Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/269

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 251 with such emblems as were best adapted to explain its CM A P. nature and high dignity ; the image or portrait of the "^^^^^ reigning emperors ; a triumphal car ; the book of man- dates ])laced on a table, covered with a rich carpet, and illuminated by four tapers ; the allegorical figures of the provinces which they governed ; or the appella- tions and standards of the troo)>s whom they com- manded. Some of these official ensigns were rtjally exhibited in their hall of audience ; others preceded their pompous march whenever they appeared in pub- lic ; and every circumstance of their demeanour, their dress, their ornaments, and their train, was calculated to inspire a deep reverence for the representatives of supreme majesty. By a philosophic observer, the sys- tem of the Roman government might have been mis- taken for a splendid theatre, filled with players of every character and degree, who repeated the lan- guage, and imitated the passions of their original model ^. All the magistrates of sufficient importance to find a Thn e ranks place in the general state of the empire, were accu- °' ^"""^"f- rately divided into three classes. 1. The ' illustrious.' 2. The * spectabiles,' or * respectable :' and 3. The ' clarissimi;' whom we may translate by the word ' honourable.' In the times of Roman simplicity, the last-mentioned epithet was used only as a vague ex- pression of deference, till it became at length the pe- culiar and appropriated title of all who were members of the senate '', and consequently of all who, from that venerable body, were selected to govern the provinces. The vanity of those who, from their rank and office, might claim a superior distinction above the rest of the senatorial order, was long afterwards indulged with the new appellation of ' respectable :' but the title of s I^ancirolus ad Notitiam utriusque Imperii, p. 39. But his explana- tions are obscure, and he does not sufficiently distinguish the painted em- blems from the eftective ensigns of office. '■ In the Pandects, which may be referred to the reigns of the Antonincs, clarmimus is the ordinary and legal title of a senator.
 * illustrious' was always reserved to some eminent per-