Chapter IV: Pre-Imperial Career of Theodora: the Consort of Justinian (4)

[492] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Ephes., iv, Hom. xv, 3 (in Migne, xi, 109). The cries of the girl, often tied to a bedpost, might even be heard in the street, and if she stripped herself in a public bath the weals on her back were sometimes the subject of public remark. Whilst counselling mercy he considers that the whipping is generally deserved.

[493] Chrysostom, Quales duc. sint Uxores, 7 (in Migne, iii, 236); In Epist. I ad Corinth., Hom. xii, 5 (in Migne, x, 103).

[494] Fifteen for males and thirteen for females were the marriageable ages as legally recognized; Leo, Novel., lxxiv.

[495] Chrysostom, Quales duc. sint Uxores, 5 (in Migne, iii, 233); γραΐδια μυθεύοντα, κ. τ. λ.

[496] Even Arcadius had to be content with a portrait and a verbal description of the charms of Eudoxia, the daughter of a subject and a townsman; Zosimus, v, 3.

[497] The early Christians gradually inclined to the custom of asking a formal benediction from the clergy as an essential part of the marriage ceremony, but about the time of Chrysostom the practice began to be disregarded. With the disuse also of pagan rites it began to be doubted whether nuptials could be legal unless accompanied at least by an orgiastic festival. To dispel this misgiving Theodosius II in 428 decreed that no sort of formal contract was required, but merely fair evidence that the parties had agreed to enter the connubial state; Cod. Theod., III, vii, 3. The Christian rite was not made compulsory till the end of the ninth century; Leo Sap. Novel., lxxxix.

[498] Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. xxxvii, 5 (in Migne, vii, 425); In Act. Apost., xlii, 3 (in Migne, ix, 300); In Epist. I ad Corinth, Hom. xii, 5 (in Migne, x, 102), etc. His favourite theme for objurgation. He complains especially: “And worse, virgins are present at these orgies, having laid aside all shame; to do honour to the bride? rather disgrace,” etc. These must be _ancillae_, or girls of a lower class, as it is evident from the above account that young ladies of any family could not be seen even at church by intending suitors; possibly they were kept closely veiled. On this point see further Puech’s Chrysostom, Paris, 1891, p. 133. An introduction of this kind had always been considered necessary, as is shown by the equitation of the phallus (Mutinus) imposed on Roman brides the first night. These old customs were a constant mark for gibe among the early Christian Fathers; Lactantius, Div. Inst., l, 20; Augustine, De Civ. Dei, iv, 11; Arnobius, iv, _et passim_, etc.

[499] Chrysostom, In Joann. Hom. xxxii, 3 (in Migne, vii, 186).

[500] _Ibid._, In Epist. ad Corinth. Hom. xii, 7 (in Migne, x, 105).

[501] Chrysostom, In Epist. ad Corinth. Hom. xii, 7 (in Migne, x, 105).

[502] _Ibid._, In Matth. Hom. lxxii, 2 (in Migne, vii, 669); Ad Pop. Antioch., xix, 4 (in Migne, ii, 196).

[503] _Ibid._, Ad Illum. Catech., ii, 5 (in Migne, ii, 240).

[504] _Ibid._, In Epist. I ad Corinth., xii, 7 (in Migne, x, 105).

[505] _Ibid._, De Consol. Mort. 6 (in Migne, vi, 303).

[506] _Ibid._, Expos. in Psalm cxi, 4 (in Migne, v, 297), etc. He often protests against this form of luxury. At Rome especially, when the ownership of these costly piles had passed into oblivion, it was the habit of builders to pillage them in order to use their architectural adornments and materials for new erections; Cod. Theod., IX, xvii. Apparently the sepulchres were sometimes violated for the supply of false relics.

[507] Chrysostom. Habentes autem eumdem, etc. Hom. ii, 9 (in Migne, iii, 284).

[508] See Plato’s Phaedrus, Symposium, etc.; Plutarch, Pelopidas, 19. A modern Democritus might smile at the conclusion of Lucian that, whilst the commerce of the sexes is necessary for the propagation of the race, paederasty is the ideal sphere for the love of philosophers; Amores. According to Aristotle, Minos introduced the practice into Crete as an antidote against over-population; Politics, ii, 10; vii, 16. In this respect the Greeks, perhaps, corrupted on the one hand and on the other Romans and Persians alike; Herodotus, i, 135. It was indigenous, however, among the Etruscans; Athenaeus, xii, 14, etc.

[509] The shadowy Scantinian law was enacted against it, but remained a dead letter; Cicero, Ad Famil., viii, 12, 14, etc.; cf. Plutarch, Marcellus, 2.

[510] I have not, however, fallen in with any account of the dedication of a temple to _Amor Virilis_. Such a shrine would have been quite worthy of Nero or Elagabalus, indeed of Hadrian.

[511] Suetonius, Nero, 28; Hist. Aug. Hadrian, 14; Heliogabalus, 6, 15, etc.; Statius, Silvae, iii, 4, etc. The adulation of this vice pervaded even the golden age of Latin poetry:

But Virgil’s songs are pure except that horrid one
Beginning with “Formosum pastor Corydon.”

Byron, Don Juan, i, 42.

For the estimation in which paederasty was held in Crete see Strabo, X, iv, 21; Athenaeus, xi, 20. Old men even wore a robe of “honour” to indicate that in youth they had been chosen to act the part of a pathic. The epigram on Julius Caesar is well known—“omnium mulierum vir, omnium virorum mulier”; Suetonius, in Vit. 52. Anastasius, who seems to have been somewhat of a purist for his time, abolished a theatrical spectacle addressed particularly to the paederasts, against which Chrysostom had vainly launched his declamations; In Psalm xli, 2 (in Migne, v, 157). “Boys, assuming the dress and manners of women, with a mincing gait and erotic gestures, ravished the senses of the observers so that men raged against each other in their impassioned fury. This stain on our manners you obliterated,” etc.; Procopius, Gaz. Panegyr., 16. The saint is much warmer and more analytical in his invective.

[512] Hist. Aug. Alexander, 24.

[513] Tertullian, De Monogam., 12; Lactantius, Divin. Instit., v, 9; Salvian, De Gubern. Dei, vii, 17, etc.

[514] Cod. Theod., IX, vii, with Godefroy’s duplex commentary. The peculiar wording of the law of Constantius almost suggests that it was enacted in a spirit of mocking complacency; _ibid._, Cod., IX, ix, 31.

[515] Chrysostom, Adv. Op. Vit. Mon., 8 (in Migne, i, 361). There was probably a stronger tincture of Greek manners at Antioch, of Roman at Constantinople, but the difference does not seem to have been material. We here take leave of Chrysostom. The saint fumes so much that we must generally suspect him of exaggeration, but doubtless this was the style which drew large crowds of auditors and won him popularity.

[516] Procopius, Anecdot., 9, 11; Novel., lxxvii, etc. The first glimpse of Byzantine sociology is due to Montfaucon, who, at the end of his edition of Chrysostom brought together a selection of the most striking passages he had met with. These excerpts were the germ and foundation of a larger and more systematized work by P. Mueller, Bishop of Zealand; De Luxu, Moribus, etc., Aevi Theod., 1794. An article in the Quarterly Review, vol. lxxviii, deals briefly with the same materials. I have derived assistance from all three, but, as a rule, my instances are taken directly from the text of Chrysostom.

[517] Twelve ounces, rather less than the English ounce. The difficulty in obtaining a just equivalent for ancient money in modern values is almost insuperable. After various researches I have decided, as the safest approximation, to reckon the _solidus_ at 11_s._ 2_d._ and the lb. Byz. of gold at £40.

[518] This appears to have been merely a “coin of account,” but there were at one time large silver coins, value, perhaps, about six shillings, also pieces of alloyed silver. For some reason all these were called in and made obsolete at the beginning of the fifth century; Cod. Theod., IX, xxi, xxii, xxiii. No silver coins larger than a shilling seem to have been preserved to our time.

[519] As the price of copper was fixed at 25 lb. for a _solidus_, these coins might have been very bulky; “dumps,” as such are called by English sailors abroad, above an ounce in weight, but nothing near so heavy has come down to us; Cod. Theod., XI, xxi.

[520] Other emperors, however, struck single _nummia_, and these may have remained in use. They are known to collectors and weigh 5 grs. and upwards.

[521] See the specimens figured by Ducange, CP. Christ., or in other works on numismatics.

[522] The Macedonian kings in the fifth century B.C. were the first princes to put their names and portraits on their coinage, but the practice did not become common till after Alexander the Great; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 33. Very large gold medals were minted by most of the Roman emperors, weighing even one or two lb. Hist. Aug., Alexander, 39. This imposing coinage appears to have been used for paying subsidies or tribute to barbarian nations. They were carried slung over the backs of horses in those leathern bags, which we see in the Notitia among the insignia of the Counts of the Treasury; Cod., XII, li, 12; Paulus Diac., De Gest. Langob., iii, 13.

[523] The value of money in relation to the necessaries of life, always a shifting quantity, was not very different in these ages to what it is at present. To give a few examples: bread was about the same price, common shoes cost 1_s._ 6_d._ to 5_s._ a pair; a workman, according to skill, earned 1_s._ 6_d._ to 4_s._ a day; see Dureau de la Malle, Econ. polit. des Romains, Paris, 1840; also Waddington’s Edict of Diocletian; an ordinary horse fetched £10 or £12; Cod. Theod., XI, i, 29, etc. On the Byzantine coinage see Sabatier, Monnaies Byzant., etc., Paris, 1862, i, p. 25, _et seq._ An imperfect, but so far the only comprehensive work; cf. Finlay, Hist. Greece, i, p. 432, _et seq._ Mommsen’s work also gives some space to the subject. False coining and money-clipping were of course prevalent in this age and punishable capitally, but there was also a class of magnates who arrogated to themselves the right of coining, a privilege conceded in earlier times, and who maintained private mints for the purpose. In spite of legal enactments some of them persisted in the practice, and their penalty was to be aggregated with all their apparatus and operatives to the Imperial mints, there to exert their skill indefinitely for the government; Cod. Theod., IX, xxi, xxii. Their lot suggests the Miltonic fate of Mulciber:

Nor aught availed him now
To have built in heaven high towers; nor did he ’scape
By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in hell.
Paradise Lost, I.

[524] In 1885, a “guess” census taken by the Turkish authorities put it at 873,565, but the modern city is much shrunk within the ancient walls; Grosvenor, _op. cit._, p. 8.

[525] The Avars, during an incursion made in 616, carried off 270,000 captives of both sexes from the vicinity of the city; Nicephorus CP., p. 16.

[526] The largest reservoir, now called the “Bendt of Belgrade,” about ten miles N.W. of CP. is more than a mile long. The water is conveyed, as a rule, through subterranean pipes, and there is no visible aqueduct within six miles of the city. The so-called “Long Aqueduct” is about three-quarters of a mile in length.

[527] Evagrius, iii, 38; Procopius, De Aedific., iv, 9; Chron. Paschal., an. 512, etc.

[528] In modern Hindostan somewhat of a parallel might be traced, but very imperfectly. After the third century Gothic must also have become a familiar language at CP.

[529] The partial survival of the Latin language in the East during these centuries is proved, not merely by the body of law, inscriptions, numismatics, etc., but by the fact that some authors who must have expected to be read generally at Constantinople, chose to write in that tongue, especially Ammianus (“Graecus et miles,” his own words), Marcellinus Comes, and Corippus.

[530] This vulgar dialect has probably never been committed to writing. Specimens crop up occasionally, particularly in Jn. Malala, also in Theophanes, i, p. 283 (De Boor). See Krumbacher, _op. cit._, p. 770, _et seq._ The cultured Greeks, however, even to the end of the Empire, always held fast to the language of literary Hellas in her prime; see Filelfo, _loc. cit._

[531] It is worthy of remark that assumption of the aspirate was in the period of best Latinity a vulgar fault decried by Romans of refined speech:

Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet
Dicere, et hinsidias Arrius insidias....
Ionios fluctus, post quam illuc Arrius isset,
Jam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios.
Catullus, lxxxii.

[532] Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., iii, 27, 68.

[533] In the absence of full contemporary evidence for a complete picture of Byzantine life at the point of time dealt with, it has often been necessary to have recourse to writers both of earlier and later date; an exigency, however, almost confined to Chrysostom and Constantine Porphyrogennetos. In taking this liberty I have exercised great caution so as to avoid anachronisms; and if such exist I may fairly hope them to be of a kind which will not easily be detected. I have always tried to obtain some presumptive proof in previous or subsequent periods that the scene as represented may be shifted backwards and forwards through the centuries without marring its truth as a picture of the times. In these unprogressive ages, wherever civilization was maintained, it often had practically the same aspect even for thousands of years.

[534] It is generally conceded that iconoclastic zeal in respect of primitive Roman history, under the impulse given by Lewis and Niebuhr, has been carried too far. Even now archaeological researches with the spade on the site of the Forum, etc., are producing confirmation of some traditional beliefs already proclaimed as mythical by too astute critics; see Lanciani, _The Athenaeum_, 1899. In any case the legends and hearsay as to their origin, current among various races, have a psychological interest, and may afford valuable indications as to national proclivities, which must rescue them from the neglect of every judicious historian.

[535] Livy, iv, 52, etc.

[536] The favourite title of Augustus was _Princeps_ or “First citizen,” but the more martial emperors, such as Galba and Trajan, preferred the military _Imperator_, which after their time became distinctive of the monarch. By the end of the third century, under the administration of Aurelian and Diocletian, the emperor became an undisguised despot, and henceforward was regarded as the _Dominus_, a term which originally expressed the relation between a master and his slaves; see Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., i, 5; the series of coins in Cohen’s Numismatics of the Empire, etc.

[537] Strabo says it was full of Tarsians and Alexandrians; xiv, 5. Athenaeus calls it “an epitome of the world”; i, 17; cf. Tacitus, Ann., xv, 44; “The city which attracts and applauds all things villainous and shameful.”

[538] Tiberius made an end of the _comitia_ or popular elections, and after his time the offices of state were conferred in the Senate, a body which in its elements was constituted at the fiat of the emperor; Tacitus, Ann., i, 15, etc.

[539] Under Diocletian (_c._ 300) the legislative individualism of the emperor attained maturity; see Muirhead, Private Law of Rome, Edin., 1899, P. 353.

[540] The choice of Galba by the soldiers in Spain (68 A.D.) first “revealed the political secret that emperors could be created elsewhere than at Rome”; Tacitus, Hist., i, 4. Trajan, if actually a Spaniard, was the first emperor of foreign extraction.

[541] In the quadripartite allotment by Diocletian, he himself fixed his residence at Nicomedia, his associate Augustus chose Milan, whilst the scarcely subordinated Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, made Sirmium and Treves their respective stations; Aurelius Vict., Diocletian.

[542] Arcadius, as the elder, reigned in the East, a proof that it was esteemed to be the most brilliant position. The Notitia also, a contemporary work, places the East first as the superior dominion. No doubt the new tyrants found themselves in an uncongenial atmosphere at Rome, and the sterner stuff of the Western nations would not tolerate their sublime affectations. They could stand the follies of Nero, but not the vain-glory of Constantine, who soon fled from the covert sneers of the capital and merely paid it a couple of perfunctory visits afterwards. It is significant that the forms of adoration are omitted from the Notitia of the West; cf., however, Cassiodorus, Var. Ep., xii, 18, 20.

[543] About a year, but sometimes prolonged; he could be indicted afterwards for misconduct, unless like Sulla, Caesar, etc., and the aspirants to the purple later, he found himself strong enough to seize on the supremacy.

[544] See Mommsen, Das röm. Militärwesen, etc. Hermes, xxiv, 1889.

[545] Aurelius Vict., Diocletian, etc. After Elagabalus Aurelian was the pioneer in this departure, but in their case it seems to have been not a policy so much as a love of pompous display. It is worth noting that these emperors were men of low origin; Aurelian was a peasant, Diocletian the son of a slave. Yet Aurelian would not let his wife wear silk; Hist. Aug. Aurelian, 45.

[546] The brood of eunuchs (bed-keepers) flows to us from prehistoric times. Ammianus (xiv, 6) attributes the invention to Semiramis, whose date, if any, is about 2000 B.C. They appear to be engendered naturally by polygamy. Isidore of Seville characterizes them as follows: “Horum quidam coeunt, sed tamen virtus in semine nulla est. Liquorem enim habent, et emittunt, sed ad gignendum inanem et invalidum”; Etymolog., x, _sb. voc._ Hence the demand for such an enactment as that of Leo, Novel., xcviii, against their marrying, which, however, would be unnecessary in the case of the καρξιμάδες.

[547] The names of Eusebius, Eutropius, Chrysaphius, etc., are well known as despots of the Court and Empire. “Apud quem [si vere dici debeat] Constantius multum potuit,” is the sarcasm of Ammianus on the masterful favourite Eutropius; xviii, 4. Ultimately members of the royal family were castrated to allow of their being intrusted with the office of Chamberlain, practically the premiership, whilst unfitting them to usurp the throne; see Schlumberger, L’épopée byzant. au dix. siècle, 1896, p. 6.

[548] See Const. Porph., _passim._ The emperor cannot even uncover his head without the castrates closing round him to intercept the gaze of rude mankind; Reiske, ii, p. 259.

[549] The use of numerical affixes to the names of monarchs did not exist among the ancients, and hence many cruxes arise for antiquarians to distinguish those of the same name. Popularly they were often differentiated by nicknames. Thus we read of Artaxerxes the Longhanded, Ptolemy the Bloated, the Flute-player; Charles the Bald, the Fat; Philip the Fair, Frederic Barbarossa, etc. The grandson of the last, Frederic II, seems to have been the first who assumed a number as part of his regal title; see Ludewig, Vita Justin., VIII, viii, 53.

[550] CP. fell to Mahomet II in 1453, and the kingdom of Trebizond, a fragment which still existed under a Comnenian dynasty, in 1461. Bosnia, Herzegovina, Roumania, Armenia proper, Georgia, and the lower part of Mesopotamia did not, however, belong to the Eastern Empire, but there was suzerainty over most of the adjacent territory except Persia.

[551] The town itself was in the hands of the Bulgarians till 504, when it was won by Theodoric for Italy; Cassiodorus, Chron.

[552] This frontier was delimited by Diocletian, _c. 295_; Eutropius, ix; Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 19.

[553] At this time Western Armenia, about one-third of the whole, was called Roman, the rest Persian. It was divided at the end of the fourth century, but no taxes were collected there by the Byzantines; see below.

[554] Neither the north-eastern nor the north-western boundaries can now be precisely defined. According to Theodoret, the north-eastern verge of the Empire was Pityus, about seventy miles farther north; Hist. Eccles., v, 34. After the reign of Trajan the Euxine was virtually a Roman lake, and a garrisoned fort was kept at Sebastopol, considerably north of the Phasis, Bosphorus (Crimea) under its Greek kings being still allowed a nominal autonomy; Arrian, Periplus Pont. Euxin. After 250, however, under Gallienus, etc., these regions were overrun by the Goths. In 275 Trajan’s great province of Dacia was abandoned by Aurelian, but he preserved the remembrance of it by forming a small province with the same name south of the Danube; Hist. Aug., Aurelian, 39, etc.

[555] This geographical sketch is based chiefly on the Notitia, the Synecdemus of Hierocles, and Spruner’s maps.

[556] Less than the present population of England, which has barely a tenth of the area of the Empire.

[557] To take a few instances: Thessalonica and Hadrianople, former population not less than 300,000 each, now about 70,000 each; Antioch, formerly 500,000 (Chrysostom mentions 200,000, doubtless only freemen), now 7,500; Alexandria, formerly 750,000, now again growing into prosperity, 230,000; on the other hand, Ephesus, Palmyra, Baalbec, etc., once great cities, have entirely disappeared. Nor have any modern towns sprung up to replace those mentioned; Cairo alone, with its 371,000, is an apparent exception, but it is almost on the site of Memphis, still a busy town in the sixth century. For these and many similar examples the modern gazetteers, etc., are a sufficient reference. Taking all things into consideration, to give a hundred millions to the countries forming the Eastern Empire, in their palmy days, might not be an overestimate; and even then the density of population would be only about one-third of what it is in England at the present day.

[558] Institut. Just., Prooem., etc.

[559] Here, however, seems to have been the tract first known to the Greeks as Asia, but the name was extended to the whole continent fully ten centuries before this time.

[560] Hierocles, _op. cit._ By the Notitia the civil and military government of Isauria and Arabia are in each case vested in the same person.

[561] Now the Dobrudscha.

[562]

The birds their choir apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring.
Paradise Lost, IV.

[563] Including the small province of that name.

[564] On the roll of precedence the Vicars and Proconsuls were Spectabiles, the ordinary governors Clarissimi. The intendant of the Long Walls was also called a Vicar; Novel., viii.

[565] See the Notitia.

[566] The independence of proconsular Asia has already been mentioned.

[567] “Yielding only to the sceptre”; Jn. Lydus, De Magistr., ii, 5. On the roll of precedence, however, he came after consuls and patricians, but he was usually an ex-consul and patrician as well; see Godefroy _ad_ Cod. Theod., VI, vi.

[568] The most noted of these roads, the Via Appia, ran from Rome to Brindisi. It was about fifteen feet wide, with raised footpaths proportionately narrow. The only road in the Eastern Empire with a special name was the Via Egnatia, leading from the coast of the Adriatic through Thessalonica to Cypsela (Ipsala, about forty miles north of Gallipoli). The Antonine Itinerary shows the distance between most of the towns and ports in the Empire (_c. 300_). The Tabula Peutingeriana is a sort of panoramic chart on which towns, roads, mountains, forests, etc., are marked without any approach to delineating the outline of the countries, except in the vicinity of the Bosphorus and CP. (third century, but brought up to a later date; about 15 feet × 1). There is a photographic reproduction, Vienna, 1888. Strabo (IV, iii, 8) notes how careless the Greeks were, as compared with the Romans, in the matter of public works of ordinary utility.

[569] Cod. Theod., XV, iii. By the absence of this title from the Code and from Procopius (De Bel. Goth., i, 14; De Aedific., iv, 8; v, 5) we can discern that the roads in the East were generally in bad condition. No rubbish or filth or obstructive matter of any kind was allowed to be discharged into the roads or rivers. All roads or canals, that is, by-paths, were to be maintained in their primary condition, whether paved or unpaved; Pand., XLIII, x-xv. Soldiers were enjoined not to shock the public decency by bathing shamelessly in the rivers; Cod. Theod., VII, i; 13.

[570] The modern caravanserai, a great square building with open central court and chambers on two floors (see Texier and Pullan, _op. cit._, p. 142, for a description and plans of one attributed to the times of the Empire), is supposed to represent not only these mansions, but even the pattern of the original Persian _angari_ of the classic period. Travellers could stop at them gratuitously and obtain provender, etc. Cicero, Atticus, v, 16, etc.

[571] About forty animals were kept at each station; Procopius, Anecd., 30.

[572] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, 28, etc. 22½ lb. avd. seems absurdly little for a horse to carry; a parhippus, an extra-strong horse, was kept, and might take 100 lb. (75 avd.), but even that is only half the weight of an average man; Cassiodorous, Var. Epist., iv, 47; v, 5. C. remarks, however, that it is absurd to load an animal who has to travel at a high speed. I think, therefore, that the load is in addition to a rider (_hippocomus_).

[573] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, 2.

[574] The Jerusalem Itinerary (_c._ 350) shows the mansions and mutations from Bordeaux to J., etc. The former seem to have been in or near large towns, the latter by the wayside.

[575] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, with Godefroy’s paratitlon.

[576] Cod. Theod., VI, xxvii; called _Agentes in rebus_.

[577] They appear to have originated in the _Frumentarii_ (corn-collectors), who were sent into the provinces to purvey for the wants of the capital. Encouraged on their return to tattle about what they had seen, signs of disaffection, etc., their secondary vocation became paramount; and under Diocletian they were reconstituted with a more consonant title, whilst their license was restrained; Aurelius Vict., Diocletian; Hist. Aug. Commodus, 4, etc.

[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:

Geryones nos esse puta, monstrumque tributum,
Hic capita, ut vivam, tu mihi tolle tria.

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 5_s._) 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_ (3_d._). 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.

[678] See p. 124.

[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.

[687] See p. 50.

[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.

[708] The _Limitanei_ and _Comitatenses_ are mentioned in the Code (I, xxvii, 2 (8), etc.), but the Palatine troops do not occur by name in the literature of the sixth century (?).

[709] The term was used long before the word legion dropped out; Cod. Theod., VII, i, 18, etc. By the Greeks the _Numeri_ were called the _Catalogues_; Procopius, _passim_ (also in previous use).

[710] Cod. Theod., [?] vii, 16, 17, etc.; Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 39; iv, 26. Applicants of all soils were on occasion attracted by the offer of a bounty called _pulveraticum_.

[711] Cod., XII, xxxiv, 6, 7.

[712] Olympiodorus, p. 450; Novel., Theod., xx; Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 11; De Bel. Goth., iv, 5, etc.

[713] Cod., IV, lxv, 35; Novel., cxvii, 11; cf. Benjamin, Berlin Dissert., 1892.

[714] Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 2, 3; Agathias, ii, 7, 9, etc. There were no true allies of the Empire at this time, although all those who fought for her may not have been technically _Foederati_; cf. Mommsen, _op. cit._, pp. 217, 272.

[715] The name defines them as “biscuit-eaters,” in allusion to their being maintained at the table of their lord.

[716] Benjamin’s essay is written to oppose this view which is favoured by Mommsen; _op. cit._, in both cases.

[717] Procopius, De Bel. Vand., ii, 18.

[718] _Ibid._, De Bel. Pers., i, 25; De Bel. Goth., iii, 1, etc.

[719] _Ibid._, De Bel. Vand., i, 17; ii, 19, etc.

[720] Cod., IX, xii, 10.

[721] Ammianus, xiv, 2; xxvii, 9, etc.

[722] Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., v, 16, 17. An order for 1,000 _dromons_ was executed for Theodoric in an incredibly short time. “Renuntias completum quod vix credi potest inchoatum.”

[723] The general character given to Byzantine soldiers is exceptionally bad: “The vile and contemptible military class”; Isidore Pelus., Epist., i, 390: “as free from crime as you might say the sea is free from waves”; Chrysostom, In Matth. Hom. LXI, 2 (in Migne, vii, 590). These, of course, are priests, but cf. Ammianus, xxii, 4; Zosimus, ii, 34, etc. Thus a century earlier the army had already fallen into a wretched condition; see also Synesius, De Regno.

[724] Maurice, _op. cit._, XII, viii, 16.

[725] From the anonymous Strategike it would seem that the phalanx was restored on occasion during the sixth century (Köchly and Rüslow).

[726] See Arrian’s Tactica _v._ Alanos. For an interesting exposition of the vicissitudes of warfare by means of cavalry, infantry, and missiles pure, see Oman’s Art of War, but the author’s selection of the battle of Adrianople (378) as marking a sharp turn in the evolution of Roman cavalry is quite arbitrary and could not be historically maintained. That disaster made no demonstrable difference in the constitution of the armies of the Empire. The forces of Rome were consumed to a greater extent at the battle of Mursa less than thirty years previously (351), when the army of the victor contained, perhaps, 40,000 cavalry, half of the whole amount; Julian, Orat. I, ii (p. 98, etc., Hertlein); Zonaras, xiii, 8, etc.

[727] Constantine, according to Zosimus (ii, 33), first appointed a Magister Equitum in the new sense; cf. Cod. Theod., XI, i, 1 (315).

[728] Notitia Or.

[729] Procopius, De Bel. Pers., i, 13, etc.

[730] Procop., De Bel. Pers., i, 13, etc.

[731] _Ibid._, De Bel. Vand., i, 19.

[732] _Ibid._, Anecdot., 24; Agathias, v, 15. Under Leo Macella the Scholars consisted of selected Armenians, but Zeno introduced a rabble of Isaurians, his own countrymen; these, of course, were chased by Anastasius; Theodore Lect., ii, 9, etc. Leo also levied the Excubitors to be a genuine fighting corps of the Domestics; Jn. Lydus, De Magist., i, 16.

[733] Longinus, brother of Zeno, expected to succeed him, but he was seized promptly, shaved, and banished as a presbyter to Alexandria; Theophanes, an. 5984, etc.

[734] _Ibid._, an. 5985. To his power among the Isaurians Zeno owed his elevation, being taken up by Leo as a counterpoise to Aspar and his Goths, the authors of his own fortune, of whom he was in danger of becoming the tool; Candidus, Excerpt., p. 473, etc.

[735] Marcellinus Com., an. 498.

[736] This was the end of the war according to Theophanes (an. 5988), who gives it only three years; cf. Jn. Malala, xvi.