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he was enrolled in the magisterium. 122 26 The power, therefore, went beyond the office; for not only is the master believed to have under him the embassies of the nations, the public post, and a weighty multitude of those who were formerly *frumentarii* but are now *magistriani*, and the manufacture and authority over arms, but also that of civil affairs. And especially this Peter, the great, who is second to none in any virtue. For he preserves and guards the court and does not reject the Roman majesty, which was nearly destroyed by the folly of those before him, and which, being wise and always attentive to books, he restores; and knowing the laws as well as anyone, in which he was brought up from his tenderest years, pleading for those in need, he was shown to be a very great magistrate, raising a brow worthy of his authority, and a sharp judge, knowing how to judge righteously and sincerely, with fortune in no way thwarting him. For he is gentle and mild, but not easy-going nor bent by requests outside the law, and at the same time secure and foreseeing the impulses of those who approach him, conceding no time to idleness, applying himself to books by night, and to affairs by day, not even wasting the journey from his house to the court in simple conversation, but occupied with logical questions and narrations of more ancient matters with those who are versed in these things. And for him no time is free from learning, so that the expounders of texts fear an encounter with him; for he surrounds them with subjects and subtleties, moderately refuting them as being only said to be, but not such as fame reports them to be. To me especially, my association with him stirs up no small dizziness. For I delight in him, because he is at once noble and free and without arrogance and drivel, witty and sociable; but he causes me, as has been said, no small cares, proposing for inquiry none of the things I think I know, 124 but introducing things completely unknown, so that I practice the most fervent prayers, that he might not, as he is accustomed, rush upon me with any inaccessible theory.

CONCERNING THE PREFECT OF SCYTHIA AND THE PRAETOR OF JUSTINIAN AND THE

QUAESTOR 27 Of so many magistrates in Rome known by law, the

universal history makes mention from the beginnings of the Roman state up to the death of the emperor Anastasius. For the *comes largitionum*, as the Italians call him, that is, the one presiding over the imperial treasures, and the *comes privatorum*, that is, of things somehow pertaining privately to the emperors, one would never number in the list of magistrates, but of servants; for they are not deemed worthy of a promotion befitting magistrates, but according to the will of the emperor they have a recent and obscure origin, just as the so-called *patrimonius*, that is, the guardian of the property somehow belonging privately to the emperor and perhaps from his ancestors, whom, not being numbered before, Anastasius, the prudent in all things, established, devising a distinction for affairs, as was his custom, so that they might not suffer from confusion. 28 But after him, while Justin lived in peace and invented nothing new, the one who came after, being his nephew, hastening to procure everything useful for the common good, and recalling the entire majesty of the ancient aspect, first invented the so-called prefect of Scythia. For being wise and having found through books that the country 126 is both rich in wealth and strong in arms, and is so now and has been of old which Trajan the great, first capturing it with Decebalus, leader of the Getae, five hundred myriads of gold

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μαγιστερίου ἀνεγράψατο. 122 26 Προῆλθεν οὖν ἡ δύναμις ἐπὶ πλέον τῆς ἀρχῆς· οὐ μόνον γὰρ τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν πρεσβείας ὑφ' ἑαυτῷ τελούσας ὁ μάγιστρος ἔχειν πιστεύεται, τόν τε δημόσιον δρόμον καὶ πλῆθος ἐμβριθὲς τῶν πάλαι μὲν φρουμενταρίων, νῦν δὲ μαγιστριανῶν, τήν τε τῶν ὅπλων κατασκευὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν, ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ τὴν τῶν πολιτικῶν πραγμάτων. καὶ διαφερόντως Πέτρος οὗτος, ὁ πολύς, ὁ μηδενὶ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς κατὰ μηδὲν δεύτερος. διασῴζει μὲν γὰρ καὶ φρουρεῖ τὴν αὐλὴν καὶ τὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν οὐκ ἀποπτύει μεγαλειότητα, ἣν ἐγγὺς ἀπολομένην ἀβελτερίᾳ τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ, οἷα σοφὸς καὶ διὰ παντὸς τοῖς βιβλίοις προσανέχων, ἀποκαθίστησιν· τοὺς δὲ νόμους εἰδὼς εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, οἷς ἐξ ἁπαλῶν ὀνύχων ἐνετράφη, συνηγορῶν τοῖς δεομένοις, ἄρχων τε μέγιστος καὶ ἀξίαν ὀφρὺν τῆς ἐξουσίας ἀνατείνων ἐδείχθη καὶ δικαστὴς ὀξὺς καὶ τὸ δίκαιον κρίνειν εἰλικρινῶς ἐπιστάμενος, κατὰ μηδὲν αὐτὸν ὑπτιαζούσης τῆς τύχης. πρᾶος μὲν γάρ ἐστι καὶ μειλίχιος, ἀλλ' οὐκ εὐχερὴς οὐδὲ πρὸς τὰς αἰτήσεις ἔξω τοῦ νόμου καμπτόμενος, ἀσφαλὴς δὲ ὁμοῦ καὶ προβλέπων τὰς ὁρμὰς τῶν προσιόντων, μηδένα καιρὸν ταῖς ῥᾳθυμίαις παραχωρῶν, τὴν μὲν νύκτα τοῖς βιβλίοις, τὴν δὲ ἡμέραν τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐγκείμενος, μηδὲ αὐτὴν τὴν μέχρι τῆς αὐλῆς ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας ἐν ὁμιλίαις διασυρίζων ἁπλῶς, ζητήμασι δὲ λογικοῖς καὶ ἀφηγήσεσι πραγμάτων ἀρχαιοτέρων μετὰ τῶν περὶ ταῦτα σχολαζόντων εἰλούμενος. καὶ καιρὸς οὐδεὶς αὐτῷ διδαγμάτων ἐστὶν ἀμέριμνος, ὡς τοὺς τῶν λόγων ἐξηγητὰς δεδιέναι τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐντυχίαν· πράγμασι γὰρ αὐτοὺς καὶ στροφαῖς περιβάλλει μετρίως ὑπελέγχων ὡς λέγοιντο μόνον, οὐκ εἰσὶ δὲ τοιοῦτοι ὁποίους αὐτοὺς ἡ φήμη διαθρυλεῖ. ἐμοὶ δὲ μάλιστα σκοτοδινίας οὐ μικρὰς ἀνακινεῖ ἡ πρὸς αὐτὸν συνήθεια. χαίρω γὰρ αὐτῷ, ὅτι καλὸς ἅμα καὶ ἐλεύθερος καὶ τύφου καὶ κορύζης ἐκτός, ἀστεῖός τε καὶ κοινός· ἀλλ' ἐφίησί μοι, ὡς εἴρηται δή, φροντίδας οὐ μικράς, μηδὲν ὧν ἐπίστασθαι δοκῶ προτείνων 124 εἰς ζήτησιν, τὰ δὲ παντελῶς ἠγνοημένα παρεισάγων, ὥστε με τὰς πασῶν ἰσχυροτάτας εὐχὰς μελετᾶν, μηδεμίαν αὐτὸν ἄβατον ἐμοί, ὥσπερ εἴωθεν, ἐπιρροιζῆσαι θεωρίαν.

ΠΕΡῚ ΤΟΥ͂ ἘΠΆΡΧΟΥ ΣΚΥΘΊΑΣ ΚΑῚ ΤΟΥ͂ ἸΟΥΣΤΙΝΙΑΝΟΥ͂ ΠΡΑΊΤΩΡΟΣ ΚΑῚ ΤΟΥ͂

ΚΥΑΙΣΊΤΩΡΟΣ 27 Τοσούτων ἀρχόντων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥώμης τῷ νόμῳ γνωριζομένων μνήμην ἡ

καθ' ὅλου ἱστορία ἐκ προοιμίων ποιεῖται τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς πολιτείας ἄχρι τῆς Ἀναστασίου τοῦ βασιλέως τελευτῆς. κόμιτα γὰρ λαργιτιώνων, ὃν Ἰταλοὶ λέγουσιν, ἀντὶ τοῦ προεστῶτα τῶν τῆς βασιλείας θησαυρῶν, καὶ κόμιτα πριουάτων, ἀντὶ τοῦ τῶν ἰδίᾳ πως τοῖς βασιλεῦσι προσηκόντων, οὐκ ἄν τις ἐν ἀρχόντων ἀριθμήσειέ ποτε καταλόγῳ, θεραπόντων δέ· οὐ μὲν γὰρ προαγωγῆς ἄρχουσι πρεπούσης ἀξιοῦνται, κατὰ δὲ τὸ δοκοῦν τῇ βασιλείᾳ πρόσφατον ἔχουσι καὶ λανθάνουσαν τὴν γένεσιν, ὥσπερ ὁ λεγόμενος πατριμώνιος, ἀντὶ τοῦ φύλαξ τῆς ἰδίᾳ πως ἀνηκούσης τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τυχὸν ἐκ προγόνων περιουσίας, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸν οὐ πρὶν ἀριθμούμενον Ἀναστάσιος ὁ πάντα ἔμφρων ἀνεστήσατο, διάκρισιν, ὥσπερ εἰώθει, περινοῶν τοῖς πράγμασιν ὅπως μὴ συγχύσει κάμνοιεν. 28 Μετ' ἐκεῖνον δέ, Ἰουστίνου ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ βιοῦντος καὶ μηδὲν νεώτερον ἐξευρόντος, ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα, ἀδελφιδοῦς αὐτῷ γενόμενος, πᾶν ὅ τι χρήσιμον περιποιεῖν τοῖς κοινοῖς ἐπειγόμενος, ὅλην τε τὴν ὀφρὺν τῆς ἀρχαίας ὄψεως ἀνακαλούμενος, πρῶτον μὲν ἐξεῦρε τὸν λεγόμενον τῆς Σκυθίας ὕπαρχον. σοφὸς γὰρ ὢν καὶ διὰ τῶν βιβλίων εὑρὼν ὡς εὐδαίμων μὲν ἡ χώρα 126 τοῖς χρήμασιν, ἰσχυρὰ δὲ τοῖς ὅπλοις ἐστί τε νῦν καὶ πάλαι γέγονεν ἣν πρῶτος ἑλὼν σὺν ∆εκεβάλῳ τῶν Γετῶν ἡγησαμένῳ Τραϊανὸς ὁ πολὺς πεντακοσίας μυριάδας χρυσίου