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he appointed as tax collectors respectable men who were prepared in the subtlety of accounts. Therefore, dressed in the guise of private citizens, they were present in the court, holding nothing else in their hands but the accounts, being called scriniarii, instead of chartophylakes, because the Romans call the railed chest a scrinium, and this name alone has remained with them. However, they did not serve in the military nor did they leave the status of private citizens, as the old registers teach. But in the time of Theodosius the first, when they saw themselves neglected, while those of the officium were then managing affairs, having erased themselves and having collected gold into 188 portions, they petitioned the emperor to be numbered with the officium. And having succeeded and having procured the so-called probatoriae, they were promoted to adiutores, that is, assistants, equal to the others, and having purchased the title of Augustales at a price, until Leo they were considered as if not even serving in the military, as far as those from the officium were concerned. For Roman antiquity does not know them. Whence, when the magistrate even now proceeds to the tribunal, they follow, retiring behind, with only the officium escorting the prefect in rank. Therefore, having erected an entirely silver-wrought statue of the emperor on a column, they adorned what was formerly called the Plakoton, near the city's horologion, as I found recorded in the ancient public instruments. And the statue in our time was advanced for more necessary works of the city, but the column, having been erected before the forum in the so-called Hebdomon, is honored with an image of our most excellent emperor. 36 The standing of the scriniarii thereafter increased from the reign of Zeno, so much so that that of the officium ceased; for while many others, and Polycarp from among them, were snatched up for the prefecture under Anastasius, and then Marinus took upon himself the whole administration of affairs, who himself was one of the scriniarii of Syria, and for the future almost no one else but they alone received the prefecture, due to the reduction of taxes, the affairs of the officium came to complete ruin. For they themselves are cancellarii and logothetes and administrators of the sacred and general treasury, though ancient custom held that no one should enter the office of the so-called cancellarius except only those approved from the Augustales and shorthand writers; since the court recognized only two cancellarii, to whom also one gold piece per day was assigned from the public treasury. The reason for the name is as follows. 190 37 Formerly in the courts, on the level ground, as is still the case now in the provincial ones, a wooden barrier, or as one might say a "partition," made from long pieces of wood set crosswise upon themselves and forming sharp-pointed openings, like a kind of net, stretched across the middle of the court, separating the magistrate from the litigants; the Romans call it cancellus as a diminutive, instead of "a little net," because originally they call nets cancri, and diminutively cancelli. At this partition stood two cancellarii on each side, named from the thing itself; through whom, since no one dared nor was allowed to touch the tribunal, the papers for signature were brought to the magistrate and necessary information was given. But as the dignity had already previously been abused into a multitude, the public treasury suspended the payment, and in our time almost all who in any way are clothed with judicial authority are called cancellarii, and not only they but also the bronze-collectors in the provinces attach to themselves the dignity of cancellarii so that the provincial affairs might be brought to them without fear. 38 Such are the matters concerning the confusion also of this body, and to the scriniarii are added also those in charge of the military, that is the annonary, department; not that they themselves were part of the old appearance of the court, but that, when the military scriniarii were pushed aside, and

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κατεστήσατο τῶν φόρων ἄνδρας αἰδεσίμους καὶ περὶ λεπτότητα λογισμῶν παρασκευασαμένους. ἰδιωτικῷ τοίνυν σχήματι στελλόμενοι παρῆσαν ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ, μηδὲν ἕτερον παρὰ τοὺς λογισμοὺς ἀνὰ χεῖρας ἔχοντες, σκρινιάριοι χρηματίζοντες, ἀντὶ τοῦ χαρτοφύλακες, ὅτι σκρινίον τὴν δρυφάκτην λάρνακα Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσιν, καὶ διέμεινεν ἡ προσηγορία παρ' αὐτοῖς μόνη. οὐ μὴν ἐν στρατείᾳ ἐτέλεσαν οὐδὲ τὴν ἰδιωτῶν τύχην ἐξῆλθον, ὡς αἱ παλαιαὶ διδάσκουσι μάτρικες. ἐπὶ δὲ Θεοδοσίου τοῦ πρώτου, ὡς εἶδον ἑαυτοὺς μὲν ἠμελημένους, τοὺς δὲ τῆς τάξεως διοικοῦντας τότε τὰ πράγματα, ἑαυτοὺς διαγράψαντες καὶ χρυσίον εἰς 188 φίλτρα διαθροίσαντες ἐδεήθησαν τῆς βασιλείας συναριθμηθῆναι τῇ τάξει. καὶ τυχόντες καὶ τὰς λεγομένας προβατωρίας πορισάμενοι εἰς μὲν ἀδιούτωρας, οἷον εἰ βοηθούς, ἀνηνέχθησαν ἴσα τοῖς ἄλλοις, τὸ δὲ Αὐγουσταλίων ὄνομα πριάμενοι τιμίως, ἄχρι Λέοντος ὡς εἰ μηδὲ στρατευόμενοι, ὅσον πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς τάξεως, ἐνομίσθησαν. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἶδεν αὐτοὺς ἡ Ῥωμαίων παλαιότης. ὅθεν, τῆς ἀρχῆς ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος προϊούσης, ἐξόπισθεν ὑποχωροῦντες παρέπονται, μόνης τῆς τάξεως στιχηδὸν διευθυνούσης τὸν ὕπαρχον. εἰκόνα οὖν τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀργυρήλατον ὅλην ἐπὶ κίονος ἀναστήσαντες τὸ πάλαι καλούμενον Πλακωτὸν πρὸς τῷ ὡρολογίῳ τῆς πόλεως διεκόσμησαν, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τοῦ δημοσίου ἰνστρουμέντου ηὗρον ἱστορημένον. καὶ ἡ μὲν στήλη καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὰ χρειωδέστερα ἔργα τῆς πόλεως προεχώρησεν, ὁ δὲ κίων πρὸ τῆς ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ Ἑβδόμῳ ἀγορᾶς ἀναστὰς τῇ τοῦ κρατίστου ἡμῶν βασιλέως εἰκόνι σεμνύνεται. 36 Ηὐξήθη δὲ λοιπὸν τὰ τῶν σκρινιαρίων ἀπὸ τῆς Ζήνωνος βασιλείας τοσοῦτον, ὅσον τὰ τῆς τάξεως ἔληξεν· πολλῶν μὲν γὰρ ἄλλων καὶ Πολυκάρπου δὲ ἀπ' αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἁρπασθέντος ὑπὸ τῷ Ἀναστασίῳ, εἶτα καὶ Μαρίνου τὴν ὅλην ἀναζωσαμένου τῶν πραγμάτων διοίκησιν, ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς εἷς τῶν τῆς Συρίας σκρινιαρίων ἐτύγχανεν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὐχ ἑτέρου ἢ αὐτῶν σχεδὸν καὶ μόνων τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκδεχομένων, διὰ τὴν τῶν φόρων ἐλάττωσιν εἰς παντελῆ ἀπώλειαν τὰ τῆς τάξεως κατέστη. καγκελλάριοι γὰρ αὐτοὶ καὶ λογοθέται καὶ τῆς θείας καὶ γενικῆς τραπέζης διοικηταί, τῆς ἀρχαίας συνηθείας ἐχούσης μηδένα εἰς τὸ τοῦ λεγομένου καγκελλαρίου λειτούργημα ἢ μόνους τοὺς εὐδοκιμοῦντας ἐκ τῶν Αὐγουσταλίων καὶ ταχυγράφων παριέναι· ἐπεὶ καὶ δύο μόνους καγκελλαρίους τὸ δικαστήριον ἐγνώριζεν, οἷς καὶ χρύσινος εἷς καθ' ἡμέραν ἀπὸ τοῦ δημοσίου ἀφώριστο. ἡ δὲ αἰτία τῆς προσηγορίας ὧδε. 190 37 Τὸ πρὶν καθ' ὁμαλοῦ ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις, ὥσπερ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν τοῖς ἐπιχωρίοις ἐστίν, ἔρυμα καί, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι «διαφραγμόν,» ξυλουργές, ἀπὸ σχιδάκων μακρῶν ἀντιπλαγιαζομένων ἐφ' αὐτοὺς καὶ διόπτρας ὀξυτελεῖς, καθάπερ δικτύου τινός, ἀποτελούντων, ἐπὶ μέσου διέτεινε τοῦ δικαστηρίου, χωρίζον τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν ὑποδίκων· κάγκελλον αὐτὸ οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσιν ὑποκοριστικῶς, ἀντὶ τοῦ δικτύδιον, ὅτι πρωτοτύπως κάγκρους αὐτοὶ τὰ δίκτυα λέγουσιν, ὑποκοριστικῶς δὲ καγκέλλους. ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ διατμήματος ἵσταντο δύο ἀφ' ἑκατέρας πλευρᾶς καγκελλάριοι, ἐκ τοῦ πράγματος ἐπιφημιζόμενοι· δι' ὧν, ἐπεὶ μηδεὶς ἐθάρρει ἀλλ' οὐδὲ συνεχωρεῖτο προσψαῦσαι τῷ βήματι, οἵ τε πρὸς ὑπογραφὴν χάρται τῇ ἀρχῇ προσεφέροντο ἥ τε τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐγίνετο μήνυσις. ἀλλ' ἤδη πρότερον εἰς πλῆθος τοῦ ἀξιώματος ὑβρισθέντος, τὸ μὲν δημόσιον ἀνήρτησε τὴν ἐπίδοσιν, πάντες δὲ σχεδὸν οἱ ὅπως οὖν δικασπολίαν περικείμενοι καγκελλάριοι καθ' ἡμᾶς χρηματίζουσιν, καὶ οὐκ αὐτοὶ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐν ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις χαλκολογοῦντες τὸ καγκελλαρίων περιάπτουσιν ἑαυτοῖς ἀξίωμα ὅπως αὐτοῖς τὰ τῶν ἐπαρχιῶν ἀδεῶς προσάγοιτο. 38 Τοιαῦτα μὲν τὰ περὶ τῆς συγχύσεως καὶ τοῦδε τοῦ σχήματος, τοῖς δὲ σκρινιαρίοις προστέθεινται καὶ οἱ τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ, οἷον εἰ ἀννωνιακοῦ, προεστηκότες φροντίσματος· οὐχ ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ μέρος ἐτύγχανον τῆς παλαιᾶς ὄψεως τοῦ δικαστηρίου, ἀλλ' ὅτι, τῶν στρατηγικῶν παρωθηθέντων σκρινιαρίων, καὶ