absolutely silent at other times. Nay, he must even be able to dissimulate his knowledge, for keen questioners can often read in the face what the lips utter not. [Cf. the description of the Quaestor Decoratus in v. 3.]
'Our enquiries, keen-scented as they are for all men of good life and conversation, have brought your excellent character before us. We therefore ordain that you shall henceforth be a Notary. In due course of service you will attain the rank of Primicerius, which will entitle you to enter the Senate, "the Curia of liberty." Moreover, should you then arrive at the dignity of Illustris or at the [Comitiva] Vacans, you will be preferred to all who are in the same rank but who have not acquired it by active service[455].
'Enter then upon this duty, cheered by the prospect of one day attaining to the highest honours.'
[We have no word corresponding to this title. Registrar, Referee, Solicitor, each expresses only part of the duties of the Referendarius, whose business it was, on behalf of the Court, to draw up a statement of the conflicting claims of the litigants before it. See the interesting letters (v. 40 and 41) describing the useful services rendered in this capacity by Cyprian in the King's Court of Appeal. His duties seem to have been very similar to those which in the Court of the Praetorian Praefect were discharged by the officer called Ab Actis (See p. 107).]
'Great is the privilege of being admitted to such close converse with the King as you will possess, but great also are the responsibilities and the anxieties of the Referendarius. In the midst of the hubbub of the Court he has to make out the case of the litigant, and to clothe it in language suitable for our ears. If he softens it down ever so little in his repetition of it, the claimant declares that he has been bribed, that he is hostile to his suit. A man who is pleading his own cause may soften down a word or two here and there, if he see that the Court is against him; but the Referendarius dares not alter anything. Then upon him rests the responsibility of drawing up our decree, adding nothing, omitting nothing. Hard task to speak our words in our own presence.
'Take then the office of Referendarius, and show by your exercise of it to what learning men may attain by sharing our conversation. Under us it is impossible for an officer of the Court to be unskilled in speech. Like a whetstone we sharpen the intellects of our courtiers, and polish them by practice at our bar[456].'
'If the benefit of the largest number of citizens is a test of the dignity of an office yours is certainly a glorious one. You have to prepare the Annona of the sacred City, and to feed the whole people as at one board. You run up and down through the shops of the bakers, looking after the weight and fineness of the bread, and not thinking any office mean by which you may win the affections of the citizens.
'You mount the chariot of the Praefect of the City, and are displayed in closest companionship with him at the games. Should a sudden tumult arise by reason of a scarcity of loaves, you have to still it by promising a liberal distribution. It was from his conduct in this office that Pompey attained the highest dignities and earned the surname of the Great.
'The pork-butchers also (Suarii) are subject to your control.
'It is true that the corn is actually provided by the Praetorian Praefect, but you see that it is worked up into elegant bread[457].
'Even so Ceres discovered corn, but Pan taught men how to bake it into bread; whence its name (Panis, from Pan).
'Take then this office: discharge it faithfully, and weigh, more accurately than gold, the bread by which the Quirites live.'
'The doctor helps us when all other helpers seem to fail. By his art he finds out things about a man of which he himself is ignorant; and his prognosis of a case, though founded on reason, seems to the ignorant like prophecy.
'It is disgraceful that there should be a president of the lascivious pleasures of the people (Tribunus Voluptatum) and none of this healing art. Excellent too may your office be in enabling you to control the squabbles of the doctors. They ought not to quarrel. At the beginning of their exercise of their art they take a sort of priestly oath to hate wickedness and to love purity. Take then this rank of Comes Archiatrorum, and have the distinguished honour of presiding over so many skilled practitioners and of moderating their disputes.
'Leave it to clumsy men to ask their patients "if they have had good sleep; if the pain has left them." Do you rather incline the patient to ask you about his own malady, showing him that you know more about it than he does. The patient's pulse, the patient's water, tell to a skilled physician the whole story of his disease.
'Enter our palace unbidden; command us, whom all other men obey; weary us if you will with fasting, and make us do the very opposite of that which we desire, since all this is your prerogative.'
'You bear among your trappings the axes and the rods of the Consul, as a symbol of the nature of the jurisdiction which you exercise in the Provinces.
'In some Provinces you even wear the paenula (military cloak) and ride in the carpentum (official chariot), as a proof of your dignity.
'You must not think that because your office is allied to that of Consul any lavish expenditure by way of largesse is necessary. By no means; but it is necessary that you should abstain from all unjust gains. Nothing is worse than a mixture of rapacity and prodigality.
'Respect the property of the Provincials, and your tenure of office will be without blame.
'Receive therefore, for this Indiction, the office of Consular in such and such a Province, and let your moderation appear to all the inhabitants.'
[The distinction between the powers of a Rector and those of a Consularis seems to have been very slight, if it existed at all; but the dignity of the latter office was probably somewhat the greater.]
'It is important to repress crime on the spot. If all criminal causes had to wait till they could be tried in the capital, robbers would grow so bold as to be intolerable. Hence the advantage of Provincial Governors. Receive then for this Indiction the office of Rector of such and such a Province. Look at the broad stripe (laticlave) on your purple robe, and remember the dignity which is betokened by that bright garment, which poets say was first woven by Venus for her son Priapus, that the son's beautiful robe might attest the mother's loveliness.
'You have to collect the public revenues, and to report to the Sovereign all important events in your Province. You may judge even Senators and the officers of Praefects. Your name comes before that of even dignified Provincials, and you are called Brother by the Sovereign. See that your character corresponds to this high vocation. Your subjects will not fear you if they see that your own actions are immoral. There can be no worse slavery than to sit on the judgment-seat, knowing that the men who appear before you are possessors of some disgraceful secret by which they can blast your reputation.
'Refrain from unholy gains, and we will reward you all the more liberally.'
'We must provide such Governors for our distant possessions that appeals from them shall not be frequent. Many men would rather lose a just cause than have the expense of coming all the way from Sicily to defend it; and as for complaints against a Governor, we should be strongly inclined to think that a complaint presented by such distant petitioners must be true.
'Act therefore with all the more caution in the office which we bestow upon you for this Indiction. You have all the pleasant pomp of an official retinue provided for you at our expense. Do not let your soldiers be insolent to the cultivators of the soil (possessores). Let them receive their rations and be satisfied with them, nor mix in matters outside their proper functions. Be satisfied with the dignity which your predecessors held. It ought not to be lowered; but do not seek to exalt it.'
'As the sun sends forth his rays so we send out our servants to the various cities of our dominions, to adorn them with the splendour of their retinue, and to facilitate the untying of the knots of the law by the multitude of jurisconsults who follow in their train. Thus we sow a liberal crop of official salaries, and reap our harvest in the tranquillity of our subjects. For this Indiction we send you as Count to weigh the causes of the people of Naples. It is a populous city, and one abounding in delights by sea and land. You may lead there a most delicious life, if your cup be not mixed with bitterness by the criticisms of the citizens on your judgments. You will sit on a jewelled tribunal, and the Praetorium will be filled with your officers; but you will also be surrounded by a multitude of fastidious spectators, who assuredly, in their conversation, will judge the Judge. See then that you walk warily. Your power extends for a certain distance along the coast, and both the buyer and seller have to pay you tribute. We give you the chance of earning the applause of a vast audience: do you so act that your Sovereign may take pleasure in multiplying his gifts.'
'You pay us tribute, but we have conferred honours upon you. We are now sending you a Comes [the one appointed in the previous formula], but he will be a terror only to the evil-disposed. Do you live according to reason, since you are reasonable beings, and then the laws may take holiday. Your quietness is our highest joy[459].'
25 is entitled, 'Formula de Comitiva Principis Militum;' but this is evidently an inaccurate, or at least an insufficient title.
The letter, though very short, is obscure.
It starts with the maxim that every staff of officials ought to have its own Judge[460], and then, apparently, proceeds to make an exception to this rule by making the persons addressed—the civil or military functionaries of Naples—subject to the Comes Neapolitanus who was appointed by the Twenty-third Formula. No reason is given for this exception, except an unintelligible one about preserving the yearly succession of Judges[461]; but the persons are assured that their salaries shall be safe[462].
'Your dignity, unlike that of most civil officers, is guarded by the sword of war. See however that this terrible weapon is only drawn on occasions of absolute necessity, and only wielded for the punishment of evil-doers. Anyone who is determining a case of life and death should decide slowly, since any other sentence is capable of correction, but the dead man cannot be recalled to life. Let the ensigns of your power be terrible to drivers-away of cattle, to thieves and robbers; but let innocence rejoice when she sees the tokens of approaching succour. Let no one pervert your will by bribes: the sword of justice is sheathed when gold is taken. Receive then for this Indiction the dignity of Count in such and such a Province. So use your power that you may be able to defend your actions when reduced to a private station, though indeed, if you serve us well in this office, we are minded to promote you to yet higher dignities.'
[The Praeses had practically the same powers as the Consularis (v. 20) and the Rector (v. 21), but occupied a less dignified position, being only a 'Perfectissimus,' not a 'Clarissimus[463].']
'It has been wisely ordered by the Ancients that a Provincial Governor's term of office should be only annual. Thus men are prevented from growing arrogant by long tenure of power, and we are enabled to reward a larger number of aspirants. Get through one year of office if you can without blame: even that is not an easy matter. It rests then with us to prolong the term of a deserving ruler[464], since we are not keen to remove those whom we feel to be governing justly. Receive then for this Indiction the Praesidatus of such and such a Province, and so act that the tiller of the soil (possessor) may bring us thanks along with his tribute. Follow the good example of your predecessors: carefully avoid the bad. Remember how full your Province is of nobles, whose good report you may earn but cannot compel. You will find it a delightful reward, when you travel through the neighbouring Provinces, to hear your praises sounded there where your power extends not. You know our will: it is all contained in the laws of the State. Govern in accordance with these, and you shall not go unrewarded.'
[Dahn remarks ('Könige der Germanen' iv. 157): 'We must go thoroughly into the question of this office. The Comes Gothorum is the most important, in fact almost the only new dignity in the Gothic State, and the formula of his installation is the chief proof of the coexistence of Roman and Gothic law in this kingdom.' I have therefore translated this formula at full length.]
'As we know that, by God's help, Goths are dwelling intermingled among you, in order to prevent the trouble (indisciplinatio) which is wont to arise among partners (consortes) we have thought it right to send to you as Count, A B, a sublime person, a man already proved to be of high character, in order that he may terminate (amputare) any contests arising between two Goths according to our edicts; but that, if any matter should arise between a Goth and a born Roman, he may, after associating with himself a Roman jurisconsult[465], decide the strife by fair reason[466]. As between two Romans, let the decision rest with the Roman examiners (cognitores), whom we appoint in the various Provinces; that thus each may keep his own laws, and with various Judges one Justice may embrace the whole realm. Thus, sharing one common peace, may both nations, if God favour us, enjoy the sweets of tranquillity.
'Know, however, that we view all [our subjects] with one impartial love; but he may commend himself more abundantly to our favour who subdues his own will into loving submission to the law[467]. We like nothing that is disorderly[468]; we detest wicked arrogance and all who have anything to do with it. Our principles lead us to execrate violent men[469]. In a dispute let laws decide, not the strong arm. Why should men seek by choice violent remedies, when they know that the Courts of Justice are open to them? It is for this cause that we pay the Judges their salaries, for this that we maintain such large official staffs with all their privileges, that we may not allow anything to grow up among you which may tend towards hatred. Since you see that one lordship (imperium) is over you, let there be also one desire in your hearts, to live in harmony.
'Let both nations hear what we have at heart. You [oh Goths!] have the Romans as neighbours to your lands: even so let them be joined to you in affection. You too, oh Romans! ought dearly to love the Goths, who in peace swell the numbers of your people and in war defend the whole Republic[470]. It is fitting therefore that you obey the Judge whom we have appointed for you, that you may by all means accomplish all that he may ordain for the preservation of the laws; and thus you will be found to have promoted your own interests while obeying our command.'
'Although promotion among the Spectabiles goes solely by seniority, it is impossible to deny that those who are employed in the border Provinces have a more arduous, and therefore in a sense more honourable, office than those who command in the peaceful districts of Italy. The former have to deal with war, the latter only with the repression of crime. The former hear the trumpet's clang, the latter the voice of the crier.
'The Provinces of Raetia are the bars and bolts of Italy. Wild and cruel nations ramp outside of them, and they, like nets, whence their name[471], catch the Barbarian in their toils and hold him there till the hurled arrow can chastise his mad presumption.
'Receive then for this Indiction the Ducatus Raetiarum. Let your soldiers live on friendly terms with the Provincials, avoiding all lawless presumption; and at the same time let them be constantly on their guard against the Barbarians outside. Even bloodshed is often prevented by seasonable vigilance.'
'Much do we delight in seeing the greatness of our Kingdom imaged forth in the splendour of our palace.
'Thus do the ambassadors of foreign nations admire our power, for at first sight one naturally believes that as is the house so is the inhabitant.
'The Cyclopes invented the art of working in metal, which then passed over from Sicily to Italy.
'Take then for this Indiction the care of our palace, thus receiving the power of transmitting your fame to a remote posterity which shall admire your workmanship. See that your new work harmonises well with the old. Study Euclid—get his diagrams well into your mind; study Archimedes and Metrobius.
'When we are thinking of rebuilding a city, or of founding a fort or a general's quarters, we shall rely upon you to express our thoughts on paper [in an architect's design]. The builder of walls, the carver of marbles, the caster of brass, the vaulter of arches[472], the plasterer, the worker in mosaic, all come to you for orders, and you are expected to have a wise answer for each. But, then, if you direct them rightly, while theirs is the work yours is all the glory.
'Above all things, dispense honestly what we give you for the workmen's wages; for the labourer who is at ease about his victuals works all the better.
'As a mark of your high dignity you bear a golden wand, and amidst the numerous throng of servants walk first before the royal footsteps [i.e. last in the procession and immediately before the King], that even by your nearness to our person it may be seen that you are the man to whom we have entrusted the care of our palaces.'
'Though all the buildings of Rome are wonderful, and one can scarce for this reason say which are the chief among them, we think a distinction may be drawn between those which are reared only for the sake of ornament and those which also serve a useful purpose. Thus, however often one sees the Forum of Trajan, it always seems a wonder[473]. To stand on the lofty Capitol is to see all other works of the human intellect surpassed. And yet neither of these great works touches human life, nor ministers to health or enjoyment. But in the Aqueducts of Rome we note both the marvel of their construction and the rare wholesomeness of their waters. When you look at those rivers, led as it were over piled up mountains, you would think that their solid stony beds were natural channels, through so many ages have they borne the rush of such mighty waters. And yet even mountains are frequently undermined, and let out the torrents which have excavated them; while these artificial channels, the work of the ancients, never perish, if reasonable care be taken of their preservation.
'Let us consider how much that wealth of waters adds to the adornment of the City of Rome. Where would be the beauty of our Thermae, if those softest waters were not supplied to them?
'Purest and most delightful of all streams glides along the Aqua Virgo, so named because no defilement ever stains it. For while all the others, after heavy rain show some contaminating mixture of earth, this alone by its ever pure stream would cheat us into believing that the sky was always blue above us. Ah! how express these things in words worthy of them? The Aqua Claudia is led along on the top of such a lofty pile that, when it reaches Mount Aventine, it falls from above upon that lofty summit as if it were watering some lowly valley. It is true that the Egyptian Nile, rising at certain seasons, brings its flood of waters over the land under a cloudless sky; but how much fairer a sight is it to see the Roman Claudia flowing with a never-failing stream over all those thirsty mountain tops, and bringing purest water through a multitude of pipes to so many baths and houses. When Nile retreats he leaves mud behind him; when he comes unexpectedly he brings a deluge. Shall we not then boldly say that our Aqueducts surpass the famous Nile, which is so often a terror to the dwellers on his banks either by what he brings or by what he leaves behind him? It is in no spirit of pride that we enumerate these particulars, but in order that you may consider how great diligence should be shown by you to whom such splendid works are entrusted.
'Wherefore, after careful consideration, we entrust you for this Indiction with the Comitiva Formarum, that you may zealously strive to accomplish what the maintenance of such noble structures requires. Especially as to the hurtful trees which are the ruin of buildings, [inserting their roots between the stones and] demolishing them with the destructiveness of a battering-ram: we wish them to be pulled up by the roots, since it is no use dealing with an evil of this kind except in its origin. If any part is falling into decay through age, let it be repaired at once: the first expense is the least. The strengthening of the Aqueducts will constitute your best claim on our favour, and will be the surest means of establishing your own fortune. Act with skill and honesty, and let there be no corrupt practices in reference to the distribution of the water.'
'Your office, exercised as it is in the City itself, and under the eyes of Patricians and Consuls, is sure to bring you renown if you discharge its duties with diligence. You have full power to catch thieves, though the law reserves the right of punishing them for another official, apparently because it would remember that even these detestable plunderers are yet Roman citizens. Take then for this Indiction the Praefectura Vigilum. You will be the safety of sleepers, the bulwark of houses, the defence of bolts and bars, an unseen scrutineer, a silent judge, one whose right it is to entrap the plotters and whose glory to deceive them. Your occupation is a nightly hunting, most feared when it is not seen. You rob the robbers, and strive to circumvent the men who make a mock at all other citizens. It is only by a sort of sleight of hand that you can throw your nets around robbers; for it is easier to guess the riddles of the Sphinx than to detect the whereabouts of a flying thief. He looks round him on all sides, ready to start off at the sound of an advancing footstep, trembling at the thought of a possible ambush. How can one catch him who, like the wind, tarries never in one place? Go forth, then, under the starry skies; watch diligently with all the birds of night, and as they seek their food in the darkness so do you therein hunt for fame.
'Let there be no corruption, no deeds of darkness which the day need blush for. Do this, and you will have our support in upholding the rightful privileges of yourself and your staff.'
Contains the same topics as the preceding formula, rather less forcibly urged, and with no special reference to the City of Ravenna.
An exhortation at the end not to be too hasty, nor to shed blood needlessly, even when dealing with thieves.
'It is a service of pleasure rather than of toil to hold the dignity of Comes in the harbour of the City of Rome, to look forth upon the wide sail-traversed main, to see the commerce of all the Provinces tending towards Rome, and to welcome travellers arriving with the joy of ended peril. Excellent thought of the men of old to provide two channels by which strangers might enter the Tiber, and to adorn them with those two stately cities [Portus and Ostia], which shine like lights upon the watery way!
'Do you therefore, by your fair administration, make it easy for strangers to enter. Do not grasp at more than the lawful dues; for the greedy hand closes a harbour, and extortion is as much dreaded by mariners as adverse winds. Receive then for this Indiction the Comitiva Portus; enjoy the pleasures of the office, and lay it down with increased reputation.'
[Minister of public amusements, the Roman equivalent to our 'Lord Chamberlain' in that part of his office which relates to the control of theatres.]
'Though the wandering life of the stage-player seems as if it might run to any excess of licence, Antiquity has wisely provided that even it should be under some sort of discipline. Thus respectability governs those who are not respectable, and people who are themselves ignorant of the path of virtue are nevertheless obliged to live under some sort of rule. Your place, in fact, is like that of a guardian; as he looks after the tender years of his ward, so you bridle the passionate pleasures of your theatrical subjects.
'Therefore, for this Indiction, we appoint you Tribune of [the people's] Pleasures. See that order is observed at the public spectacles: they are not really popular without this. Keep your own high character for purity in dealing with these men and women of damaged reputation, that men may say, "Even in promoting the pleasures of the people he showed his virtuous disposition."
'It is our hope that through this frivolous employment you may pass to more serious dignities.'
[Observe that the Defensor has power to fix prices, in addition to his original function of protecting the commonalty from oppression.]
'The number of his clients makes it necessary for the representative of a whole city to be especially wary in his conduct.
'At the request of your fellow-citizens we appoint you, for this Indiction, Defensor of such and such a city. Take care that there be nothing venal in your conduct. Fix the prices for the citizens according to the goodness or badness of the seasons, and remember to pay yourself what you have prescribed to others. A good Defensor allows his citizens neither to be oppressed by the laws nor harassed by the dearness of provisions.'