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of the Royal Stoa, so that, while they were hearing the financial cases, he himself, as we have already said, would stay awake. 236 66 Therefore, there was no longer any eagerness for an advocate to adorn his speech with eloquence, which had the greatest power to persuade the magistrate, since nothing was any longer transacted at the Secretum, neither an embassy, nor a unilateral petition, nor a judicial instruction, nor a survey, nor an equalization, nor any of all the other things, so that no longer did any of those formerly accustomed to be esteemed for their speeches stay awake for such things. For whom was anyone going to please, or for what reason cling to praise, when there was not even any witness or anyone at all able to praise the procedure of the courts? From this the civil service perished, and, since there was no business, a shameful desolation defiled the court; and wailing and tears from those who arrived at the end of their service, descending into a destitute old age. Naturally, therefore, no one announced himself for service, as had been the previous custom, for more than a thousand shorthand writers to serve each year, providing no small income for those ceasing from their labors, especially for the so-called matricularis, that is, the keeper of the rolls. And I shared in this failure, not even finding my daily expense while completing my service. For Truth is my witness, I do not know of a single shorthand writer having enlisted in the whole year of my term, the reason being of many kinds: first, the complete lack of business, and then also the difficulty of obtaining the so-called probatoriae; and how, I shall tell. 67 Antiquity knows of five gold pieces being given to the memoriales for a probatoria of an adiutor being sent down to the praetorian authority, and that, when according to myth the golden age shone; but now, when one cannot even find a name for our time sufficient to show the wickedness in it, 238 they judged that the probatoria should be given to them for twenty gold pieces. But when they realized that no one dared, or rather did not have the means, to procure a probatoria for so much money, they sucked out for themselves a pragmatic sanction allowing no one without imperial letters to enter into service under the prefects. The whole thing was done to the dishonor of the office, since the law had from the beginning granted it the power, through its own decrees, to enroll whomever it wished among the shorthand writers of the court; and I myself know of many who enlisted by word of mouth, and both distinguished themselves and laid down their belt of office honorably. And so, with this path now closed, the affairs of the civil service drove into complete misery; and that of the so-called matricularii was torn up by the roots and the post was destroyed. And what am I saying, when all of them equally, after the end of their service, in shameful poverty, drag out the remaining time of their life in pain? Therefore I laid down my service, having attended to it for forty years and having carried away nothing besides the title of plenipotentiary. And it would be good to depart now from this tragedy, the outcome being sufficient to show the truth, except I think it necessary to take up another narrative. 68 There was an ancient law that all business transacted by the prefects, and perhaps also by the other authorities, should be proclaimed in the language of the Italians. When this was transgressed, as has been said, for not otherwise, the decline proceeded. But all business transacted concerning Europe of necessity preserved the ancient practice because its inhabitants, although for the most part being Greeks, spoke in the language of the Italians, and especially the public officials. The Cappadocian changed these things into a certain old-womanish and grovelling delivery, not caring for clarity, but so that, being ready to hand and common, it might cause no difficulty for those who, according to his purpose, dared to fulfill duties in no way belonging to them. 240 For in acting and writing and innovating and in every way shaking the ancient practice, not to the proper overseers of the regions, whom they call tracteutae, instead of climatarchae, or to the auditors did he give according to custom

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βασιλέως Στοᾶς, ὥστε, ἐκείνων τῶν ἐπὶ χρήμασι δικῶν ἀκροωμένων, αὐτόν, ὡς ἔφθημεν εἰπόντες, ἀγρυπνεῖν. 236 66 Οὐκ ἦν οὖν τὸ λοιπὸν οὐ δικηγόρῳ σπουδὴ λόγῳ κοσμῆσαι τὴν συνηγορίαν πείθειν ἄρχοντα δυναμένῳ μέγιστον, οὐδενὸς τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπὶ Σηκρήτου πραττομένου, οὐ πρεσβείας ἢ μονομεροῦς ἐντυχίας ἢ διδασκαλικοῦ ἢ μετρήσεως ἢ ἐξισώσεως ἤ τινος ἑτέρου τῶν πάντων, ὥστε λοιπὸν οὐδένα τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἰωθότων εὐδοκιμεῖν περὶ λόγους τοιούτοις τισὶν ἐπαγρυπνεῖν. τίνι γὰρ ἤμελλέ τις ἀρέσκειν ἢ τίνος χάριν τῶν ἐπαίνων ἀντέχεσθαι ὅτε μηδὲ μάρτυς ἦν τις ἢ ὅλως ἐπαινεῖν τὸ σχῆμα τῶν δικαστηρίων δυνάμενος; ἔνθεν ἀπόλωλεν ἡ τάξις καί, πραγμάτων οὐκ ὄντων, ἀσχήμων ἐρημία κατερρύπωσε τὸ δικαστήριον· οἰμωγαί τε καὶ δάκρυα τῶν πρὸς τὸ πέρας τῆς στρατείας ἀφικνουμένων, εἰς γῆρας ἄπορον καταφερομένων. εἰκότως οὖν οὐδεὶς ἐπὶ στρατείαν ἀπήγγελλεν, τὸ πρὶν εἰωθός, ὑπὲρ χιλίους κατ' ἔτος ἕκαστον ταχυγράφους στρατευομένους τοῖς παυομένοις τῶν πόνων, μάλιστα τῷ λεγομένῳ ματρικουλαρίῳ, ἀντὶ τοῦ τῶν καταλόγων φύλακι, πόρον οὐ μικρὸν περιποιεῖν. καὶ ταύτης ἐγὼ μετέσχον τῆς ἀστοχίας, μηδὲ τὴν ἐφήμερον δαπάνην ἐν τῷ πληροῦν τὴν στρατείαν εὑράμενος. μαρτυρούσης γάρ μοι τῆς Ἀληθείας, ἕνα ταχυγράφον παρ' ὅλον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦ πληρώματος οὐκ οἶδα στρατευσάμενον, πολυτρόπου τῆς ἀφορμῆς τυγχανούσης· πρῶτον μὲν τῆς ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι παντελοῦς ἀπορίας, εἶτα δὲ καὶ τῆς τῶν καλουμένων προβατωριῶν δυσπορίστου μεταλήψεως· καὶ ὅπως, ἐρῶ. 67 Ἡ παλαιότης πέντε χρυσίνους οἶδε παρεχομένους τοῖς μεμοριαλίοις ὑπὲρ προβατωρίας ἀδιούτωρος πρὸς τὴν ἔπαρχον ἐξουσίαν καταπεμπομένης καὶ τότε, ἡνίκα κατὰ τὸν μυθικὸν ὁ χρυσοῦς αἰὼν ἐξέλαμπεν· νῦν δέ, ὅτε οὐδὲ ὄνομα ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνῳ ἀρκοῦν ἐπιδεῖξαι τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ μοχθηρίαν, 238 εἴκοσι χρυσῶν ἔκριναν αὐτοῖς ἀποδίδοσθαι τὴν προβατωρίαν. ὡς δὲ ἔγνωσαν μηδένα τολμᾶν, μᾶλλον δὲ μὴ ἔχειν τοσούτου χρήματος προβατωρίαν πορίζεσθαι, τύπον πραγματικὸν ἑαυτοῖς ἐξεμύζησαν μηδενὶ συγχωροῦντα γραμμάτων ἄνευ βασιλικῶν ἐπὶ στρατείαν ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐπάρχοις διαβαίνειν. τὸ δὲ ὅλον πρὸς ἀτιμίας ἐπράττετο τῆς ἀρχῆς, τοῦ νόμου δόντος ἀνέκαθεν αὐτῇ, δι' οἰκείων ψήφων οὓς ἂν ἐθέλῃ τοῖς ταχυγράφοις τοῦ δικαστηρίου συναριθμεῖν· καὶ πολλοὺς αὐτὸς ἐπίσταμαι ἀπὸ διαλαλιᾶς στρατευσαμένους, διαπρέψαντάς τε ἅμα καὶ τὴν ζώνην ἐντίμως ἀποθεμένους. καὶ ταύτης δὴ οὖν τῆς ὁδοῦ τὸ λοιπὸν σχολαζούσης, εἰς παντελῆ δυστυχίαν ἤλασε τὰ τῆς τάξεως· τὸ δὲ τῶν καλουμένων ματρικουλαρίων ῥιζόθεν ἀνασπασθὲν ὄλωλε φρόντισμα. καὶ τί λέγω, αὐτῶν πάντων καθ' ὁμαλοῦ μετὰ τὸ τῆς στρατείας πέρας ἐν ἀπορίᾳ αἰσχρᾷ ὀδυνηρὸν τὸν λοιπὸν τῆς ζωῆς χρόνον παρασυρόντων; τὴν οὖν στρατείαν ἀπεθέμην τεσσαράκοντα ἐνιαυτοὺς προσεδρεύσας καὶ μηδὲν παρὰ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τοῦ πληρώματος ἀπενεγκάμενος. καὶ καλὸν μὲν ἀναχωρῆσαι τὸ λοιπὸν τῆσδε τῆς τραγῳδίας, ἀποχρώσης τῆς ἐκβάσεως ἐπιδεῖξαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, πλὴν καὶ ἄλλης χρῆναι νομίζω ἀφηγήσεως ἅψασθαι. 68 Νόμος ἀρχαῖος ἦν πάντα μὲν τὰ ὅπως οὖν πραττόμενα παρὰ τοῖς ἐπάρχοις, τάχα δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις τῶν ἀρχῶν, τοῖς Ἰταλῶν ἐκφωνεῖσθαι ῥήμασιν. οὗ παραβαθέντος, ὡς εἴρηται, οὐ γὰρ ἄλλως, τὰ τῆς ἐλαττώσεως προὔβαινεν. τὰ δὲ περὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην πραττόμενα πάντα τὴν ἀρχαιότητα διεφύλαξεν ἐξ ἀνάγκης διὰ τὸ τοὺς αὐτῆς οἰκήτορας, καίπερ Ἕλληνας ἐκ τοῦ πλείονος ὄντας, τῇ τῶν Ἰταλῶν φθέγγεσθαι φωνῇ, καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς δημοσιεύοντας. ταῦτα μετέβαλεν ὁ Καππαδόκης εἰς γραώδη τινὰ καὶ χαμαίζηλον ἀπαγγελίαν, οὐχ ὡς σαφηνείας φροντίζων, ἀλλ' ὅπως πρόχειρα ὄντα καὶ κοινὰ μηδεμίαν ἐμποιοῖ δυσχέρειαν τοῖς κατὰ σκοπὸν αὐτοῦ πληροῦν τὰ μηδαμόθεν αὐτοῖς ἀνή 240 κοντα τολμῶσιν. πράττων γὰρ καὶ γράφων καὶ καινοτομῶν καὶ ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου σαλεύων τὴν ἀρχαιότητα, οὐ τοῖς ἁρμοδίοις τῶν χωρῶν ἐπιστάταις, οὓς καλοῦσι τρακτευτάς, ἀντὶ τοῦ κλιματάρχας, ἢ διαψηφισταῖς ἐδίδου κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες