[578] Libanius, Epitaph. Juliani (R., I, p. 568); cf. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, viii, 2. The Persian king was the original begetter of “eyes and ears” of this description; Herodotus, i, 114.
[579] Liban., Adv. eos qui suam Docendi Rat., etc. At this time they were generally called Veredarii, veredus being the name of the post-horses they always rode; Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 16; De Bel. Pers., ii, 20.
[580] Vetus Glossarium, sb. Vered. eq. (Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VI, xxix, 1).
[581] Curiosi; Cod. Theod., VI, xxix.
[582] Irenarchi; ibid., XII, xiv; Cod., X, lxxv.
[583] In no instance better exemplified than in that of Anastasius.
[584] Galba, Pertinax, Alexander, Probus, Maurice, etc.
[585] See their insignia and appointments in the Notitia; there was a separate set for the East and West even after the extinction of the Roman dynasty of the latter division.
[586] Or more briefly, Masters of Soldiers, of Troops, or of the Forces; in the Notitia the five military magnates are placed before the Counts of the Treasury.
[587] In praesenti, in the Presence; to be with the Emperor travelling was to be in sacro Comitatu; to send anything to Court was to send it ad Comitatum, etc.
[588] For the probable daily order of the Consistorium see p. 92; Cod. Theod., XI, xxxix, 5, 8; the materials at this date are too scanty to fill an objective picture; cf. Schiller, Gesch. d. röm. Kaiserzeit, Gotha, 1887, ii, p. 66.
[589] Cod. Theod., VI, xii, and Godefroy ad loc.
[590] Ibid., I, i, ii, with Godefroy’s paratitla.
[591] They had much the force of a decree nisi, to be made absolute only in the quarter where all the circumstances were known. The Codes are full of warnings against acting too hastily on the Emperor’s rescript; thus Constantine says, “Contra jus Rescripta non valeant,” but his son on the same page, “Multabuntur Judices qui Rescripta contempserint.” They had to steer between Scylla and Charybdis; in most cases, however, an easy task enough in Byzantine administration; Cod. Theod., I, i, 1, 5.
[592] Julian, in his zeal for constitutional government, tried to make it a real power in the state, but his effort was quietly ignored after his short career by his successors; Zosimus, iii, 11.
[593] In theory the Consul (Cod. Theod., VI, vi), but practically the P.U.; ibid., ii, and Godefroy’s paratitlon; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., i, 42, 43, etc.
[594] Cod. Theod., VI, xxiii, 1; XII, i, 122; IX, ii, 1, etc.
[595] Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Cod., I, xiv. Thus even Theodosius based himself on a decree of the Senate before embarking on the war with Maximus; Zosimus, v, 43, 44.
[596] When there was no emperor in the East, after the death of Valens, Julius, the Master of the Forces, applied for sanction to the Senate before ordering the massacre of all the Gothic youth detained as hostages throughout Asia; Zosimus, iv, 26.
[597] As in the case of Anastasius himself; Marcellinus Com., an. 515, etc.
[598] Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 32.
[599] Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 4; XV, ix; Cod., I, xiv. Leo Sap. at last abolished the Senatusconsulta; Nov. Leo., lxxviii.
[600] References to, and a résumé of, modern authorities who have tried to work out the political significance of the Senate at this epoch will be found in Schiller, op. cit. p. 31. I may add that fifty members formed a quorum (Cod. Theod., VI, iv, 9), but a couple of thousand may have borne the title of Senator; Themistius, xxxiv, p. 456 (Dind.). Many of these, however, had merely the “naked” honour by purchase (Cod. Theod., XII, i, 48, et passim), or received it on being superannuated from the public service, but the potential Senators inherited the office or assimilated it naturally on account of their rank. Many of the titular Senators lived on their estates in the provinces; Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 2; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., iii, 6, etc.
[601] Cod. Theod., XII, i; Godefroy reckons seventy-nine Curiae in the Eastern Empire, but there must have been many more not definitely indicated; paratitlon ad loc.
[602] Cod. Theod., I, xxix.
[603] Ibid., XII, i, 151; Novel., xv; see Savigny, Hist. Roman Law, I, ii. They seem to have been created by Valentinian I; Cod., I, lv, 1, etc.
[604] Cod. Theod., I, vii, 3; the first book contains most of Haenel’s additions, and his numbers often differ from Godefroy’s, to which I always refer on account of the commentary.
[605] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 37; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., xi, 6. Cancellarius, from the cancelli or grille, within which they sat or stood.
[606] Plutarch, Cato Min., 23, etc.; cf. Savigny, loc. cit.
[607] Generally about 400 in number; the Count of the East was allowed 600; Cod., XII, lvi, lvii, etc. A sort of constabulary lower in rank than ordinary soldiers; Cod., XII, lviii, 12, etc.
[608] Ibid., I, xii.
[609] Ibid., IV, xvii.
[610] Cod. Theod., I, vii, 2; Cod., III, iii. Notwithstanding a long article by Bethmann-Hollweg (Civilprozessen, Bonn, 1864, iii, p. 116), nothing is known as to how they held their court, etc.
[611] Cod. Theod., XI, xxx.
[612] Ibid., I, v.
[613] Ibid., I, vii, 5, 6.
[614] Thus the first, the fifteenth, indiction were the first and last years of the round of fifteen. This method of reckoning mostly superseded all other dates, both in speaking and writing. The first Indiction is usually calculated from 1st September, 312. Fundamentally, indiction means rating or assessment.
[615] Hyginus, de Limitibus, etc., is our chief source of knowledge as to Roman land-surveying. Permanent maps were engraved on brass plates and copies were made on linen, etc. See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., XI, xxvii.
[616] Pand., L, xv, 4; Cod. Theod., IX, xlii, 7; Cod., IX, xlix, 7.
[617] From a Syriac MS. in the British Museum, it appears that to every caput or jugum of 1,000 solidi (£560) were reckoned 5 jugera (about ⅝ acre) of vineyard, 20, 40, or 60 of arable land, according to quality, 250 olive trees, 1st cl., and 450 2nd cl.; see Mommsen on this document, Hermes, iii, 1868, p. 429; cf. Nov. Majorian, i. The amount exacted for each head varied with time and place. When Julian was in Gaul (c. 356), the inhabitants were paying 25 solidi (£14) per caput or jugum, which he managed to reduce to 7 solidi (£4); Ammianus, xvi, 5.
[618] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 10; XIII, xi, 12; Cod., XI, lviii, etc. Deserted lands were mostly near the borders, from which the occupiers had been driven by hostile incursions. Barren lands presumably were put in the worst class.
[619] The duties of these officials are nowhere precisely defined, and a consistent account must be presumed from the scattered indications contained in the Codes, Cassiodorus, etc.; see Cod. Theod., XIII, xi; Cod., XI, lvii, etc.
[620] Cod. Theod., XIII, x, 5; xi, 4, etc.
[621] Ibid., XIII, x, 8.
[622] For this assessment the adult age was in general 18, but in Syria, males 14, females 12; Pand., L, xv, 3.
[623] “Capitatio humana atque animalium”; Cod. Theod., XI, xx, 6; cf. Cedrenus, i, p. 627; Zonaras, xiv, 3; Glykas, iv, p. 493, etc. Owing to the use in the Codes of the words caput and capitatio with respect to both land-tax and poll-tax, these were generally confounded together, till Savigny made the distinction clear in his monograph, Ueber d. röm. Steuerverfassung, pub. 1823 in the Transact. of the Berlin Acad. of Science. The poll-tax is usually distinguished as plebeia capitatio. The epigram of Sidonius Ap. is always quoted, and has often misled the expositors of the Codes, in this connection. To the Emperor Majorian he says:
The taxes must have been again very high for him to anticipate so much relief from the remission of only three heads (c. 460).
[624] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 14; “quantulacumque terrarum possessio.”
[625] Ibid., XIII, x, 2.
[626] Ibid., XIII, x, 4, 6.
[627] Ibid., XIII, iii, iv. A list of thirty-five handicrafts exempted is given, including professionals, such as physicians, painters, architects, and geometers. I find no relief, however, in the case of lawyers.
[628] Cod. Theod., IV, xii; Godefroy could only recover one Constitution of this title, but Haenel has been able to collect nine; thirteen are contained in the corresponding title of the Code, IV, lxi. On imported eunuchs ⅛ was paid; Cod., IV, xlii, 2.
[629] Ibid., X, xix, 3, 12.
[630] Ibid., IV, xii.
[631] Cod., IV, lxiii, 2; “subtili auferatur ingenio.”
[632] Cod. Theod., XIII, i; Cod., XI, i. Evagrius (iii, 39), one of the nearest in time, is most copious on the subject of this tax. Cedrenus, Glykas, Zonaras (“an annual tribute!”) evidently confused it with the poll-tax, but their remarks show that every animal useful to the farmer returned something to the revenue; a horse or an ox one shilling, an ass or a dog fourpence, etc.
[633] Evagrius alone mentions these; cf. Hist. August. Alexander, 34.
[634] According to an old Biblical commentator, it was called the penalizing gold, “the price of sorrow,” as we might say (aurum poenosum or pannosum, the gold of rags, levied even on beggars); see Valesius ad Evagr. loc. cit.; Quaest. Vet. et Nov. Test. 75, ad calc. St. August, (in Migne, iii, 2269). He also is thinking of a poll-tax, didrachma, less than two shillings a head. The Theodosian Code in twenty-one Constitutions is clear and precise as to the incidence of the chrysargyron, and nothing can be interjected extraneous to the definitions there constituted. The quadriennial contribution of Edessa was 140 lb. of gold (£5,600); Joshua Stylites (Wright), Camb. 1882, 31.
[635] Zosimus, ii, 38. He is severe on Constantine for inflicting it, but there must have been something like it before; see Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., XIII, i, 1.
[636] Cod. Theod., XVI, ii, 8, 14, 15; XIII, i, 11, etc.; VII, xx, 3, 9, etc. (also some Court officers; XI, xii, 3); XIII, iv; i, 10.
[637] It is the signal action of Anastasius respecting it which has caused so much notice to be taken of the impost; see esp. Procopius, Gaz. Panegyric., 13. One Timotheus of Gaza is said to have aimed a tragedy at the harshness of it; Cedrenus; Suidas, sb. Timoth. By Code, XI, i, 1, it seems that traces of it remained permanently. Evagrius alludes vaguely to some compensating financial measures of Anastasius; iii, 42; cf. Jn. Malala, p. 394.
[638] This was the regular procedure when state debtors were officially forgiven—a ceremonial burning of the accounts; Cod. Theod., XI, xxviii, 2, 3, etc.
[639] Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 1, 4, 13, etc. The idea of abolishing these senatorial taxes was entertained in the time of Arcadius, but the scheme fell through; Cod., XII, ii. Senatorial estates were kept distinct from all others during peraequation at the quindecennial survey; Cod. Theod., VI, iii, 2, 3.
[640] Cod. Theod., VI, xxiv, 8, 9; XIII, iii, 15, 17, etc., see Godefroy’s paratitlon to VI, ii.
[641] Ibid., VI, ii, 5, 9; VII, xxiv, etc.
[642] Cod., XII, iii, 3.
[643] Cod. Theod., VII, xxiii.
[644] Ibid., XII, xiii, and Godefroy’s commentaries. Cod., X, lxxiv.
[645] Cod. Theod., VI, xxx, 2; Nov., xxx, etc.
[646] Cod. Theod., X, vi; XV, x, and Godefroy ad loc.
[647] Ibid., X, xix; Cod., XI, vi; see Dureau de la Malle (op. cit., iv, 17), who summarizes with refs. our scanty information on the subject. It seems that the ancient methods of working the ore were very defective, and the scoriae of the famous silver mines at Laurium have been treated for the third time in recent years with good results; see Cordella, Berg u. hüttenmän. Zeitung, xlii, 1883, p. 21; Strabo, IX, 1.
[648] Cod. Theod., I, v, 1, etc. Chrysostom alludes to the severity of the miner’s existence; Stagirium, 13; Mart. Aegypt., 2 (in Migne, i, 490; ii, 697). During the Gothic revolt of 376 the Thracian miners joined the insurgents; Ammianus, xxxi, 6.
[649] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 1, 34; v, 3, 4; xvi, 8, etc.
[650] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 15, 16; xxv; XII, vi, 15, etc.
[651] Ibid., XII, vi, 2, etc.
[652] Ibid., XI, vii, 14, 16, etc.
[653] Ibid., XI, vii, 1, etc.
[654] Ibid., XI, vii, 10, 13; VIII, viii, 1, 3; this privilege was extended to the Jews’ Sabbath; II, viii, 3.
[655] Ibid., XI, vii, 16, etc.
[656] Ibid., XI, i, 34, 35; xxii, 4, etc.
[657] Ibid., XI, vii, 3, etc.
[658] Ibid., X, xvii; XI, ix; that is by auction.
[659] Ibid., [?] xxviii; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., xi, 7.
[660] Ibid., XI, vii, 2, 6, etc., cf. Cassiodorus, op. cit., iv, 14.
[661] Cod. Theod., XI, i, 9, 21; XII, vi, 19, and Godefroy ad loc.; ibid., XII, vii, 2, etc.
[662] Ibid., XII, vi, 19, 21, etc.
[663] Ibid., XI, vii, 1; XIII, x, 1, etc. The demand notes had to be signed by the Rector; XI, i, 3.
[664] Ibid., XI, i, 19; xxvi, 2; XII, vi, 18, 23, 27. The Defender of the City was generally present to act as referee on these occasions. A single annone was valued at 4 sol. (£2 5s.) per annum; Novel., Theod., xxiii. It appears that the precious metals were accepted by weight only to guard against adulteration, clipping, etc. Thus, in 321, Constantine enacted that 7 sol. should be paid for an ounce by tale instead of six, indicating ⅐ alloy in his own gold coin at that period; see Dureau de la Malle, op. cit., i, 10; Cod. Theod., XII, vii, 1; cf. vi, 13.
[665] Ibid., VII, vi; xxiii; XI, i, 9; cf. Cassiodorus, op. cit., xi, 39. When it was found that sheep and oxen fell into poor condition after being driven a long way the estimated price was exacted instead.
[666] Cod. Theod., I, xv; one law only in Godefroy, 17 in Haenel.
[667] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, 13, 18; X, xx, 4, 11, etc.
[668] Ibid., XIII, v, 28; ix; Cod., XI, iii, 2, etc. In an emergency any one possessing a ship of sufficient size was liable to be impressed. The prescribed least capacity seems to have been about ten measured tons according to the modern system (100 cub. ft. per ton register), that is, cargo space for 2,000 modii, about 650 cub. ft.
[669] There were three grand treasuries at CP., viz., that of the Praefect of the East, of the Count Sacrarum Largitionum, and of the Count Rerum Privatarum (his local agents were called Rationales, but seem from the Notitia to have become extinct in the East), but the Praefect was the chief minister of finance and ruled both the returns and the disbursements; see Godefroy’s Notitia, ad calc.; Cod. Theod.; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., ii, 27; Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., vi, 3, etc. The Rectors and the Curiae could levy local rates for public works, to which purpose a third of the revenue from the customs in each district and from national estates (mostly property of abolished temples) was regularly devoted; see Cod. Theod., XV, i, with Godefroy’s paratitlon and commentaries. The Emperor indulged his fancy in building out of the public funds or granted sums in the form of largess, as when Anastasius bestowed a considerable amount on the island of Rhodes to repair the damage done by an earthquake; Jn. Malala, xvi. There were some small taxes I have not noticed, such as the siliquaticum, pay for the army, by which each party to a sale gave a ½ siliqua (3d.). This was devised by Valentinian III (Novel., Theodos., xlviii; Do. Valent., xviii) and existed in the time of Cassiodorus (op. cit., iv, 19, etc.), but does not seem to have been adopted in the East.
[670] Antioch also had an allowance of free provisions, but there is no precise evidence in this case.
[671] Cod. Theod., VIII, iv, 6; XI, i, 11, etc.
[672] Ibid., XI, xxvi.
[673] Considerable obscurity envelops the office of protostasia. I conjecture it to have been a supervision imposed on local nobles, chiefly residential Senators, who had to serve for two years; Cod. Theod., XI, xxiii. In theory all the superior offices had to be vacated on the expiration of a year, but they were often prolonged. Thus a trustworthy and efficient Susceptor retained his post for five years; ibid., XII, vi, 24. The latter were mostly elected by the Curiae, who were liable for their defalcations; ibid., 1, etc.
[674] Cod. Theod., VIII, viii; x; XI, vii, 17, etc. These palatine emissaries, coming as Compulsors or otherwise, were detested by the Rectors, etc., who could scarcely show them the deference due to their brevet-rank, which was high: doubtless they gave themselves airs; ibid., VI, xxiv, 4; xxvi, 5, etc. They were entitled to be greeted with a kiss and to sit with the Judge on his bench.
[675] 320,000 lb. of gold; Procopius, Anecdot., 19. In the time of Pompey it was thought a considerable achievement when that general raised the income of the Republic to the trifling sum, according to modern ideas, of £3,500,000; Plutarch, Pompey, 45. On the other hand we have the statement of Vespasian, a century later, that he needed close on £400,000,000 to keep the Empire on its legs, a sum almost equal to the requirements of modern Europe, but the scope of his remark is not plain; Suetonius, Vespas., 16. Antoninus Pius, again, with the finances of the whole Empire under his hand during his reign of twenty-three years saved £22,000,000, nearly the same amount per annum as Anastasius for a similar extent of territory; Dion Cass., lxxiii, 8. Such small savings by the most thrifty emperors do not argue a large income. In our own best years a surplus may reach about five per cent. of the receipts. This gives us grounds for a guess that the revenue of Rome after Augustus was something like £20,000,000.
[676] See p. 131 for the names of those hordes who shared the Western Empire between them. Overflow of population and pressure by the most powerful nomads, the Huns and Alani, were the general causes which precipitated the barbarian hosts on the Empire.
[677] About this time the Bulgarians made their first appearance on the Danube as the foes of civilization. They were lured into a treaty by Zeno; Müller, Fr. Hist. Graec., iv, p. 619 (Jn. Antioch.); cf. Zonaras, xiv, 3, etc.
[679] The capitation tax was remitted in Thrace; Cod., XI, li. In fact, hardly any taxes were drawn from that Diocese, for, as Anastasius himself remarks, the inhabitants were ruined by barbarian irruptions; ibid., X, xxvii, 2. How irrepressible were the wild tribes across the Danube can best be appreciated by a perusal of Ammianus, xxxi, etc., and Jordanes passim.
[680] The new Persian Empire which dissolved the Parthian sovereignty was founded, c. 218, by Ardashir (Artaxerxes); see Agathias, ii, 26, etc.
[681] See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VII, xiv, xv, xvii; Hist. Aug. Hadrian, 11, 12; Probus, 13, 14; Ammianus, xxviii, 2, etc. The walls of Hadrian and Antonine in North Britain are well known, and have been exhaustively described. The camps are represented as military cities. See Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall, 1885, etc.
[682] Cod. Theod., VII, xv, etc.
[683] Arrian, Peripl. Pont. Eux. This force was reduced by Constantine; Zosimus, ii, 34.
[684] In the Notitia Or., there are two Counts and thirteen Dukes. All of the latter, however, were Counts of the First Order, as evidenced by their insignia. In rank they were Spectabiles, that is, a step higher than the Rectors and ordinary Senators.
[685] Evidently from the Notitia.
[686] See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VII, i, 18; Mommsen, op. cit., Hermes, 1889. In Agathias (v, 13) we have the vague statement that the whole forces of the Empire amounted to 645,000 men at the period of highest military efficiency. More than half of these would be assigned to the East. But John of Antioch, in making a similar statement, seems to have the Eastern Empire only in his mind; Müller, Fr. Hist. Graec., iv, p. 622.
[688] Procopius, Anecdot., 24, 26; Agathias, v, 15.
[689] See Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VI, xxiv; XIV, xvii, 8, 9, 10. On the Candidati see Reiske ad Const. Porph., p. 77. In the field they seem to have been the closest bodyguard of the Emperor, as were the eunuchs on civil occasions; Ammianus, xxxi, 13.
[690] See the Notitia and Mommsen, op. cit.
[691] These are all given in the Notitia, some copies of which are coloured.
[692] The general appearance was probably: “The tuft of the helmet, the lance pennon, and the surcoat were all of a fixed colour for each band;” Oman, Art of War, p. 186.
[693] For the ensign see Ammianus, xvi, 10; Vegetius, ii, 7, 13, 14, etc.; Cod., I, xxvii, 1 (8); Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., i, 46; Maurice, Strategikon, ii, 9, 13, 14, 19; Cedrenus, i, p. 298. The dragons were hollow so as to become inflated with the wind; Gregory Naz., Adv. Julian, i, 66.
[694] The cavalry with mail-clad horses were called cataphractarii or clibanarii; Ammianus, xvi, 10; Cod. Theod., XIV, xxvii, 9.
[695] Ammianus, xx, 11; xxix, 5; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 1; Maurice, op. cit., XII, viii, 2, 4, 11, etc. There were fifteen factories for the forging of arms; Notitia; see below.
[696] Vegetius, i, 4, 5, 6; Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, 3; xx, 12, etc.
[697] Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, 8; Pand., XLIX, xvi, 11, etc.
[698] Vegetius, i, 7; Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, etc.; eighteen was the usual age for the recruit, 5 ft. 8 in. the height. They were branded in a conspicuous part of the body; Cod. Theod., X, xxi, 4, and Godefroy ad loc.
[699] Provided they were physically fit; Cod. Theod., VII, xxii.
[700] Ammianus, xxi, 6; Cod. Theod., VII, xiii. An officer called a temonarius collected the quittance money for the recruits, which varied from £14 to £20 apiece.
[701] Ammianus, xvii, 13; xix, 11; xxviii, 5, etc.; Zosimus, iv, 12, etc. Barbarians of this class were called Dedititii.
[702] Cod. Theod., VII, xiii, 16, and Godefroy ad loc.
[703] Jordanes, De Reb. Get., 21, 28. The enlistment of barbarians seems to have reached its height under Justin II, when Tiberius led 150,000 mercenaries against the Persians (c. 576); Evagrius, v, 14; cf. Theophanes, an. 6072, etc.
[704] Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VII, xvii; Vegetius, v (the Liburnian galleys); Marcellinus Com., an. 508 (“centum armatis navibus totidemque dromonibus.” By “armed ships” I presume he means bulky transports laden with soldiers and munitions of war); Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 11, etc.
[705] Cod. Theod., VII, xx.
[706] Evidently from Agathias, v, 15, and the following.
[707] Rescript of Anastasius, Mommsen, op. cit., pp. 199, 256.