43

mastership. But since it was a difficult task for the prefect to maintain the public horses and their overseers throughout the provinces, and for others to possess the authority and administration over them, a law was enacted decreeing that the prefect should hold on to the care of the public post, but that the first princeps of the frumen 196 tarii—he happens to be called princeps of the master today—should be present at all times in the court of the praetorian prefect and be officious and investigate the reasons for which many, having obtained from the authority the so-called warrants, have used the public post. For this reason he was also named *curiosus*, instead of inquisitive; and not he alone but also all those who are in charge of the public horses in the provinces, with the so-called master also countersigning the warrants for the post. That this is so, it is possible to hear from the edict itself, which is laid down in the old Theodosian code, but overlooked in the new. 41 Thus, then, with the office being brought down as if by some underpinning, the emperor placed the military rolls under the then-called *comites* and generals, and the ranks in the palace under the chief of the court forces, whom, a no small magistrate himself, like the so-called *stratelatai*, the reductions of the prefecture brought into being. For expensive buildings, when demolished, suffice for many to build with. And as long as it was the case that the emperors went out to the wars in person, the office had some, if not so great, yet above all other offices, strength and power; but from the time when it happened that the very young Theodosius last took hold of the empire and, according to his father's law, was not permitted to be present at the wars, and this was forbidden by a general law forbidding a Roman emperor to set out for war, naturally the affairs of war became the domain of the generals, and those of the palace, of the master, so that the prefecture henceforth had nothing else but only the care of expenditures, which is likely to arise of necessity both concerning the magistrates branching off from it and concerning those, indeed, whom they were supposedly appointed to rule. 198 42 But if anyone should venture to include in the count of arguments the conjectures from prophecies, which some call oracles, what was once said to Fonteius the Roman has reached its fulfillment; for he says and reports certain verses supposedly given once to Romulus in the ancestral tongue which openly foretold that the Romans would abandon Fortune at the time when they themselves forgot their ancestral tongue. And we have inserted the so-called oracle in our work *On the Months*, but such prophecies rather have come to pass. For when a certain Cyrus, an Egyptian, still admired even now for his poetry, was administering at the same time the city prefecture and the praetorian prefecture, and knew nothing besides poetry, then dared to transgress the ancient custom and delivered the decrees in the Greek tongue, along with the Roman tongue the office also cast off its Fortune. For the emperor was persuaded to enact a law stripping the prefecture of all authority. For the office which recently had the power to lighten taxes and grain allowances and lights and spectacles and renewal of works was henceforth not sufficient to grant these to the cities, nor did it dare to impart even some small consolation to anyone from the public funds. And Demosthenes in our time, who was himself prefect, not even after a command of imperial letters, unless a pragmatic sanction was enacted, brought it about that the prefecture should have permission to make grants to its subjects, not only being wary of doing good to the taxpayers himself, but also closing off the possibility for others henceforth. And with the office having now been deprived of even its superficial appearance, it followed that those who were hearing appeal cases disparaged the court, though it was entirely forbidden. And this was defined by law; for 200 the emperor's clemency did not endure to cut off from the litigants the hope arising from an appeal, which judges, foreseeing, perhaps incorruptibly would into

43

μαγιστέριον. ὡς δὲ δύσεργον ἦν ἀποτρέφειν μὲν τὸν ὕπαρχον ἀνὰ τὰς ἐπαρχίας τοὺς δημοσίους ἵππους καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῖς ἐφεστῶτας, ἑτέρους δὲ κεκτῆσθαι τὴν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν καὶ διοίκησιν, νόμος ἐτέθη θεσπίζων, ἀντέχεσθαι μὲν τὸν ὕπαρχον τῆς τοῦ δημοσίου δρόμου φροντίδος, τὸν πρῶτον μέντοι τῶν φρουμεν 196 ταρίων πρίγκιπα αὐτὸν σήμερον τοῦ μαγίστρου καλεῖσθαι συμβαίνει παρεῖναι διὰ παντὸς τῷ δικαστηρίῳ τοῦ τῶν πραιτωρίων ὑπάρχου καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖν καὶ τὰς αἰτίας ἐξερευνᾶν ὧν ἕνεκα πολλοὶ ποριζόμενοι παρὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς τὰ λεγόμενα συνθήματα τῷ δημοσίῳ κέχρηνται δρόμῳ ταύτῃ καὶ κουριῶσος ὠνομάσθη, ἀντὶ τοῦ περίεργος· καὶ οὐκ αὐτὸς μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες ὅσοι κἀν ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις τοῖς δημοσίοις ἐφεστήκασιν ἵπποις, προσυπογράφοντος τοῖς ἐπὶ τῷ δρόμῳ συνθήμασι καὶ τοῦ λεγομένου μαγίστρου. ὅτι δὲ οὕτως, αὐτῆς δυνατὸν ἀκοῦσαι τῆς διατάξεως, ἐν μὲν τῷ παλαιῷ Θεοδοσιανῷ κειμένης, ἐν δὲ τῷ νεαρῷ παροφθείσης. 41 Οὕτως οὖν ὥσπερ δι' ὑποβάθρων τινῶν καταφερομένης τῆς ἀρχῆς, τοὺς μὲν στρατιωτικοὺς καταλόγους ἔταξεν ἡ βασιλεία ὑπὸ τοῖς τότε καλουμένοις κόμισιν καὶ στρατηγοῖς, τὰς δὲ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ τάξεις ὑπὸ τῷ πρωτεύοντι τῶν δυνάμεων τῆς αὐλῆς, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸν ἄρχοντα οὐ μικρόν, καθάπερ τοὺς λεγομένους στρατηλάτας, αἱ τῆς ἐπαρχότητος ἐλαττώσεις ἀπετέλεσαν. τὰ γὰρ πολυτελῆ τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων καταλυόμενα πολλοῖς ἐπαρκεῖ πρὸς οἰκοδομήν. καὶ ἕως μὲν τοὺς βασιλέας ἐπεξιέναι δι' ἑαυτῶν τοῖς πολέμοις συνέβαινεν, εἶχέ τινα ἡ ἀρχή, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοσαύτην, πλὴν ὑπὲρ πάσας τὰς ἄλλας ἰσχύν τε καὶ δύναμιν· ἐξ ὅτε δὲ συνέβη τελευταῖον Θεοδόσιον νέον κομιδῇ τῆς βασιλείας ἐπιλαβέσθαι καὶ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς νομοθεσίαν μὴ συγχωρεῖσθαι τοῖς πολέμοις παρεῖναι, καὶ τούτου νόμῳ γενικῷ κωλυθέντος ἀπολέγοντι βασιλεῖ Ῥωμαίων ὁρμᾶν ἐπὶ πόλεμον, εἰκότως τοῖς μὲν στρατηγοῖς τὰ τῶν πολέμων, τῷ δὲ μαγίστρῳ τὰ τοῦ παλατίου γέγονε χώρα, ὡς μηδὲν ἕτερον ἔχειν τὸ λοιπὸν τὴν ἐπαρχότητα ἢ μόνον τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς δαπάναις φροντίδα, ἣν εἰκός ἐστι γενέσθαι κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον περί τε τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς παραφυομένους ἄρχοντας καὶ περὶ ἐκείνους γε μήν, ὧν αὐτοὶ δῆθεν ἐτάχθησαν ἄρχειν. 198 42 Εἰ δέ τις καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν προρρήσεων στοχασμούς, οὕς τινες καλοῦσι χρησμούς, ἐν ἀριθμῷ λόγων παραλαβεῖν ὑπομένοι, πέρας ἔλαβε τὰ Φοντηΐῳ τῷ Ῥωμαίῳ ῥηθέντα ποτέ· φησὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος καὶ στίχους τινὰς δοθέντας δῆθεν Ῥωμύλῳ ποτὲ πατρίοις ῥήμασιν ἀναφέρει τοὺς ἀναφανδὸν προλέγοντας, τότε Ῥωμαίους τὴν Τύχην ἀπολείψειν ὅτε αὐτοὶ τῆς πατρίου φωνῆς ἐπιλάθωνται. καὶ τὸν μὲν λεγόμενον χρησμὸν τοῖς Περὶ Μηνῶν γραφεῖσιν ἡμῖν ἐντεθείκαμεν, πέρας δὲ μᾶλλον ἔσχε τὰ τοιαῦτα μαντεύματα. Κύρου γάρ τινος Αἰγυπτίου, ἐπὶ ποιητικῇ ἔτι καὶ νῦν θαυμαζομένου, ἅμα τὴν πολίαρχον ἅμα τὴν τῶν πραιτωρίων ἐπαρχότητα διέποντος, καὶ μηδὲν παρὰ τὴν ποίησιν ἐπισταμένου, εἶτα παραβῆναι θαρρήσαντος τὴν παλαιὰν συνήθειαν καὶ τὰς ψήφους Ἑλλάδι φωνῇ προενεγκόντος, σὺν τῇ Ῥωμαίων φωνῇ καὶ τὴν Τύχην ἀπέβαλεν ἡ ἀρχή. νόμον γὰρ ἀντιγράφειν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀνεπείσθη πάσης ἀφαιρούμενον ἐξουσίας τὴν ἐπαρχότητα. ἡ γὰρ ἄρτι καὶ κουφίσαι φόρους καὶ σιτήσεις καὶ φῶτα καὶ θέας καὶ ἀνανεώσεις ἔργων αὐθεντοῦσα ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐπιδοῦναι οὐκ ἤρκεσε τὸ λοιπὸν οὐδὲ ἐτόλμησε μικρᾶς γ' οὖν τινος παραψυχῆς ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων μεταδοῦναί τινι. ὁ δὲ καθ' ἡμᾶς ∆ημοσθένης, ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς ὕπαρχος ἦν, οὐδὲ μετὰ κέλευσιν τῆς βασιλείας γραμμάτων, χωρὶς εἰ μὴ πραγματικὸς ἠργάσατο νόμος, ἄδειαν ἔχειν τὴν ἐπαρχότητα ἐπιδοῦναι τοῖς ὑπηκόοις, κατεπράξατο, μὴ μόνον αὐτὸς εὖ ποιῆσαι τοὺς ὑποτελεῖς παραφυλαξάμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοις τὸ λοιπὸν ἀποκλείσας. τῆς δὲ ἀρχῆς ἤδη καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ἐπιπόλαιον ὄψιν ζημιωθείσης, ἠκολούθησε τοῖς τὰς δίκας λέγουσιν ἐκκλήτους εὐτελίσαι τὸ δικαστήριον παρὰ τὸ πάντη κεκωλυμένον. καὶ νόμῳ τοῦτο διωρίσθη· οὐ γὰρ 200 ὑπέμεινεν ἡ βασιλέως πραότης τοῖς δικαζομένοις τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐφέσεως περικόπτειν ἐλπίδα, ἣν προθεωροῦντες οἱ δικάζοντες ἴσως ἀδεκάστως εἰς