Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 1 1911.djvu/68

34 to his lot, among them the superintendence of the state Post (cursus publicm).

If we may adapt an ecclesiastical phrase which describes the Archdeacon as the oculus Episcopi, we may say that the Vicarius was the oculus Praefecti. He gave a closer eye to details than was possible for his superior within his Dioecesis. At first he was perfecbissimus, afterwards spectabilis. The tendency of the rulers after Constantine was to increase his importance at the expense of the Praefectus; rather however in the field of jurisdiction than in other fields. The Vicarius had but little disciplinary power over the rector provinciae. The governor could in a difficult case seek advice from the emperor without having recourse to either of his superior officers, though he was bound to inform the Vicarius, and the latter could on occasion go straight to the monarch. The court of the Vicarius, like that of the Praefectus, was an appeal court only. The provincial governor was judge of first instance in all civil and criminal matters, except in the cases of some privileged persons, and in those minor affairs which were left to the magistrates of the municipalities within the province. The small size of the province made it unnecessary that its ruler should travel about to administer justice, as in the earlier time. Causes were heard at the seat of government. Much of the time of the governor was occupied in seeing that imposts were duly collected and that no irregularities were practised by subordinates. Responsibility for public order rested primarily with him.

The lower grades of civil servants in the provinces were to a very large extent in connexion with and controlled by the great departments of the imperial service whose chief offices were in the capital. Early in the imperial period three great bureaux were established, whose presidents were named ab epistulis, a libellis, and a memoria. These phrases survived into the age of Constantine and after, but denoted the offices and not their chiefs, whose title was magister. The departments themselves were now described by the word scrinium, which had originally denoted a box or desk for containing papers. The word had therefore undergone a change of meaning similar to that which had passed over fiscus, whereby from a basket for holding coin, it came to mean the imperial exchequer. The demarcation of business allotted to the three great scrinia was not always the same. The magister memoriae gradually encroached on the functions of the other two heads of departments and became much the most influential of the three. A fourth scrinium, called the scrinium dispositionum, was added. Its magister (later called comes) was at first inferior to the other three, who belonged to the class of the spectabiles, but was afterwards placed on a level with them. All these magistri on being promoted became vicarii. All four were subject to an exalted personage known as magister officiorum, who was a vir illustris.

The department known as ab epistulis was early divided into two sections distinguished as ab epistulis Laiinis and ab epistulis Graecis. It