[594] Cod. Theod., VI, xxiii, 1; XII, i, 122; IX, ii, 1, etc.
[595] Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Cod., I, xiv. Thus even Theodosius based himself on a decree of the Senate before embarking on the war with Maximus; Zosimus, v, 43, 44.
[596] When there was no emperor in the East, after the death of Valens, Julius, the Master of the Forces, applied for sanction to the Senate before ordering the massacre of all the Gothic youth detained as hostages throughout Asia; Zosimus, iv, 26.
[597] As in the case of Anastasius himself; Marcellinus Com., an. 515, etc.
[598] Ammianus, xxviii, 1; Procopius, De Bel. Goth., iii, 32.
[599] Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 4; XV, ix; Cod., I, xiv. Leo Sap. at last abolished the Senatusconsulta; Nov. Leo., lxxviii.
[600] References to, and a résumé of, modern authorities who have tried to work out the political significance of the Senate at this epoch will be found in Schiller, op. cit. p. 31. I may add that fifty members formed a quorum (Cod. Theod., VI, iv, 9), but a couple of thousand may have borne the title of Senator; Themistius, xxxiv, p. 456 (Dind.). Many of these, however, had merely the “naked” honour by purchase (Cod. Theod., XII, i, 48, et passim), or received it on being superannuated from the public service, but the potential Senators inherited the office or assimilated it naturally on account of their rank. Many of the titular Senators lived on their estates in the provinces; Cod. Theod., VI, ii, 2; cf. Cassiodorus, Var. Epist., iii, 6, etc.
[601] Cod. Theod., XII, i; Godefroy reckons seventy-nine Curiae in the Eastern Empire, but there must have been many more not definitely indicated; paratitlon ad loc.
[602] Cod. Theod., I, xxix.
[603] Ibid., XII, i, 151; Novel., xv; see Savigny, Hist. Roman Law, I, ii. They seem to have been created by Valentinian I; Cod., I, lv, 1, etc.