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The list of these was completed. And by the emperor's excellence, what was thought to have been devised for the malicious purposes of others was shown to be well-managed for a beneficial end. The grain supply, which from of old was under the city prefecture, having been taken away by the power and authority of the abominable Cappadocian, about whom I will speak a little later—for he thought he needed to add to his injustices against the provinces 192 the subjection of the emperor's own city—Gabrielius alone, while city prefect, restored it to the jurisdiction; for the emperor, being noble and generous, is by nature disposed to respect those who emulate him in birth, life, and ambition to the best of their ability. But when Gabrielius himself laid down his office, the care for the public plenty returned again to the greater jurisdiction, so that it was shown clearly to all that the emperor, delighting in Gabrielius as he deserved, had yielded. For it was fitting for him, being a good man and incomparable in his virtues, to find greater favor with an emperor who honors justice and piety and nobility of birth. 39 It remains, then, to assign the reasons for the decline and for so great a change in affairs. And even if it happens that one can still now perceive the office itself to be greater and more renowned than itself through the vigilance of the emperor—for there is no part of the whole state that the emperor has not in general raised up with beauty to both height and mighty power, going around and observing, nor any of the distinguishing marks belonging to it from of old that he did not receive with an addition of virtues—but that time, being destructive by nature, has either completely extinguished or so altered many of the necessary and orderly things of the staff subordinate to the office, as to preserve for the future a faint trace of what was once admired, while the office consists in its own power, but the staff, now from the office's alterations, now from its own negligence, were it not for God and this emperor who is noble in all things assisting, was slipping close to complete dissolution. And if by chance, in its zeal for the common liberty, my account, proceeding gently, should assail somewhat sharply one of those who exercised their offices not in accordance with the emperor's nobility and goodness, let those who look upon matters with sound judgment attribute the indignation not to the offices themselves but to those who used them improperly. For my account has dared not only to censure the bad, but it has also honored the good, 194 even if not according to their merit. For in this way those who are ignorant of the limit of their office will be shamed from insulting liberty and tearing apart their subjects, and those who emulate the emperor's gentleness will hasten in a swift course toward his other virtues, but it is time now to go through the narrative and state the reasons on account of which the affairs of the staff were brought to such a state of alteration. 40 When Constantine, as I said, abandoned Rome along with its Fortune and the forces that guarded the Ister were scattered to lower Asia by the emperor's decree, the treasury was deprived of Scythia and Moesia and the tribute from them, as the barbarians beyond the Ister, with no one opposing them, overran Europe; and since those in the East were not moderately burdened with tribute, it became necessary for the prefect no longer to command the court and the armed forces, the one having been handed over to the so-called magister, and the others having been assigned to the recently advanced generals, but, at any rate, to be styled prefect of the East. But the power of the office was dragged down no less, dying daily, until the reign of Arcadius, the father of Theodosius the Younger; in whose time it happened that Rufinus, surnamed the insatiable, who was his prefect, having plotted a usurpation, failed in his aim for the benefit of the commonweal, but cast the office into a yawning abyss. For immediately the emperor deprives the office of its power over the armed forces, then of the authority over the so-called fabricae, that is, the arms-factories, and of the care of the public post and of the other authority through which the so-called was established

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τούτων συνέβη ἀποτελεσθῆναι τὸν κατάλογον. τῇ δὲ βασιλέως ἀρετῇ τὸ πρὸς ἄλλων ἐπηρείας ἐξηυρῆσθαι νομισθὲν εἰς λυσιτελοῦν καλῶς διοικούμενον ἀπεδείχθη. τοῦ γε μὴν σιτωνικοῦ ἀνέκαθεν ὑπὸ τὴν πολιαρχίαν τελοῦντος, δυνάμει δὲ καὶ αὐθεντίᾳ τοῦ βδελυροῦ Καππαδόκου, περὶ οὗ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐρῶ, ἀφαιρεθέντος, προσδεῖν γὰρ ᾤετο τοῖς κατὰ τῶν ἐπαρχιῶν 192 ἀδικήμασιν αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν βασιλέως πόλιν ὑπαγαγεῖν, μόνος Γαβριήλιος πολιαρχῶν ἀποκατέστησεν ἐκεῖνο τῷ δικαστηρίῳ· πέφυκε γὰρ ὁ βασιλεύς, καλὸς ὢν καὶ ἐλεύθερος, ἐρυθριᾶν τοὺς γένει καὶ βίῳ καὶ φιλοτιμίᾳ ζηλοῦντας αὐτὸν κατὰ δύναμιν. αὐτοῦ δὲ Γαβριηλίου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποθεμένου, αὖθις πρὸς τὸ μεῖζον ἡ φροντὶς τῆς εὐθηνίας δικαστήριον ἐπανῆλθεν, ὡς δῆλον ἄντικρυς πᾶσιν ἀποδειχθῆναι ὅτι Γαβριηλίῳ κατ' ἀξίαν χαίρων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐνδέδωκεν. ἔδει γὰρ αὐτόν, ἄνδρα ἀγαθὸν ὄντα καὶ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἀσύγκριτον, τὸ πλέον εὑρεῖν παρὰ βασιλεῖ τιμῶντι δικαιοσύνην τε καὶ θεοφιλίαν καὶ γένους λαμπρότητα. 39 Ὑπόλοιπον ἄρα τυγχάνει τὰς αἰτίας τῆς ἐλαττώσεως καὶ τῆς τοσαύτης τῶν πραγμάτων παραλλαγῆς ἀποδοῦναι. κἂν εἰ τυχὸν αὐτὴν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἑαυτῆς καὶ μείζονα καὶ κλεινοτέραν τῇ βασιλέως ἀγρυπνίᾳ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἔστι συνιδεῖν οὐδὲ γὰρ μέλος ἐστὶ τῆς ὅλης πολιτείας ὃ μὴ καθ' ὅλου εἰς ὕψος τε ἅμα καὶ δύναμιν ἰσχυρὰν ὁ βασιλεὺς μετὰ καλοῦ ἀνέστησεν, περινοστῶν ἅμα καὶ περιθεώμενος, μήτε τῶν ἀνέκαθεν ὑπαρξάντων αὐτῇ γνωρισμάτων ὃ μὴ μετὰ προσθήκης τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑπολάβοι, ἀλλ' ὅτι ὁ χρόνος, λυμαντικὸς ὢν κατὰ φύσιν, τὰ πολλὰ τῶν τῆς πειθομένης τῇ ἀρχῇ τάξεως χρειώδη ἅμα καὶ κόσμια ἢ παντελῶς ἔσβεσεν ἢ τοσοῦτον ἐνήμειψεν, ὡς ἴχνος ἀμυδρὸν τῶν ποτε θαυμαζομένων τὸ λοιπὸν διασῴζειν, τῆς μὲν ἀρχῆς ἐν τῇ σφετέρᾳ δυνάμει συνισταμένης, τῆς δὲ τάξεως, νῦν μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνης παραλλαγῶν, νῦν δὲ ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων ῥᾳθυμιῶν, εἰ μὴ θεὸς καὶ βασιλεὺς οὗτος ὁ πάντα καλὸς ἐπεκούρει, ἐγγὺς εἰς παντελῆ κατάλυσιν ὀλισθαινούσης. εἰ δέ που τυχὸν τῷ περὶ τὴν κοινὴν ἐλευθερίαν ζήλῳ τινὸς τῶν μὴ κατὰ σκοπὸν τῆς βασιλέως καλοκἀγαθίας τὰς ἀρχὰς διανυσάντων δριμύτερον ἠρέμα προϊὼν ὁ λόγος καθάψεται, μὴ ταῖς ἀρχαῖς αὐταῖς ἀλλὰ τοῖς οὐ προσηκόντως ἀποχρησαμένοις αὐταῖς τὴν ἀγανάκτησιν οἱ σωφρόνως εἰς τὰ πράγματα βλέποντες ἀναγέτωσαν. οὐδὲ γὰρ τοὺς κακοὺς ἐλέγχειν μόνον ὁ λόγος ἐτόλμησεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀγαθούς, 194 εἰ καὶ μὴ κατ' ἀξίαν, ἐκόσμησεν. οὕτω γὰρ ὑβρίζειν μὲν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ σπαράττειν τοὺς ὑπηκόους οἱ τὸν ὅρον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀγνοοῦντες ἐντραπήσονται, οἵ τε ζηλοῦντες τὴν βασιλέως πραότητα καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας ἀρετὰς αὐτοῦ ὀξεῖ τῷ δρόμῳ σπουδάσουσιν, καιρὸς δὲ ἄρα τὴν ἀφήγησιν διελθεῖν καὶ τὰς αἰτίας εἰπεῖν, ὧν ἕνεκα τὰ τῆς τάξεως ἐπὶ τοσαύτην ἐναλλαγὴν κατηνέχθη. 40 Κωνσταντίνου, ὥσπερ ἔφην, μετὰ τῆς Τύχης τὴν Ῥώμην ἀπολιπόντος καὶ τῶν δυνάμεων ὅσαι τὸν Ἴστρον ἐφρούρουν ἐπὶ τὴν κάτω Ἀσίαν ψήφῳ τοῦ βασιλέως διασπαρεισῶν, Σκυθίαν μὲν καὶ Μυσίαν καὶ τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνων φόρους ἐζημιώθη τὸ δημόσιον, τῶν ὑπὲρ Ἴστρον βαρβάρων, μηδενὸς ἀνθισταμένου, κατατρεχόντων τὴν Εὐρώπην· τῶν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἕω δασμῷ οὐ μετρίως βαρηθέντων, ἀνάγκη γέγονε τὸν ὕπαρχον μηκέτι μὲν τῆς αὐλῆς καὶ τῶν ἐν ὅπλοις ἄρχειν δυνάμεων τῆς μὲν τῷ λεγομένῳ μαγίστρῳ παραδοθείσης, τῶν δὲ τοῖς ἄρτι προελθοῦσι στρατηγοῖς ἐκτεθεισῶν, ἀλλ' οὖν ὕπαρχον τῆς ἀνατολῆς χρηματίζειν. διεσύρη δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον θανατῶσα καθ' ἑκάστην ἡ τῆς ἀρχῆς δυναστεία ἄχρι τῆς Ἀρκαδίου, τοῦ πατρὸς Θεοδοσίου τοῦ Νέου, βασιλείας· ἐφ' οὗ συμβέβηκεν Ῥουφῖνον τὸν ἐπίκλην ἀκόρεστον, ὃς ἦν ὕπαρχος αὐτῷ, τυραννίδα μελετήσαντα τοῦ μὲν σκοποῦ ὑπὲρ λυσιτελείας τῶν κοινῶν ἐκπεσεῖν, εἰς βάραθρον δ' ἀχανὲς τὴν ἀρχὴν καταρρῖψαι. αὐτίκα μὲν γὰρ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς ἐκ τῶν ὅπλων ἰσχύος ἀφαιρεῖται τὴν ἀρχήν, εἶτα τῆς τῶν λεγομένων φαβρικῶν, οἷον εἰ ὁπλοποιϊῶν, ἐξουσίας, τῆς τε τοῦ δημοσίου δρόμου φροντίδος καὶ τῆς ἑτέρας αὐθεντίας δι' ὧν τὸ λεγόμενον συνέστη