29

to lay as a foundation for the history, through which one might dimly glimpse as in a mirror the brilliance and good order that once prevailed in it; which, when it was nearly lost, our noble emperor did not allow to be completely extinguished, but holds together and, as it were, tightens antiquity as it flows away with time. And through him the state is indeed greater than it recently was, with Libya having been restored to us, no small possession, and the greatest part of Europe; for it shares in the west wind, in the same way that Asia alone gives the whole east wind, and of Rome itself, the mother of affairs, having been freed by the sweat of the emperor from the bonds of barbarian power, and all the features that were ever of the state are preserved with a stronger rule; the laws have been freed from disturbances and burdensome confusion and justice is manifest and the litigious regret having previously stayed awake for their disputes, no fight hereafter being left because of the clarity of the laws. And the virtue of the emperor is indeed greater than all praise; but for me it is time to proceed in my account to the subject. 2 The division, therefore, which obeyed the Master of the Horse was once entirely under arms; and its names in general were promoti, which name is divided into four categories: ducenarii, centenarii, centurions, biarchi, about whom I would have related according to the tradition of the tacticians if I were not being pushed far from my subject; and of this title, that of the promoti I mean, even now the so-called matrices, that is, 134 the registers of the lists, preserve the memory. But from Augustus, when the government had changed to another form, as has often been said, there were added the so-called adiutores, as if helpers; and only this title is recalled by the probatoriae provided by the emperors to those entering military service, as if recommendations and proofs; for in the past one did not simply have permission, whoever wished to put on any kind of military belt, without first demonstrating that he was suitable for it; for probare, the Romans say, is to show the subject with testing. But now the crowd calls them privatoriae from an ignorant divination that reveals the truth, thereby introducing the fortune of a private citizen. For they do not differ from a private citizen, those who by title only undertake any kind of military service; not that affairs have not taken on a better and more fruitful appearance through the care of the emperor, but that they themselves are not suitable as they come to their duties. 3 In common then, to all the lists by the emperor's subscription, were adiutores, being stationed in ancient times in the front of the line of battle; for it says thus: et collocare eum in legione prima adiutrice nostra, as if to say: "and you would post him in the first legion, which assists us." Whence the one who is first in the entire list is even now called cornicularius, that is, horn-wearer or champion. For in the middle of the army in battle was the monarch or at any rate the prefect or the Caesar, and the title of imperator was common to them, as I said; for it is not of the emperors alone but absolutely of the one who has been allotted to manage the war 136 with supreme power. And in the middle was, as has been said, the supreme commander, as Frontinus says, and on the left flank the master of the horse or at any rate the prefect, and on the other the praetors and legates, that is, generals and envoys, whom the consuls used to leave behind in their own place, when their time of the consulate was already coming to an end, to be in command of the army until the arrival of the future consul for the war. And since the so-called legion amounted to six thousand foot-soldiers in number, and since there were only ten total legions from of old, besides the Roman cavalry and auxiliaries and cohorts and turmae and the other forces, and then also foreign, as I said, the cornicularius was posted first, and for this reason he still even now stands at the head of the whole division, even if it was decided that the prefect should no longer go to wars, for the reasons we have stated. 4 Since, therefore, all the others were adiutores, the prefect through

29

ὑποθεῖναι τῇ ἱστορίᾳ, δι' οὗ ἄν τις ἀμυδρῶς ἐσοπτρίσοιτο τὴν πάλαι κρατήσασαν ἐν αὐτῇ λαμπρότητά τε καὶ εὐταξίαν· ἣν ἐγγὺς ἀπολομένην ὁ γενναῖος ἡμῶν βασιλεὺς οὐκ εἴασε παντελῶς ἀποσβεσθῆναι, συνέχει δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ σφίγγει διαρρέουσαν τῷ χρόνῳ τὴν ἀρχαιότητα. καὶ μεῖζον μέν ἐστι δι' αὐτοῦ ἤπερ ἄρτι καθεστήκει τὸ πολίτευμα, Λιβύης ἡμῖν ἀποδοθείσης οὐ μικρὸν δὲ τὸ κτῆμα, τῆς δὲ Εὐρώπης τὸ πλεῖστον· κοινωνεῖ γὰρ αὐτῇ τοῦ ζεφύρου, καθ' ὃ τὸν εὖρον ὅλον δίδωσιν ἡ Ἀσία καὶ μόνη, καὶ αὐτῆς δὲ Ῥώμης, τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων μητρός, ἀπαλλαγείσης ἱδρῶτι τῆς βασιλείας δεσμῶν καὶ βαρβαρικῆς ἐξουσίας, πάντα δὲ ὅσα ἦν ποτε τῆς πολιτείας γνωρίσματα μετὰ κρείττονος ἀποσῴζεται δυναστείας· οἵ τε νόμοι θορύβων καὶ πολυφόρτου συγχύσεως ἀπηλλάγησαν καὶ προφανές ἐστι τὸ δίκαιον καὶ μεταμέλει τοῖς φιλοδίκοις τὸ πρὶν ἐναγρυπνῆσαι ταῖς φιλονεικίαις, μάχης οὐδεμιᾶς τὸ λοιπὸν διὰ τῆς τῶν νόμων καθαρότητος ὑπολιμπανομένης. καὶ κρείττων μὲν ἡ βασιλέως ἀρετὴ ἐπαίνου παντός· ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ καιρὸς ἐπὶ τὸν σκοπὸν διαβῆναι τῷ λόγῳ. 2 Ἡ τοίνυν τῷ ἱππάρχῳ πειθαρχήσασα τάξις ποτὲ ἐν ὅπλοις μὲν ἦν ἅπασα· ὀνόματα δὲ αὐτῇ καθ' ὁμαλοῦ προμῶται, ὅπερ ὄνομα εἰς τέσσαρας τέμνεται λόγους· εἰς δουκηναρίους, εἰς κεντηναρίους, εἰς κεντουρίωνας, εἰς βιάρχους, περὶ ὧν ἂν κατὰ τὴν τῶν τακτικῶν παράδοσιν ἀφηγησάμην εἰ μὴ πόρρω τοῦ σκοποῦ παρωθούμην· καὶ ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας, τῆς τῶν προμωτῶν λέγω, ἔτι καὶ νῦν αἱ λεγόμεναι μάτρικες, ἀντὶ τοῦ 134 ἀπογραφαὶ τῶν καταλόγων, μνήμην ἀναφέρουσιν. ἀπὸ δ' Αὐγούστου εἰς ἕτερον σχῆμα τῆς ἀρχῆς περιστάσης, ὡς πολλάκις εἴρηται, προσετέθησαν οἱ λεγόμενοι ἀδιούτωρες, οἷον εἰ βοηθοί· καὶ ταύτης μόνης τῆς προσηγορίας μνημονεύουσιν αἱ παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων παρεχόμεναι τοῖς εἰς στρατείαν παριοῦσι προβατωρίαι, οἷον εἰ συστάσεις καὶ ἀποδείξεις οὐδὲ γὰρ ἁπλῶς τὸ πρὶν ἄδειαν εἶχεν ὁ βουλόμενος ζώνην περιθέσθαι οἵαν οὖν, μὴ πρότερον ἀποδείξας ὡς εἴη πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπιτήδειος· προβᾶρε γὰρ τὸ μετὰ δοκιμῆς ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸ ὑποκείμενον λέγουσιν οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι. νῦν δὲ τὸ πλῆθος αὐτὰς ἐξ ἀμαθοῦς μαντείας τἀληθὲς παραδηλούσης πριβατωρίας καλεῖ, αὐτόθεν τὴν ἰδιώτου τύχην εἰσαγούσης. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἰδιώτου διαφέρουσιν οἱ μόνῃ προσηγορίᾳ στρατείαν οἵαν οὖν ὑπερχόμενοι· οὐχ ὅτι τὰ πράγματα μὴ τὴν κρείττονα καὶ καρπιμωτέραν εἴληχεν ὄψιν τῇ βασιλέως ἐμμελείᾳ, ἀλλ' ὅτι αὐτοὶ οὐκ εὐπρεπεῖς πρὸς τὰς λειτουργίας παρίασιν. 3 Κοινῇ μὲν οὖν ἅπασι τοῖς καταλόγοις ἐκ τῆς βασιλέως ὑποσημειώσεως ἀδιούτωρες, ἐπὶ τοῦ μετώπου τῆς παρατάξεως τὸ πάλαι ταττόμενοι· φησὶ γὰρ οὕτως· et collocare eum in legione prima adiutrice nostra, οἷον εἰπεῖν· «καὶ τάξειας αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τάγματι τῷ βοηθοῦντι ἡμῖν.» ὅθεν ὁ πρωτεύων τοῦ παντὸς καταλόγου ἔτι καὶ νῦν κορνικουλάριος ἀναφέρεται, ἀντὶ τοῦ κεραΐτης ἢ πρόμαχος. μέσος μὲν γὰρ ἦν τῆς στρατιᾶς ἐπὶ τῆς συμπλοκῆς ὁ μόναρχος ἤ γ' οὖν ὁ ὕπαρχος ἢ ὁ Καῖσαρ, τὸ δὲ ἰμπεράτωρος ἐπώνυμον κοινὸν ἦν αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἔφην· οὐδὲ γὰρ μόνων τῶν βασιλέων ἐστὶν ἀλλ' ἀπολύτως τοῦ αὐτοκρατῶς 136 διοικεῖν εἰληχότος τὸν πόλεμον. καὶ μέσος μὲν ἦν, ὡς εἴρηται, ὁ αὐτοκράτωρ, ὡς ὁ Φροντῖνος λέγει, ἐξ εὐωνύμου δὲ πλευρᾶς ὁ ἵππαρχος ἤ γ' οὖν ὕπαρχος, ἐκ δὲ τῆς ἑτέρας οἱ πραίτωρες καὶ ληγᾶτοι, ἀντὶ τοῦ στρατηγοὶ καὶ πρεσβευταί, οὓς κατελίμπανον οἱ ὕπατοι ἀνθ' ἑαυτῶν, ἤδη τοῦ τῆς ὑπατείας αὐτοῖς συντελουμένου χρόνου, εἰς τὸ ἐφεστάναι τῷ στρατῷ ἄχρι τῆς τοῦ μέλλοντος ὑπάτου ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον παρουσίας. τῆς δὲ καλουμένης λεγιῶνος εἰς ἑξακισχιλίους τελούσης πεζομάχους τὸν ἀριθμόν οὐσῶν δὲ δέκα καὶ μόνων τῶν πασῶν λεγιώνων ἀνέκαθεν, ἔξωθεν ἱππικῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς καὶ αὐξιλιαρίας καὶ κοορταλίας καὶ τουρμαλίας καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν δυνάμεων, εἶτα δὲ καὶ ξενικῆς, ὡς ἔφην, πρῶτος ἐτέτακτο ὁ κορνικουλάριος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο προὔστηκεν ἔτι καὶ νῦν τῆς πάσης τάξεως, κἂν εἰ μηκέτι ἐπὶ τοὺς πολέμους ἀφικνεῖσθαι τὸν ὕπαρχον ἔδοξεν, δι' οὓς εἰρήκαμεν λογισμούς. 4 Τῶν οὖν ἄλλων πάντων ἀδιουτώρων ὄντων, ὁ ὕπαρχος δι'