CHAPTER IV.
ON THE OFFICIUM OF THE PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO[120].
Military character of the Roman Civil Service.
The official staff that served under the Roman governors of high rank was an elaborately organised body, with a carefully arranged system of promotion, and liberal superannuation allowances for those of its members who had attained a certain position in the office.
Although, in consequence of the changes introduced by Diocletian and Constantine, the civil and military functions had been for the most part divided from one another, and it was now unusual to see the same magistrate riding at the head of armies and hearing causes in the Praetorium, in theory the officers of the Courts of Justice were still military officers. Their service was spoken of as a militia; the type of their office was the cingulum, or military belt; and one of the leading officers of the court, as we shall see, was styled Cornicularius, or trumpeter.
The Praetorian Praefect, whose office had been at first a purely military one, had now for centuries been chiefly concerned in civil administration, and as Judge over the highest court of appeal in the Empire. His Officium (or staff of subordinates) was, at any rate in the Fifth Century, still the most complete and highly developed that served under any great functionary; and probably the career which it offered to its members was more brilliant than any that they could look for elsewhere. Accordingly, in studying the composition of this body we shall familiarise ourselves with the type to which all the other officia throughout the Empire more or less closely approximated.
| NOTITIA. | CASSIODORUS (xi.). | LYDUS (iii. 3 and ii. 18.). |
| Princeps. | ||
| Cornicularius. | Cornicularius. | Cornicularius. |
| Adjutor. | Primiscrinius. | II Primiscrinii. |
| Commentariensis. | Scriniarius Actorum. | |
| Ab Actis. | Cura Epistolarum. | |
| IV Numerarii. | Scriniarius Curae Militaris. | |
| Subadjuva. | Primicerius Exceptorum. | |
| Cura Epistolarum. | Sextus Scholarius. | |
| Regerendarius. | Praerogativarius. | |
| Exceptores. | Commentariensis. | II Commentarisii. |
| Adjutores. | Regendarius. | II Regendarii. |
| Singularii. | Primicerius Deputatorum. | II Curae Epistolarum Ponticae. |
| Primicerius Augustalium. | ||
| Primicerius Singulariorum. | Singularii. | |
| Lydus calls all the officers down to the Curae Ep. Ponticae'Αι Λογικαι Λειτουργιαι (Officium Litteratum). | ||
Sources of information as to the Officium.
Our chief information as to this elaborate official hierarchy is derived from three sources[121]:—