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the first of the so-called viarchi is brought against their armed troops with a rod entwined with a vine-shoot made of silver, in honor of Dionysus who was once honored, as has been sufficiently related by us in On the Months. But time, having changed, has left the axe only to the consul and to the consular authorities of the provinces, perhaps blushing to deprive the consular dignity of even this symbol. For Caesar alone is henceforth known to have the vexilla; and what these are, we have shown in On the Months. For Domitian, being vainglorious, delighted in innovations; and it is characteristic of tyrants to overturn things long established. Whence he not only deprived the praetorian prefecture 114 of the honor it previously had, but he also, as far as it was in his power, dissipated the authority of the city prefect, having appointed twelve prefects of the city instead of one, as if one for each district of Rome. 20 And from the beginning there was no designated official residence for any of these magistracies, not in the first, nor in our reigning city, as there is at present, but the one administering the office conducted business at his own residence; and this remained so until our Leo, in whose time Constantine, holding the prefectural dignity, a man of noble birth, himself also originating from Mazaca, and possessing a virtue proportional to the vice of the wicked Cappadocian, and having been brought to prominence excellently and pre-eminently through speeches especially honored then among the Italians, built a most magnificent forum, calling it the Forum of Leo, in which he also recorded that man's promotion in mosaic. Having built this, as I said, himself at his own expense, since it was neighboring the place and since he was the grandfather of our Rufus, he granted to the magistracy a simple and modest residence for the service of the one holding the office at the time, establishing a thing worthy of all acceptance. The first and foremost of the magistracies, yielding only to the scepter, at that time conducted its business from a small residence; so neglected were matters of luxury among the men of old, who enjoyed only the contentment of their subjects. 21 But Sergius later, a man who was a sophist from among the forensic orators and respected for his speeches by the good Anastasius, having burdened the aforesaid residence with an upper-story lodging, disregarded moderation, and introduced greater luxury, with the magistracy already fading, not foreseeing—for it is not in human nature to guess the future—that he was preparing a den for the Cappadocian; yet he was content with the bath of the residence, in this at least honoring what was moderate. But the Cappadocian—and who 116 this was, I shall say a little later—having burst upon the office, gave over the old and so venerable residence of the magistracy to the cohorts of his servants. While he himself was lying down in the upper story, with urine and excrement surrounding his bedchamber, he would lie sprawled naked on his couch, ordering all those of the official staff, as if they were wicked slaves, to keep watch before his bedchamber, while he himself selected those who pleased him and exposed them for punishment to the most beast-like of his slaves, barbarians and wolves in their souls as well as in their names. Living in extravagant luxury, then, having converted the old bath into a stable for beasts of burden, he assigned a small part of it to the herds of horses; and having suspended another bath in the air and having forced the nature of water to flow upwards to an unnatural height, he would bathe in it in the manner that has been previously dramatized. Then from there, where he would gulp down all things of the air and of the earth and things that swim, with wines from all over, and was utterly corrupted by countless indiscriminate unions, he himself, binding his head over his chlamys with a harvester's scarf, as if with a veil, and wrapping his hair in the covering, like Pompey's parasite according to Plutarch, or, to speak the truth, like the masters of the stage, would be carried to the halls which he himself had built for himself; of which if someone wished to describe in words the profligacy and the splendor of the buildings, Sesostris together with Amasis and the mausoleums of the others also

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αὐτοῖς τῶν ὅπλων στρατεύμασιν ἐπιφέρεται ὁ τῶν λεγομένων βιάρχων πρῶτος ῥάβδον κλήματι ἐξ ἀργύρου πεποιημένῳ περιπεπλεγμένην πρὸς τιμῆς τοῦ ποτε τιμηθέντος ∆ιονύσου, ὡς ἐν τοῖς Περὶ Μηνῶν ἀποχρώντως ἡμῖν ἀνενήνεκται. πέλεκυν δὲ μόνῳ τῷ ὑπάτῳ καὶ ταῖς ὑπατικαῖς ἀρχαῖς τῶν ἐπαρχιῶν καταλέλοιπεν ὁ χρόνος ἐναλλαγείς, ἴσως ἐρυθριάσας καὶ τούτου τοῦ γνωρίσματος τὴν ὕπατον ἀφελέσθαι τιμήν. βήξιλλα γὰρ αὐτὸς μόνος ὁ Καῖσαρ ἔχειν τὸ λοιπὸν γνωρίζεται· τίνα δὲ ταῦτα, ἐν τῷ Περὶ Μηνῶν ἐπεδείξαμεν. κενόδοξος γὰρ ὢν ὁ ∆ομιτιανὸς τοῖς νεωτερισμοῖς ἔχαιρεν· ἴδιον δὲ τυράννων ἀνατρέπειν τὰ πάλαι καθεστηκότα. ὅθεν οὐ μόνον τὴν ἐπαρχότητα 114 τῶν πραιτωρίων τῆς οὔσης αὐτῇ τὸ πρὶν τιμῆς ἐζημίωσεν, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὴν πολίαρχον ἐξουσίαν, τό γε εἰς αὐτὸν ἧκον, διεσπάθισεν, δύο πρὸς τοῖς δέκα ὑπάρχους πόλεως ἀνθ' ἑνός, ὡς δὴ καθ' ἕκαστον τμῆμα τῆς Ῥώμης, προχειρισάμενος. 20 Οὐκ ἦν δὲ καταγώγιον ὡρισμένον ἀνέκαθεν οὐδεμιᾷ τούτων τῶν ἀρχῶν, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς πρώτης, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς βασιλίδος, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἑδρῶν ὁ τὴν ἀρχὴν διέπων ἔπραττεν· καὶ τοῦτο ἄχρι τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς Λέοντος διέμεινεν, ἐφ' οὗ Κωνσταντῖνος τὴν ὕπαρχον ἔχων τιμήν, ἀνὴρ εὐπατρίδης, ἐκ Μαζάκης μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁρμηθείς, ἀνάλογον δὲ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῇ κακίᾳ τοῦ πονηροῦ Καππαδόκου κεκτημένος, διὰ λόγων τε ἄριστα καὶ διαφερόντως τῶν παρ' Ἰταλοῖς τότε μάλιστα τιμωμένων ἠγμένος, ἀγορὰν ἐδείματο διαπρεπεστάτην, Λέοντος αὐτὴν προσαγορεύσας, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὴν προαγωγὴν ἐκείνου ψηφῖδι κατεγράψατο. ταύτην, ὡς εἶπον, αὐτὸς οἰκείοις ἀναλώμασι κατασκευάσας, οἷα γειτνιῶν τῷ χωρίῳ καὶ Ῥούφῳ τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς πάππος γενόμενος, παρεχώρησεν τῇ ἀρχῇ δίαιταν εὐτελῆ καὶ σώφρονα πρὸς θεραπείαν τοῦ κατὰ καιρὸν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκδεχομένου, κατασκευάσας πρᾶγμα πάσης ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιον. ἡ πρώτη καὶ ἀνέχουσα τῶν ἀρχῶν, ἡ μόνῳ τῷ σκήπτρῳ παραχωροῦσα, ἐπὶ μικρᾶς τότε ἔπραττε διαίτης· οὕτως ἦν παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοτέροις τὰ τῆς τρυφῆς ἠμελημένα, οἳ μόνης ἀπέλαυον τῆς τῶν ὑποτελῶν εὐθυμίας. 21 Σέργιος δὲ ὕστερον, ἐκ τῶν δικανικῶν ῥητόρων ἀνὴρ σοφιστὴς καὶ διὰ τοὺς λόγους αἰδέσιμος Ἀναστασίῳ τῷ χρηστῷ, τὴν εἰρημένην δίαιταν ὑπερῴῳ φορτώσας καταγωγίῳ, τὸ μὲν σῶφρον ὑπερεῖδεν, μείζονα δὲ τρυφήν, τῆς ἀρχῆς ἤδη μαραινομένης, εἰσήγαγεν, οὐ προθεωρήσας οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως τὸ ἐσόμενον στοχάζεσθαι φωλεὸν τῷ Καππαδόκῃ κατασκευάζειν· τῷ γε μὴν βαλανείῳ τῆς διαίτης ἠρκέσθη, ἐπὶ γ' οὖν αὐτοῦ τιμήσας τὸ μέτριον. ὁ δὲ Καππαδόκης τίς δὲ 116 οὗτος, μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐρῶ, ἐνσκήψας τῇ ἀρχῇ, τὴν μὲν παλαιὰν καὶ οὕτω σεμνὴν τῆς ἀρχῆς δίαιταν ταῖς φάλαγξι τῶν θεραπόντων αὐτοῦ παρεχώρησεν. αὐτὸς δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπερῴας κατακοιταζόμενος, οὔρου καὶ ἀφόδου περισκοποῦντος τὸν κοιτῶνα, γυμνὸς ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης ἐξεκέχυτο, πάντας τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς τάξεως, ὡς εἰ πονηροὺς οἰκέτας, πρὸ τοῦ κοιτῶνος παραφυλάττειν ἐγκελευόμενος, αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς ἀρέσκοντας ἐπιλεγόμενος καὶ τοῖς θηριωδεστάτοις τῶν οἰκετῶν, βαρβάροις καὶ λύκοις ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἅμα καὶ ταῖς προσηγορίαις, πρὸς τιμωρίαν ἐκτιθέμενος. τρυφῶν οὖν ἐκτόπως, τὸ πάλαι βαλανεῖον εἰς ἔπαυλιν ὑποζυγίων μεταθέμενος, ταῖς ἀγέλαις τῶν ἵππων εἰς μέρος βραχὺ παρεχώρησεν· ἕτερον δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀέρος κρεμάσας βαλανεῖον καὶ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὑδάτων εἰς ὕψος ἄτακτον ἀναρρεῖν συνωθήσας, ἐλούετο ἐν αὐτῷ οὕτως ὡς προτετραγῴδηται. εἶτα ἐκεῖθεν, ἔνθα τά τε ἀέρος τά τε γῆς τά τε νηκτὰ πάντα μετὰ τῶν ἁπανταχόθεν οἴνων κατέπινε καὶ μυρίαις συνδιεφθείρετο μίξεσιν ἀδιακρίτοις, αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῆς χλαμύδος θεριστρίῳ, ὡς εἰ κρηδέμνῳ, τὴν κεφαλὴν περιδεσμῶν καὶ τὰς τρίχας ἐνειλῶν τῇ καλύπτρῃ, ὡς Πομπηΐου παράσιτος κατὰ τὸν Πλούταρχον ἤ, τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ὡς οἱ τῆς σκηνῆς ἄρχοντες, διεβαστάζετο ἐπὶ τὰς αὐλάς, ἃς αὐτὸς κατεσκεύασεν ἑαυτῷ· ὧν εἴ τις θέλοι τὴν ἀσωτίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν κτισμάτων διεξιέναι τῷ λόγῳ λαμπρότητα, Σεσώστριος ὁμοῦ καὶ Ἀμάσιος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων μαυσώλειά τε