[584] Galba, Pertinax, Alexander, Probus, Maurice, etc.
[585] See their insignia and appointments in the Notitia; there was a separate set for the East and West even after the extinction of the Roman dynasty of the latter division.
[586] Or more briefly, Masters of Soldiers, of Troops, or of the Forces; in the Notitia the five military magnates are placed before the Counts of the Treasury.
[587] In praesenti, in the Presence; to be with the Emperor travelling was to be in sacro Comitatu; to send anything to Court was to send it ad Comitatum, etc.
[588] For the probable daily order of the Consistorium see [p. 92]; Cod. Theod., XI, xxxix, 5, 8; the materials at this date are too scanty to fill an objective picture; cf. Schiller, Gesch. d. röm. Kaiserzeit, Gotha, 1887, ii, p. 66.
[589] Cod. Theod., VI, xii, and Godefroy ad loc.
[590] Ibid., I, i, ii, with Godefroy’s paratitla.
[591] They had much the force of a decree nisi, to be made absolute only in the quarter where all the circumstances were known. The Codes are full of warnings against acting too hastily on the Emperor’s rescript; thus Constantine says, “Contra jus Rescripta non valeant,” but his son on the same page, “Multabuntur Judices qui Rescripta contempserint.” They had to steer between Scylla and Charybdis; in most cases, however, an easy task enough in Byzantine administration; Cod. Theod., I, i, 1, 5.
[592] Julian, in his zeal for constitutional government, tried to make it a real power in the state, but his effort was quietly ignored after his short career by his successors; Zosimus, iii, 11.
[593] In theory the Consul (Cod. Theod., VI, vi), but practically the P.U.; ibid., ii, and Godefroy’s paratitlon; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., i, 42, 43, etc.