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however, the princeps of the frumentarii, as he is now called 100, is always present at the tribunal of the Praetorian Prefect to be meddlesome and to investigate the reasons for which many, procuring the so-called warrants from the magistracy, have used the public post; for this reason he was also named curiosus, instead of meddlesome; and not he alone but also all who are in charge of the public horses in the provinces, with the so-called magister also co-signing the warrants for the posts. That this is so, it is possible to hear from the edict itself, which is found in the old Theodosian code, but overlooked in the new. 11 Thus, therefore, as the office was being brought down as if by some underpinning, the imperial power placed the military rolls under the so-called comites and generals of that time, and the ranks in the palace under the chief of the court forces, about whom I will speak toward the end, as I promised, whom, himself no small magistrate, just like the so-called magistri militum, the diminutions of the prefecture created. For the demolition of costly buildings suffices many for building. And as long as it happened that the emperors went out to wars in person, the office had some, if not so great, yet above all others strength and power. But from the time when Theodosius first, providing for the ease of his own children, bridled manliness by a law, having prevented for their sake the Roman emperor's impulse for wars, it thenceforth became the domain for the generals to manage the affairs of war, and for the magister to administer the affairs of the palace, so that the prefecture had nothing other than the sole care for expenditures, which naturally happens by necessity concerning both the magistrates from it, as I said, and certainly concerning those whom they themselves were assigned to rule. 12 And if someone might venture to include in the account the conjectures from prophecies, which some call oracles, 102 those things once said to Fonteius the Roman received their fulfillment; for he recounts certain verses supposedly once given to Romulus in the ancestral language which openly foretell that the Romans would then lose their Fortune when they themselves should forget their ancestral tongue. And the so-called oracle we have inserted in the work On the Months, but such prophecies rather had their fulfillment. For when a certain Cyrus of Egypt, even now admired for his poetry, was administering at the same time the city prefecture and the praetorian prefecture, and knew nothing apart from poetry, then dared to transgress the ancient custom and delivered his decrees in the Greek language, along with the Roman tongue the office also lost its Fortune.

CONCERNING THE INSIGNIA OF THE PRAETORIAN PREFECTURE 13 As I said, therefore, with the master of the horse having been removed from the offices by Augustus

removed, and the praetorian prefect having succeeded to his power, it was natural that the office be further magnified, the administration of civil affairs having been added to its military command. Nevertheless, some traces of the mastership of the horse remained with it, with some slight alteration having occurred. For the prefect wore a Coan mandye—for on that island alone was the deeper dye of the purple color formerly praised in its manufacture; for the dye that is somehow gently kindled to a flame-color and not very deep was invented by the Parthians; whence also flame-dyed hides happen to be called Parthian; the mandye is a type of chlamys, which is called a mantion by the common people, hanging from the shoulders no further than to the knees 104, with segmenta not being applied to the mandye, which among us are called tablia, instead of panels; for when these were applied it was not permitted for anyone other than Caesar alone to wear it. And it is the custom for the Romans to call the gold-embroidered decorations segmenta, as

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μέντοι τῶν φρουμενταρίων πρίγκιπα αὐτὸν σήμερον συμβαίνει 100 καλεῖσθαι παρεῖναι διὰ παντὸς τῷ δικαστηρίῳ τοῦ τῶν πραιτωρίων ὑπάρχου καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖν καὶ τὰς αἰτίας ἐξερευνᾶν ὧν ἕνεκα πολλοὶ ποριζόμενοι παρὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς τὰ λεγόμενα συνθήματα τῷ δημοσίῳ κέχρηνται δρόμῳ ταύτῃ καὶ κουριῶσος ὠνομάσθη, ἀντὶ τοῦ περίεργος· καὶ οὐκ αὐτὸς μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες ὅσοι κἀν ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις τοῖς δημοσίοις ἐφεστήκασιν ἵπποις, προσυπογράφοντος τοῖς ἐπὶ τῶν δρόμων συνθήμασι καὶ τοῦ λεγομένου μαγίστρου. ὅτι δὲ οὕτως, αὐτῆς δυνατὸν ἀκοῦσαι τῆς διατάξεως ἐν μὲν τῷ πάλαι Θεοδοσιανῷ κειμένης, ἐν δὲ τῷ νεαρῷ παροφθείσης. 11 Οὕτως οὖν ὥσπερ δι' ὑποβάθρων τινῶν καταφερομένης τῆς ἀρχῆς, τοὺς μὲν στρατιωτικοὺς καταλόγους ἔταξεν ἡ βασιλεία ὑπὸ τοῖς τότε καλουμένοις κόμισιν καὶ στρατηγοῖς, τὰς δὲ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ τάξεις ὑπὸ τῷ πρωτεύοντι τῶν δυνάμεων τῆς αὐλῆς, περὶ οὗ πρὸς τέλος, ὡς ὑπεσχόμην, ἐρῶ, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸν ἄρχοντα οὐ μικρόν, καθάπερ τοὺς λεγομένους στρατηλάτας, αἱ τῆς ἐπαρχότητος ἐλαττώσεις ἀπετέλεσαν. τὰ γὰρ πολυτελῆ τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων καταλυόμενα πολλοῖς ἐπαρκεῖ πρὸς οἰκοδομήν. καὶ ἕως μὲν τοὺς βασιλέας ἐπεξιέναι δι' ἑαυτῶν τοῖς πολέμοις συνέβαινεν, εἶχέ τινα ἡ ἀρχή, εἰ μὴ τοσαύτην, πλὴν ὑπὲρ πάσας τὰς ἄλλας ἰσχύν τε καὶ δύναμιν. ἐξ ὅτε δὲ Θεοδόσιος πρῶτος, τῆς τῶν οἰκείων παίδων ῥᾳστώνης προνοούμενος, νόμῳ δὲ τὴν ἀνδρίαν ἐχαλίνωσεν, κωλύσας δι' ἐκείνους τὴν βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ πολέμους ὁρμήν, τὸ λοιπὸν τοῖς μὲν στρατηγοῖς τὰ τῶν πολέμων, τῷ δὲ μαγίστρῳ διοικεῖν τὰ τοῦ παλατίου γέγονε χώρα, ὡς μηδὲν ἕτερον ἔχειν τὴν ἐπαρχότητα ἢ μόνην τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς δαπάναις φροντίδα, ἣν εἰκός ἐστι γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον περί τε τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἄρχοντας, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ περὶ ἐκείνους γε μήν, ὧν αὐτοὶ ἄρχειν ἐτάχθησαν. 12 Εἰ δέ τις καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν προρρήσεων στοχασμούς, οὔς τινες καλοῦσι χρησμούς, ἐν ἀριθμῷ λόγων παραλαβεῖν ὑπο 102 μένοι, πέρας ἔλαβε τὰ Φοντηΐῳ τῷ Ῥωμαίῳ ῥηθέντα ποτέ· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ στίχους τινας δοθέντας δῆθεν Ῥωμύλῳ ποτὲ πατρίοις ῥήμασιν ἀναφέρει τοὺς ἀναφανδὸν προλέγοντας, τότε Ῥωμαίους τὴν Τύχην ἀπολείψειν ὅταν αὐτοὶ τῆς πατρίου φωνῆς ἐπιλάθωνται. καὶ τὸν μὲν λεγόμενον χρησμὸν τοῖς Περὶ Μηνῶν γραφεῖσιν ἐντεθείκαμεν, πέρας δὲ μᾶλλον ἔσχε τὰ τοιαῦτα μαντεύματα. Κύρου γάρ τινος Αἰγυπτίου, ἐπὶ ποιητικῇ καὶ νῦν θαυμαζομένου, ἅμα τὴν πολίαρχον ἅμα τὴν τῶν πραιτωρίων ἐπαρχότητα διέποντος, καὶ μηδὲν παρὰ τὴν ποίησιν ἐπισταμένου, εἶτα παραβῆναι θαρρήσαντος τὴν παλαιὰν συνήθειαν καὶ τὰς ψήφους Ἑλλάδι φωνῇ προενεγκόντος, σὺν τῇ Ῥωμαίων φωνῇ καὶ τὴν Τύχην ἀπέβαλεν ἡ ἀρχή.

ΠΕΡῚ ΤΩ͂Ν ἘΠΙΣΉΜΩΝ ΤΗ͂Σ ἘΠΑΡΧΌΤΗΤΟΣ ΤΩ͂Ν ΠΡΑΙΤΩΡΊΩΝ 13 Ὡς οὖν ἔφην, τοῦ μὲν ἱππάρχου πρὸς τοῦ Αὐγούστου ἐκ τῶν ἀρχῶν

περιαιρεθέντος, τοῦ δὲ ὑπάρχου τῶν πραιτωρίων τὴν ἐκείνου δύναμιν διαδεξαμένου, εἰκὸς ὀγκωθῆναι πλέον τὴν ἀρχήν, τοῖς ὅπλοις προστεθείσης καὶ τῆς τῶν πολιτικῶν πραγμάτων διοικήσεως. οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον ἴχνη τινὰ τῆς ἱππαρχίας παραπέμεινεν αὐτῇ, μικρᾶς τινος παραλλαγῆς ἐμπεσούσης. μανδύην μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἔπαρχος περιεβάλλετο Κῷον ἐπ' ἐκείνης γὰρ τῆς νήσου καὶ μόνης ἡ βαθυτέρα βαφὴ τοῦ φοινικοῦ χρώματος τὸ πρὶν ἐπῃνεῖτο κατασκευαζομένη· ἡ γὰρ ἠρέμα πως ἐπὶ τὸ φλόγινον καὶ οὐ σφόδρα βαθὺ ἀναπτομένη πρὸς Παρθυαίων ἐξηύρηται· ὅθεν καὶ Παρθικὰ τὰ φλογοβαφῆ δέρματα συμβαίνει καλεῖσθαι· ὁ δὲ μανδύης χλαμύδος εἶδός ἐστι τὸ παρὰ τῷ πλήθει μαντίον λεγόμενον, μὴ πλέον ἄχρι γονάτων ἐξ ὤμων 104 ἠρτημένον, σηγμέντων οὐκ ἐπιβαλλομένων τῷ μανδύῃ, τῶν 104 δ' ἐν ἡμῖν λεγομένων ταβλίων, ἀντὶ τοῦ πτυχίων· ἐκείνων γὰρ ἐπιτιθεμένων οὐκ ἐξῆν ἑτέρῳ ἢ μόνῳ χρῆσθαι τῷ Καίσαρι. σηγμέντα δὲ τὰ χρυσόσημα Ῥωμαίοις ἔθος καλεῖν, ὡς