'As one must rule and the rest obey, we have for this Indiction conferred the Countship of your City on A B, that he may hear your causes and give effect to our orders.'
[Apparently this letter and the [preceding] relate to the same appointment. The words 'secundi ordinis' are not added to the title of the new Count when his fellow-citizens are informed of it.]
[28.] Formula announcing the Appointment of a Comes to the Chief of his Staff[484].
Princeps Militum Comitivae.
'Judge and Court Officer (Praesul and Miles) are terms which involve one another. The officers of the Court have no right to exist, without the Judge; he is powerless without them to execute his commands. We therefore think it well to inform you of our appointment of A B as Count over your body[485]. It is no light benefit that so long as you attend to your duty[486] you are allowed to elect the examiners.'
[29.] Formula concerning the Guard at the Gates of a City.
De Custodiendis Portis Civitatis.
'We entrust to you an important office, the care of the gate of such and such a city. Do not keep it always shut—that were to turn the city into a prison; nor let it always lie open—then the walls are useless. Use your own judgment, but remember that the gate of a city is like the jaws of the human body, through which provisions enter to nourish it.'
[30.] Formula of the Tribunate in the Provinces.
Tribunatus Provinciarum.