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giving himself over toward evening to the departures of the so-called teams, by which he sated with every desire both the ministers of justice, those attending to business, and those being released from their lawsuits. And none of them endured to withdraw from the court or to relax their labors, but the prefect knew the limit of his authority, understanding wisely that he rules free men and not forever; and to hold the bureau together he would grant respites from their fatigues, providing what are now unknown for the future even by their very name, the *munumissa*—for so antiquity called the single rest given from the middle of the day to the bureau. Those who administered affairs at that time were wise, and having been educated they understood that night was granted by nature for rest, and day for labors, and they considered it impious for men of affairs to stay awake at night and to be deprived of a brief remission of their toils after sunset. But this change for the worse not being sufficient, the *primiscrinii* were also stripped of the consolation and honor from their rank, being deprived, as I said, of this comfort, to the peril of the courts.

158 ON THE COMMENTARII 16 Two in number also were they, as we have already said, the

*commentarienses*, whom time brought to this office from among the stenographers. Six assistants also served them, just as those before them, being taken from the corps of the *Augustales*, unyielding men, displaying a severity befitting the law, with whom rested the entire power of the prefecture. These men brought the criminal investigations to the court, with *apparitors* and *clavicularii* shielding them, as has been shown before, along with a multitude of lictors shaking the court with fear by their iron chains and instruments of punishment and a variety of whips; and by deploying a company of *ducenarii*, even without the authority of the law they were sufficient for the correction of wrongdoers. 17 But I am amazed, recalling and in my mind returning to those men, what fear the *commentarienses* inspired among all who in any way led the bureau, but especially among the *scriniarii*, and how anyone who chanced upon a *commentariensis* passing by was deemed worthy of conversation. For through them not only the impulses of the prefecture but also the emperor’s wrath was served. Therefore I remember, at that time fulfilling the office of the so-called *chartularius* for the *commentarienses*, how when the emperor Anastasius was moved against Apion, a most distinguished man who had shared in his rule when Kawad the Persian was raging, with Leontius, a most lawful man, administering the prefecture, the emperor’s anger entrusted the matters of his indignation—confiscations and exiles—to no other authority than the prefecture alone, 160 in which the *commentarienses* of that time displayed such power and intense activity, with all purity and abstinence from every kind of mindset bent on theft, that the emperor, admiring the virtue of those then serving, entrusted to them all arising needs—among which was also his indignation against Macedonius, then bishop of the imperial city who was, as the story goes, shutting out innovation in doctrines—I mean to the prefect’s *commentarienses*, although Celer, the most beloved of all, was present with the emperor and was elegantly carrying out the duties of the so-called *magister*. 18 And these things have perished "from both gods and men"; for what is left is "of no account and of no number." The extraordinary authority of the so-called *commenta* no less adorned the manifold power of the *scrinium*. For the prefect, either emboldened by the emperor or acting himself according to the law and being eager to bring any official whatsoever or any of the subject population before the law, the *commentariensis* as a confidential secretary

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δὲ πρὸς ἑσπέραν ταῖς τῶν λεγομένων ζευκτῶν ἀπαλλαγαῖς ἐπιδιδούς, δι' ὧν πάσης ἐπιθυμίας τούς τε λειτουργοὺς τῆς δίκης τούς τε τυγχάνοντας τῶν πρακτέων καὶ τοὺς ἀπαλλαττομένους τῶν δικῶν ἐνεφόρει. καὶ παραχωρεῖν μὲν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ ἢ χαλᾶσθαι τοῖς πόνοις οὐδεὶς ἐκείνων ὑπέμενεν, ὁ δὲ ὕπαρχος τὸν ὅρον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔγνω σοφῶς ἐπιστάμενος ὅτι καὶ ἐλευθέρων ἄρχει καὶ οὐ διὰ παντός· καὶ τῇ τάξει συνέχειν ἐδίδου ἀνοχὰς τῶν καμάτων, τὰ νῦν καὶ αὐτῇ τῇ προσηγορίᾳ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀγνοούμενα παρέχων μουνούμισσα οὕτω δὲ τὴν καθ' ἅπαξ ἀνάπαυλαν ἐκ μέσης τῆς ἡμέρας διδομένην τῇ τάξει ἡ παλαιότης ἐκάλεσεν, τῶν τηνικαῦτα διοικούντων τὰ πράγματα σοφοὶ δὲ ἦσαν καὶ παιδευθέντες ἠπίσταντο νύκτα μὲν ταῖς ἀναπαύσεσιν, ἡμέραν δὲ τοῖς πόνοις ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως παρακεχωρῆσθαι, καὶ ἀνόσιον οἰομένων τοὺς ἐν πράγμασι νυκτηγρετοῦντας καὶ τῆς μετὰ ἥλιον ζημιῶσαι βραχείας οὖν τινος τῶν πόνων ἐνδόσεως. οὐκ ἀρκούσης δὲ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον παραλλαγῆς, καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ἐκ τοῦ σχήματος παραψυχῆς τε καὶ τιμῆς ἀφῃρέθησαν οἱ πριμισκρίνιοι, δικαστηρίων κινδύνῳ τῆσδε παραμυθίας, ὡς ἔφην, ἀποστερούμενοι.

158 ΠΕΡῚ ΤΩ͂Ν ΚΟΜΜΕΝΤΑΡΗΣΊΩΝ 16 ∆ύο τὸν ἀριθμὸν καὶ αὐτῶν, ὡς ἔφθημεν εἰπόντες, τυγχανόντων τῶν

κομμενταρησίων, οὓς ὁ χρόνος ἐκ τῶν ταχυγράφων ἔφερε τῆς φροντίδος. ἓξ καὶ αὐτοῖς, καθάπερ τοῖς πρὸ αὐτῶν, ὑπέτρεχον βοηθοί, ἐκ τοῦ τάγματος τῶν Αὐγουσταλίων προσλαμβανόμενοι, ἄνδρες ἀστεμφεῖς καὶ νόμῳ πρέπουσαν αὐστηρίαν ἀνατείνοντες, παρ' οἷς ἐτύγχανεν ἡ πᾶσα δύναμις τῆς ἀρχῆς. οὗτοι τὰς μὲν ἐγκληματικὰς ἐξετάσεις ἔφερον τῷ δικαστηρίῳ, ὑπασπιζόντων αὐτοῖς, ὡς προδεδήλωται, ἀπλικιταρίων τε καὶ κλαβικουλαρίων μετὰ πλήθους ῥαβδούχων σιδηραίοις δεσμοῖς καὶ ποιναίων ὀργάνων καὶ πλήκτρων ποικιλίᾳ σαλευόντων τῷ φόβῳ τὸ δικαστήριον· δουκηναρίων δὲ στῖφος θέμενοι καὶ χωρὶς αὐθεντίας τοῦ νόμου ἤρκουν πρὸς σωφρονισμὸν ἁμαρτάνουσιν. 17 Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐκπλήττομαι ἀναπολῶν καὶ κατὰ νοῦν πρὸς ἐκείνους τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀνατρέχων, οἷος ἦν ὁ φόβος τῶν κομμενταρησίων παρὰ πᾶσι μὲν τοῖς ὅπως οὖν ἡγουμένοις τῆς τάξεως, διαφερόντως δὲ παρὰ τοῖς σκρινιαρίοις, καὶ ὅπως ὁ παραπορευομένου κομμενταρησίου τυχὼν ὁμιλίας ἠξιοῦτο. δι' αὐτῶν γὰρ οὐ τὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς μόνα κινήματα ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ βασιλέως ἀγανάκτησις ἐθεραπεύετο. τοιγαροῦν ἐγὼ διαμέμνημαι, τὴν τοῦ λεγομένου χαρτουλαρίου τηνικαῦτα χάριν πληρῶν τοῖς κομμενταρησίοις, ὡς Ἀναστασίου τοῦ βασιλέως κινηθέντος κατὰ Ἀπίωνος, ἀνδρὸς ἐξοχωτάτου καὶ κοινωνήσαντος αὐτῷ τῆς βασιλείας ὅτε Κωάδης ὁ Πέρσης ἐφλέγμαινεν, Λεοντίου τὴν ἐπαρχότητα διέποντος, ἀνδρὸς νομικωτάτου ἥ τε βασιλέως ὀργὴ δημεύσεις τε καὶ ἀφορισμοὺς οὐκ ἄλλῃ τινὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν ἢ μόνῃ τῇ ἐπαρ 160 χότητι τὰ τῆς ἀγανακτήσεως ἐπίστευεν, ἐν ᾗ τοσαύτην ἐπεδείξαντο δυναστείαν τε καὶ σύντονον ἐντρέχειαν οἱ τότε κομμενταρήσιοι μετὰ πάσης καθαρότητος καὶ ἀποχῆς παντοίας ἐπὶ κλοπὴν ἑστώσης περινοίας, ὥστε τὸν βασιλέα, θαυμάσαντα τὴν ἀρετὴν τῶν τότε στρατευομένων, πάσας τὰς ἀνακυπτούσας χρείας, μεθ' ἃς καὶ τὴν κατὰ Μακεδονίου τότε τὴν βασιλίδα πόλιν ἐπισκοποῦντος ἀγανάκτησιν, ὡς λόγος, περὶ νεωτερισμοῦ δογμάτων ἀποκλείοντος, αὐτοῖς ἐγχειρίσαι, λέγω δὲ τοῖς τῶν ἐπάρχων κομμενταρησίοις, καίτοι Κέλερος τοῦ πάντων φιλτάτου παρόντος τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ τὴν τοῦ λεγομένου μαγίστρου φροντίδα κοσμίως ἀνύοντος. 18 Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν «ἔκ τε θεῶν ἔκ τ' ἀνθρώπων» ἀπόλωλεν· τὸ γὰρ λοιπόν ἐστιν «οὐδ' ἐν λόγῳ οὐδ' ἐν ἀριθμῷ.» ἐκόσμει δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον τὴν πολύτροπον δυναστείαν τοῦ σκρινίου καὶ ἡ τῶν λεγομένων κομμέντων ἐξουσία ὑπερφυής. ὁ γὰρ ὕπαρχος, ἢ παρὰ βασιλέως θαρρούμενος ἢ αὐτὸς κατὰ τὸν νόμον κινούμενος καὶ σπουδάζων ἄρχοντα ὁποῖον οὖν ἢ ὑπηκόων τινὰ παραστῆσαι τῷ νόμῳ, τὸν κομμενταρήσιον μυστογράφον