[574] The Jerusalem Itinerary (c. 350) shows the mansions and mutations from Bordeaux to J., etc. The former seem to have been in or near large towns, the latter by the wayside.
[575] Cod. Theod., VIII, v, with Godefroy’s paratitlon.
[576] Cod. Theod., VI, xxvii; called Agentes in rebus.
[577] They appear to have originated in the Frumentarii (corn-collectors), who were sent into the provinces to purvey for the wants of the capital. Encouraged on their return to tattle about what they had seen, signs of disaffection, etc., their secondary vocation became paramount; and under Diocletian they were reconstituted with a more consonant title, whilst their license was restrained; Aurelius Vict., Diocletian; Hist. Aug. Commodus, 4, etc.
[578] Libanius, Epitaph. Juliani (R., I, p. 568); cf. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, viii, 2. The Persian king was the original begetter of “eyes and ears” of this description; Herodotus, i, 114.
[579] Liban., Adv. eos qui suam Docendi Rat., etc. At this time they were generally called Veredarii, veredus being the name of the post-horses they always rode; Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 16; De Bel. Pers., ii, 20.
[580] Vetus Glossarium, sb. Vered. eq. (Godefroy ad Cod. Theod., VI, xxix, 1).
[581] Curiosi; Cod. Theod., VI, xxix.
[582] Irenarchi; ibid., XII, xiv; Cod., X, lxxv.
[583] In no instance better exemplified than in that of Anastasius.