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and the pyramids and all the other things which those who have written down the splendors of Egypt mention, he will not err in calling them modest lodgings befitting philosophers. 22 It remains, according to what was previously promised, to speak about the staff, what kind it was under the master of the horse and what kind it became after him under the praetorian prefect, concerning 118 its registers, titles and duties, concerning its customs and symbols and the phrases on the documents being drawn up and in general all that, while preserved until our time, has been nearly lost, with the office diminished and the staff serving it collapsed, so that along with the traces of antiquity, the very memory of its virtues, at least as it is recorded in writing, should not suffer complete destruction. For the time being, however, I will set forth a separate account concerning the remaining offices of the state and at the very end one concerning the staff; for it is not proper to enumerate the governed along with the governors.

CONCERNING THE SO-CALLED MASTER OF THE SACRED OFFICES INSTEAD OF THE

COMMANDER OF THE PALACE TROOPS 23 All things both come into being and exist according to the nature of the good; things that are,

as they are, while things that come into being, not always existing, nor being in the same state, through generation proceed to decay, and then from that return to generation, and are immortal in their being, but different in their changing; for withdrawing into themselves, they exist in substance, but come into being through decay, while nature preserves them in itself and brings them forth again into the light according to the limits set by the Creator. The account says these things because of the archetypal aspect of our state, in which we know that before every other office, the power of the master of the horse, as has been said, came to be; then, as that was erased by time, it was transformed into the praetorian dignity. But when this took over the government, the empire in turn came into need of a prefect; and the office previously erased came forth into the midst, or rather was brought forth by the 120 nature of things under another name, in no way lacking its proper substance, but fortified with greater power and the addition of things it did not have before. 24 And let no one recoil at the newness of the name; for if he were to look carefully at the facts, he will not find even the title of the office itself inconsistent with itself. For the master of the horse was always present with the rex or the monarch, leading the cavalry force and presiding over the entire court; so that the one called master by the more recent designation is nothing other than master of the horse; and the reason for the change of name was the prevalence of greater authority. For the name master of the offices means nothing other than the leader of the palace registers, as we said before, in which both the cavalry and infantry force of the empire is seen, gathered into ten thousand fighting men. And the master of the horse had this privilege alone, but the master has more, since the empire has been raised to such a height. For at that time the Romans possessed only Italy, but now, with God as their leader, they hold all land and sea together. 25 And so who it was who was named master of the office, I cannot say, as history is silent; for history does not hand down the name of anyone else before Martinianus, who was master under Licinius. And of this very man under Licinius, Constantine, having alone seized the entire power of the empire, appointed Palladius master of the court, an intelligent man who had previously reconciled the Persians to the Romans and to Galerius Maximian through an embassy. And for those desiring not to be ignorant of the successive masters down to our time, Peter, magnanimous in all things and a reliable teacher of universal history, will suffice for instruction, through what he himself on the so-called

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καὶ πυραμίδας καὶ τἆλλα ὅσων οἱ τὰς Αἰγυπτιακὰς ἀναγράψαντες ὑπερηφανίας μνημονεύουσιν, μέτρια καὶ φιλοσοφοῦσι πρέποντα καταυλήματα λέγων οὐ σφαλήσεται. 22 Ὑπόλοιπόν ἐστι κατὰ τὸ πρόσθεν ἐπηγγελμένον περὶ τῆς τάξεως εἰπεῖν, ποία τέ τις ἦν ποτε παρὰ τῷ ἱππάρχῳ καὶ ποία γέγονε μετ' ἐκεῖνον ὑπὸ τῷ τῶν πραιτωρίων ὑπάρχῳ, περί 118 τε τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ καταλόγων, προσηγοριῶν τε καὶ λειτουργιῶν, περί τε ἐθῶν καὶ συμβόλων καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς συνταττομένοις χάρταις ῥημάτων καὶ ἁπλῶς ὅσα ἡμῶν ἄχρι τηρούμενα, τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐλαττωθείσης καὶ τῆς ὑπηρετουμένης αὐτῇ τάξεως συμπεσούσης, παραπόλωλεν, ὅπως μὴ σὺν τοῖς ἴχνεσι τῆς ἀρχαιότητος καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ τῶν ἀρετῶν μνήμη μή γ' οὖν γράμμασιν ἀναφερομένη παντελῆ λάχῃ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν. τέως δὲ περὶ τῶν ὑπολοίπων τῆς πολιτείας ἀρχῶν καὶ τὸ δὴ πέρας ἴδιόν τινα περὶ τῆς τάξεως λόγον ἐκθήσομαι· οὐδὲ γὰρ εὐπρεπὲς ταῖς ἀρχαῖς τοὺς ἀρχομένους συναριθμεῖν.

ΠΕΡῚ ΤΟΥ͂ ΛΕΓΟΜΈΝΟΥ ΜΑΓΊΣΤΡΟΥ ΤΩ͂Ν ΘΕΊΩΝ ὈΦΦΙΚΊΩΝ ἈΝΤῚ ΤΟΥ͂

ἌΡΧΟΝΤΟ ΤΩ͂Ν ΑΛΙΚΩ͂Ν ΣΤΡΑΤΕΥΜΆΤΩΝ 23 Πάντα τὰ ὄντα καὶ γίνεται καὶ ἔστι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ φύσιν· τὰ μὲν ὄντα,

ὡς ἔστιν, τὰ δὲ γινόμενα, οὐκ ὄντα μὲν ἀεί, οὐδὲ ὡσαύτως ἔχοντα, διὰ δὲ τῆς γενέσεως ἐπὶ τὴν φθοράν, εἶτα ἐξ ἐκείνης ἐπὶ τὴν γένεσιν ἀναστρέφοντα, καὶ τῷ εἶναι μὲν ἀθάνατα, τῷ δὲ μεταβάλλεσθαι ἀλλοιότερα· εἰς ἑαυτὰ γὰρ ἀναχωροῦντα τῇ μὲν οὐσίᾳ ἐστίν, τῇ δὲ φθορᾷ γίνεται, τηρούσης αὐτὰ τῆς φύσεως παρ' ἑαυτῇ προαγούσης τε αὖθις εἰς τοὐμφανὲς κατὰ τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ τεθέντας ὅρους. ταῦτά φησιν ὁ λόγος διὰ τὴν ἀρχέτυπον τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς πολιτείας ὄψιν, ἐφ' ἧς ἴσμεν πρὸ πάσης ἀρχῆς τὴν τοῦ ἱππάρχου δύναμιν, ὡς εἴρηται, γενέσθαι· εἶτα ὡς ἀπαλιφεῖσα ἐκείνη τῷ χρόνῳ εἰς τὴν ὕπαρχον μετεφύη τιμήν. αὐτῆς δὲ τὸ πολίτευμα παραλαβούσης, αὖθις ἡ βασιλεία εἰς τὴν τοῦ ὑπάρχου περιέστη χρείαν· καὶ προῆλθεν εἰς τὸ μέσον, μᾶλλον δὲ προηνέχθη ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν 120 πραγμάτων φύσεως ἡ πρὶν ἀπαλιφεῖσα δι' ἑτέρας προσηγορίας ἀρχή, κατὰ μηδὲν μὲν ἀποδέουσα τῆς οἰκείας ὑποστάσεως, μείζονι δὲ δυνάμει καὶ προσθήκῃ τῶν οὐκ ὄντων αὐτῇ τὸ πρὶν ὠχυρωμένη. 24 Καὶ μηδεὶς πρὸς τὸ καινὸν τῆς προσηγορίας ἀποπηδάτω· εἰ γὰρ ἀπίδοι ἐμμελῶς εἰς τὰ πράγματα, οὐδὲ αὐτὴν τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τῆς ἀρχῆς διαφωνοῦσαν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν εὑρήσει. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἵππαρχος παρῆν ἀεὶ τῷ ῥηγὶ ἢ τῷ μονάρχῳ, τῆς μὲν ἱππικῆς δυνάμεως ἡγούμενος, τῆς δὲ αὐλῆς πάσης προεστηκώς· ὥστε ὁ λεγόμενος κατὰ νεωτέραν προσηγορίαν μάγιστρος οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ἵππαρχός ἐστιν· τῆς δὲ μεταβολῆς τοῦ ὀνόματος αἰτία ἡ τῆς πλείονος ἐξουσίας ἐπικράτεια γέγονεν. τὸ γὰρ μάγιστρος ὀφφικίων ὄνομα οὐδὲν ἢ τὸν ἡγούμενον τῶν αὐλικῶν καταλόγων σημαίνει, ὡς προέφαμεν, ἐν οἷς ἥ τε ἱππικὴ καὶ ἡ πεζομάχος δύναμις τῆς βασιλείας θεωρεῖται εἰς μυρίους συναγομένη πολεμιστάς. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν μόνον εἶχεν ὁ ἵππαρχος τὸ προνόμιον, ὁ δὲ μάγιστρος τὸ πλέον, τῆς βασιλείας εἰς τοσοῦτον ὕψος ἀνενεχθείσης. τότε μὲν γὰρ μόνην τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐκέκτηντο Ῥωμαῖοι, νῦν δέ, θεοῦ προϊσταμένου, πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ γῆν τε καὶ θάλασσαν ἔχουσιν. 25 Καὶ ὅστις μὲν οὖν ὠνομάσθη τὴν ἀρχὴν μάγιστρος, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν, τῆς ἱστορίας σιγώσης· οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸ Μαρτινιανοῦ, ὃς ἦν ὑπὸ Λικινίῳ μάγιστρος, ἄλλου τινὸς προσηγορίαν ἡ ἱστορία παραδίδωσιν. αὐτοῦ δὲ τούτου ὑπὸ Λικινίῳ, ὁ Κωνσταντῖνος, τὴν ὅλην τῆς βασιλείας μόνος κατασχὼν ἐξουσίαν, Παλλάδιον μάγιστρον τῆς αὐλῆς ἐχειροτόνησεν, ἄνδρα συνετὸν καὶ Πέρσας Ῥωμαίοις πρότερον καὶ Μαξιμιανῷ τῷ Γαλερίῳ διὰ πρεσβείας φιλώσαντα. τοῖς δὲ ἱμειρομένοις τοὺς ἐφ' ἑξῆς μὴ ἀγνοῆσαι μαγίστρους ἄχρις ἡμῶν ἀρκέσει πρὸς διδασκαλίαν Πέτρος ὁ πάντα μεγαλόφρων καὶ τῆς καθ' ὅλου ἱστορίας ἀσφαλὴς διδάσκαλος, δι' ὧν αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τοῦ λεγομένου