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The Patricians of the City - Praetorian Praefects of Rome & Constantinople - proconsuls & Governors of the Provinces.
The proudest and most perfect separation which can be found
in any age or country, between the nobles and the people, is
perhaps that of the Patricians and the Plebeians, as it was
established in the first age of the Roman republic. Wealth and
honors, the offices of the state, and the ceremonies of religion,
were almost exclusively possessed by the former who, preserving
the purity of their blood with the most insulting jealousy, 93
held their clients in a condition of specious vassalage. But
these distinctions, so incompatible with the spirit of a free
people, were removed, after a long struggle, by the persevering
efforts of the Tribunes. The most active and successful of the
Plebeians accumulated wealth, aspired to honors, deserved
triumphs, contracted alliances, and, after some generations,
assumed the pride of ancient nobility. 94 The Patrician
families, on the other hand, whose original number was never
recruited till the end of the commonwealth, either failed in the
ordinary course of nature, or were extinguished in so many
foreign and domestic wars, or, through a want of merit or
fortune, insensibly mingled with the mass of the people. 95 Very
few remained who could derive their pure and genuine origin from
the infancy of the city, or even from that of the republic, when
Caesar and Augustus, Claudius and Vespasian, created from the
body of the senate a competent number of new Patrician families,
in the hope of perpetuating an order, which was still considered
as honorable and sacred. 96 But these artificial supplies (in
which the reigning house was always included) were rapidly swept
away by the rage of tyrants, by frequent revolutions, by the
change of manners, and by the intermixture of nations. 97 Little
more was left when Constantine ascended the throne, than a vague
and imperfect tradition, that the Patricians had once been the
first of the Romans. To form a body of nobles, whose influence
may restrain, while it secures the authority of the monarch,
would have been very inconsistent with the character and policy
of Constantine; but had he seriously entertained such a design,
it might have exceeded the measure of his power to ratify, by an
arbitrary edict, an institution which must expect the sanction of
time and of opinion. He revived, indeed, the title of
Patricians, but he revived it as a personal, not as an hereditary
distinction. They yielded only to the transient superiority of
the annual consuls; but they enjoyed the pre-eminence over all
the great officers of state, with the most familiar access to the
person of the prince. This honorable rank was bestowed on them
for life; and as they were usually favorites, and ministers who
had grown old in the Imperial court, the true etymology of the
word was perverted by ignorance and flattery; and the Patricians
of Constantine were reverenced as the adopted Fathers of the
emperor and the republic. 98
Footnote 93: Intermarriages between the Patricians and Plebeians
were prohibited by the laws of the XII Tables; and the uniform
operations of human nature may attest that the custom survived
the law. See in Livy (iv. 1-6) the pride of family urged by the
consul, and the rights of mankind asserted by the tribune
Canuleius.
Footnote 94: See the animated picture drawn by Sallust, in the
Jugurthine war, of the pride of the nobles, and even of the
virtuous Metellus, who was unable to brook the idea that the
honor of the consulship should be bestowed on the obscure merit
of his lieutenant Marius. (c. 64.) Two hundred years before, the
race of the Metelli themselves were confounded among the
Plebeians of Rome; and from the etymology of their name of
Coecilius, there is reason to believe that those haughty nobles
derived their origin from a sutler.
Footnote 95: In the year of Rome 800, very few remained, not
only of the old Patrician families, but even of those which had
been created by Caesar and Augustus. (Tacit. Annal. xi. 25.) The
family of Scaurus (a branch of the Patrician Aemilii) was
degraded so low that his father, who exercised the trade of a
charcoal merchant, left him only ten slaves, and somewhat less
than three hundred pounds sterling. (Valerius Maximus, l. iv. c.
4, n. 11. Aurel. Victor in Scauro.) The family was saved from
oblivion by the merit of the son.
Footnote 96: Tacit. Annal. xi. 25. Dion Cassius, l. iii. p.
698. The virtues of Agricola, who was created a Patrician by the
emperor Vespasian, reflected honor on that ancient order; but his
ancestors had not any claim beyond an equestrian nobility.
Footnote 97: This failure would have been almost impossible if
it were true, as Casaubon compels Aurelius Victor to affirm (ad
Sueton, in Caesar v. 24. See Hist. August p. 203 and Casaubon
Comment., p. 220) that Vespasian created at once a thousand
Patrician families. But this extravagant number is too much even
for the whole Senatorial order. unless we should include all the
Roman knights who were distinguished by the permission of wearing
the laticlave.
Footnote 98: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 118; and Godefroy ad Cod.
Theodos. l. vi. tit. vi.
II. The fortunes of the Praetorian prefects were
essentially different from those of the consuls and Patricians.
The latter saw their ancient greatness evaporate in a vain title.
The former, rising by degrees from the most humble condition,
were invested with the civil and military administration of the
Roman world. From the reign of Severus to that of Diocletian,
the guards and the palace, the laws and the finances, the armies
and the provinces, were intrusted to their superintending care;
and, like the Viziers of the East, they held with one hand the
seal, and with the other the standard, of the empire. The
ambition of the praefects, always formidable, and sometimes fatal
to the masters whom they served, was supported by the strength of
the Praetorian bands; but after those haughty troops had been
weakened by Diocletian, and finally suppressed by Constantine,
the praefects, who survived their fall, were reduced without
difficulty to the station of useful and obedient ministers. When
they were no longer responsible for the safety of the emperor's
person, they resigned the jurisdiction which they had hitherto
claimed and exercised over all the departments of the palace.
They were deprived by Constantine of all military command, as
soon as they had ceased to lead into the field, under their
immediate orders, the flower of the Roman troops; and at length,
by a singular revolution, the captains of the guards were
transformed into the civil magistrates of the provinces.
According to the plan of government instituted by Diocletian, the
four princes had each their Praetorian praefect; and after the
monarchy was once more united in the person of Constantine, he
still continued to create the same number of Four Praefects, and
intrusted to their care the same provinces which they already
administered.
1. The praefect of the East stretched his ample
jurisdiction into the three parts of the globe which were subject
to the Romans, from the cataracts of the Nile to the banks of the
Phasis, and from the mountains of Thrace to the frontiers of
Persia.
2. The important provinces of Pannonia, Dacia,
Macedonia, and Greece, once acknowledged the authority of the
praefect of Illyricum.
3. The power of the praefect of Italy was
not confined to the country from whence he derived his title; it
extended over the additional territory of Rhaetia as far as the
banks of the Danube, over the dependent islands of the
Mediterranean, and over that part of the continent of Africa
which lies between the confines of Cyrene and those of
Tingitania.
4. The praefect of the s comprehended under that
plural denomination the kindred provinces of Britain and Spain,
and his authority was obeyed from the wall of Antoninus to the
foot of Mount Atlas. 99
Footnote 99: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 109, 110. If we had not
fortunately possessed this satisfactory account of the division
of the power and provinces of the Praetorian praefects, we should
frequently have been perplexed amidst the copious details of the
Code, and the circumstantial minuteness of the Notitia.
After the Praetorian praefects had been dismissed from all
military command, the civil functions which they were ordained to
exercise over so many subject nations, were adequate to the
ambition and abilities of the most consummate ministers. To
their wisdom was committed the supreme administration of justice
and of the finances, the two objects which, in a state of peace,
comprehend almost all the respective duties of the sovereign and
of the people; of the former, to protect the citizens who are
obedient to the laws; of the latter, to contribute the share of
their property which is required for the expenses of the state.
The coin, the highways, the posts, the granaries, the
manufactures, whatever could interest the public prosperity, was
moderated by the authority of the Praetorian prefects. As the
immediate representatives of the Imperial majesty, they were
empowered to explain, to enforce, and on some occasions to
modify, the general edicts by their discretionary proclamations.
They watched over the conduct of the provincial governors,
removed the negligent, and inflicted punishments on the guilty.
From all the inferior jurisdictions, an appeal in every matter of
importance, either civil or criminal, might be brought before the
tribunal of the praefect; but his sentence was final and
absolute; and the emperors themselves refused to admit any
complaints against the judgment or the integrity of a magistrate
whom they honored with such unbounded confidence. 100 His
appointments were suitable to his dignity; 101 and if avarice
was his ruling passion, he enjoyed frequent opportunities of
collecting a rich harvest of fees, of presents, and of
perquisites. Though the emperors no longer dreaded the ambition
of their praefects, they were attentive to counterbalance the
power of this great office by the uncertainty and shortness of
its duration. 102
Footnote 100: See a law of Constantine himself. A praefectis
autem praetorio provocare, non sinimus. Cod. Justinian. l. vii.
tit. lxii. leg. 19. Charisius, a lawyer of the time of
Constantine, (Heinec. Hist. Romani, p. 349,) who admits this law
as a fundamental principle of jurisprudence, compares the
Praetorian praefects to the masters of the horse of the ancient
dictators. Pandect. l. i. tit. xi.
Footnote 101: When Justinian, in the exhausted condition of the
empire, instituted a Praetorian praefect for Africa, he allowed
him a salary of one hundred pounds of gold. Cod. Justinian. l.
i. tit. xxvii. leg. i.
Footnote 102: For this, and the other dignities of the empire,
it may be sufficient to refer to the ample commentaries of
Pancirolus and Godefroy, who have diligently collected and
accurately digested in their proper order all the legal and
historical materials. From those authors, Dr. Howell (History of
the World, vol. ii. p. 24-77) has deduced a very distinct
abridgment of the state of the Roman empire.
From their superior importance and dignity, Rome and
Constantinople were alone excepted from the jurisdiction of the
Praetorian praefects. The immense size of the city, and the
experience of the tardy, ineffectual operation of the laws, had
furnished the policy of Augustus with a specious pretence for
introducing a new magistrate, who alone could restrain a servile
and turbulent populace by the strong arm of arbitrary power. 103
Valerius Messalla was appointed the first praefect of Rome, that
his reputation might countenance so invidious a measure; but, at
the end of a few days, that accomplished citizen 104 resigned
his office, declaring, with a spirit worthy of the friend of
Brutus, that he found himself incapable of exercising a power
incompatible with public freedom. 105 As the sense of liberty
became less exquisite, the advantages of order were more clearly
understood; and the praefect, who seemed to have been designed as
a terror only to slaves and vagrants, was permitted to extend his
civil and criminal jurisdiction over the equestrian and noble
families of Rome. The praetors, annually created as the judges of
law and equity, could not long dispute the possession of the
Forum with a vigorous and permanent magistrate, who was usually
admitted into the confidence of the prince. Their courts were
deserted, their number, which had once fluctuated between twelve
and eighteen, 106 was gradually reduced to two or three, and
their important functions were confined to the expensive
obligation 107 of exhibiting games for the amusement of the
people. After the office of the Roman consuls had been changed
into a vain pageant, which was rarely displayed in the capital,
the praefects assumed their vacant place in the senate, and were
soon acknowledged as the ordinary presidents of that venerable
assembly. They received appeals from the distance of one hundred
miles; and it was allowed as a principle of jurisprudence, that
all municipal authority was derived from them alone. 108 In the
discharge of his laborious employment, the governor of Rome was
assisted by fifteen officers, some of whom had been originally
his equals, or even his superiors. The principal departments
were relative to the command of a numerous watch, established as
a safeguard against fires, robberies, and nocturnal disorders;
the custody and distribution of the public allowance of corn and
provisions; the care of the port, of the aqueducts, of the common
sewers, and of the navigation and bed of the Tyber; the
inspection of the markets, the theatres, and of the private as
well as the public works. Their vigilance insured the three
principal objects of a regular police, safety, plenty, and
cleanliness; and as a proof of the attention of government to
preserve the splendor and ornaments of the capital, a particular
inspector was appointed for the statues; the guardian, as it
were, of that inanimate people, which, according to the
extravagant computation of an old writer, was scarcely inferior
in number to the living inhabitants of Rome. About thirty years
after the foundation of Constantinople, a similar magistrate was
created in that rising metropolis, for the same uses and with the
same powers. A perfect equality was established between the
dignity of the two municipal, and that of the four Praetorian
praefects. 109
Footnote 103: Tacit. Annal. vi. 11. Euseb. in Chron. p. 155.
Dion Cassius, in the oration of Maecenas, (l. lvii. p. 675,)
describes the prerogatives of the praefect of the city as they
were established in his own time.
Footnote 104: The fame of Messalla has been scarcely equal to
his merit. In the earliest youth he was recommended by Cicero to
the friendship of Brutus. He followed the standard of the
republic till it was broken in the fields of Philippi; he then
accepted and deserved the favor of the most moderate of the
conquerors; and uniformly asserted his freedom and dignity in the
court of Augustus. The triumph of Messalla was justified by the
conquest of Aquitain. As an orator, he disputed the palm of
eloquence with Cicero himself. Messalla cultivated every muse,
and was the patron of every man of genius. He spent his evenings
in philosophic conversation with Horace; assumed his place at
table between Delia and Tibullus; and amused his leisure by
encouraging the poetical talents of young Ovid.
Footnote 105: Incivilem esse potestatem contestans, says the
translator of Eusebius. Tacitus expresses the same idea in other
words; quasi nescius exercendi.
Footnote 106: See Lipsius, Excursus D. ad 1 lib. Tacit. Annal.
Footnote 107: Heineccii. Element. Juris Civilis secund ordinem
Pandect i. p. 70. See, likewise, Spanheim de Usu. Numismatum,
tom. ii. dissertat. x. p. 119. In the year 450, Marcian
published a law, that three citizens should be annually created
Praetors of Constantinople by the choice of the senate, but with
their own consent. Cod. Justinian. li. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 2.
Footnote 108: Quidquid igitur intra urbem admittitur, ad P. U.
videtur pertinere; sed et siquid intra contesimum milliarium.
Ulpian in Pandect l. i. tit. xiii. n. 1. He proceeds to
enumerate the various offices of the praefect, who, in the code
of Justinian, (l. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 3,) is declared to precede
and command all city magistrates sine injuria ac detrimento
honoris alieni.
Footnote 109: Besides our usual guides, we may observe that
Felix Cantelorius has written a separate treatise, De Praefecto
Urbis; and that many curious details concerning the police of
Rome and Constantinople are contained in the fourteenth book of
the Theodosic Code.
Those who, in the imperial hierarchy, were distinguished by
the title of Respectable, formed an intermediate class between
the illustrious praefects, and the honorable magistrates of the
provinces. In this class the proconsuls of Asia, Achaia, and
Africa, claimed a preeminence, which was yielded to the
remembrance of their ancient dignity; and the appeal from their
tribunal to that of the praefects was almost the only mark of
their dependence. 110 But the civil government of the empire was
distributed into thirteen great Dioceses, each of which equalled
the just measure of a powerful kingdom. The first of these
Dioceses was subject to the jurisdiction of the count of the
east; and we may convey some idea of the importance and variety
of his functions, by observing, that six hundred apparitors, who
would be styled at present either secretaries, or clerks, or
ushers, or messengers, were employed in his immediate office.
111 The place of Augustal proefect of Egypt was no longer filled
by a Roman knight; but the name was retained; and the
extraordinary powers which the situation of the country, and the
temper of the inhabitants, had once made indispensable, were
still continued to the governor. The eleven remaining Dioceses,
of Asiana, Pontica, and Thrace; of Macedonia, Dacia, and
Pannonia, or Western Illyricum; of Italy and Africa; of Gaul,
Spain, and Britain; were governed by twelve vicars or
vice-proefects, 112 whose name sufficiently explains the nature
and dependence of their office. It may be added, that the
lieutenant-generals of the Roman armies, the military counts and
dukes, who will be hereafter mentioned, were allowed the rank and
title of Respectable.
Footnote 110: Eunapius affirms, that the proconsul of Asia was
independent of the praefect; which must, however, be understood
with some allowance. the jurisdiction of the vice-praefect he
most assuredly disclaimed. Pancirolus, p. 161.
Footnote 111: The proconsul of Africa had four hundred
apparitors; and they all received large salaries, either from the
treasury or the province See Pancirol. p. 26, and Cod. Justinian.
l. xii. tit. lvi. lvii.
Footnote 112: In Italy there was likewise the Vicar of Rome. It
has been much disputed whether his jurisdiction measured one
hundred miles from the city, or whether it stretched over the ten
thousand provinces of Italy.
As the spirit of jealousy and ostentation prevailed in the
councils of the emperors, they proceeded with anxious diligence
to divide the substance and to multiply the titles of power. The
vast countries which the Roman conquerors had united under the
same simple form of administration, were imperceptibly crumbled
into minute fragments; till at length the whole empire was
distributed into one hundred and sixteen provinces, each of which
supported an expensive and splendid establishment. Of these,
three were governed by proconsuls, thirty-seven by consulars,
five by correctors, and seventy-one by presidents. The
appellations of these magistrates were different; they ranked in
successive order, the ensigns of and their situation, from
accidental circumstances, might be more or less agreeable or
advantageous. But they were all (excepting only the pro-consuls)
alike included in the class of honorable persons; and they were
alike intrusted, during the pleasure of the prince, and under the
authority of the praefects or their deputies, with the
administration of justice and the finances in their respective
districts. The ponderous volumes of the Codes and Pandects 113
would furnish ample materials for a minute inquiry into the
system of provincial government, as in the space of six centuries
it was approved by the wisdom of the Roman statesmen and lawyers.
It may be sufficient for the historian to select two singular and
salutary provisions, intended to restrain the abuse of authority.
1. For the preservation of peace and order, the governors of the
provinces were armed with the sword of justice. They inflicted
corporal punishments, and they exercised, in capital offences,
the power of life and death. But they were not authorized to
indulge the condemned criminal with the choice of his own
execution, or to pronounce a sentence of the mildest and most
honorable kind of exile. These prerogatives were reserved to the
praefects, who alone could impose the heavy fine of fifty pounds
of gold: their vicegerents were confined to the trifling weight
of a few ounces. 114 This distinction, which seems to grant the
larger, while it denies the smaller degree of authority, was
founded on a very rational motive. The smaller degree was
infinitely more liable to abuse. The passions of a provincial
magistrate might frequently provoke him into acts of oppression,
which affected only the freedom or the fortunes of the subject;
though, from a principle of prudence, perhaps of humanity, he
might still be terrified by the guilt of innocent blood. It may
likewise be considered, that exile, considerable fines, or the
choice of an easy death, relate more particularly to the rich and
the noble; and the persons the most exposed to the avarice or
resentment of a provincial magistrate, were thus removed from his
obscure persecution to the more august and impartial tribunal of
the Praetorian praefect. 2. As it was reasonably apprehended
that the integrity of the judge might be biased, if his interest
was concerned, or his affections were engaged, the strictest
regulations were established, to exclude any person, without the
special dispensation of the emperor, from the government of the
province where he was born; 115 and to prohibit the governor or
his son from contracting marriage with a native, or an
inhabitant; 116 or from purchasing slaves, lands, or houses,
within the extent of his jurisdiction. 117 Notwithstanding these
rigorous precautions, the emperor Constantine, after a reign of
twenty-five years, still deplores the venal and oppressive
administration of justice, and expresses the warmest indignation
that the audience of the judge, his despatch of business, his
seasonable delays, and his final sentence, were publicly sold,
either by himself or by the officers of his court. The
continuance, and perhaps the impunity, of these crimes, is
attested by the repetition of impotent laws and ineffectual
menaces. 118
Footnote 113: Among the works of the celebrated Ulpian, there
was one in ten books, concerning the office of a proconsul, whose
duties in the most essential articles were the same as those of
an ordinary governor of a province.
Footnote 114: The presidents, or consulars, could impose only
two ounces; the vice-praefects, three; the proconsuls, count of
the east, and praefect of Egypt, six. See Heineccii Jur. Civil.
tom. i. p. 75. Pandect. l. xlviii. tit. xix. n. 8. Cod.
Justinian. l. i. tit. liv. leg. 4, 6.
Footnote 115: Ut nulli patriae suae administratio sine speciali
principis permissu permittatur. Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. xli.
This law was first enacted by the emperor Marcus, after the
rebellion of Cassius. (Dion. l. lxxi.) The same regulation is
observed in China, with equal strictness, and with equal effect.
Footnote 116: Pandect. l. xxiii. tit. ii. n. 38, 57, 63.
Footnote 117: In jure continetur, ne quis in administratione
constitutus aliquid compararet. Cod. Theod. l. viii. tit. xv.
leg. l. This maxim of common law was enforced by a series of
edicts (see the remainder of the title) from Constantine to
Justin. From this prohibition, which is extended to the meanest
officers of the governor, they except only clothes and
provisions. The purchase within five years may be recovered;
after which on information, it devolves to the treasury.
Footnote 118: Cessent rapaces jam nunc officialium manus;
cessent, inquam nam si moniti non cessaverint, gladiis
praecidentur, &c. Cod. Theod. l. i. tit. vii. leg. l. Zeno
enacted that all governors should remain in the province, to
answer any accusations, fifty days after the expiration of their
power. Cod Justinian. l. ii. tit. xlix. leg. l.
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To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794. The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. (NY : Knopf, 1993), v. 2, pp. 108 - 117 .