Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/117

 patricians, senators, praefects, and logothetes of various denominations. The Emperor commands the presence from time to time of such of these as he wishes to confer with, and all of them at their first entrance salute him with the same form of submissive obeisance, except those of patrician rank, who merely bow profoundly, and are greeted by the Emperor with a kiss. Codicils or commissions for the appointment of officers of state or rulers of provinces are presented by the Master of the Rolls, and the Emperor signs the documents in purple ink, the use of which is forbidden to subjects. Such codicils are illustrated in colours with various devices symbolical of the dignity or duties of the office conferred. Those of praefects and proconsuls of the highest rank display a draped abacus or table on which rests a framed image of the Emperor lighted by wax tapers; in addition, busts of the Emperor with his imperial associates or heirs on a pedestal, and a silver quadriga—insignia of office, which adorn the local vestibule or denote the vicegerent of the sovereign in his progress through the public ways. The provinces or districts are indicated by female figures or busts labelled with various names; in many instances by rivers, mountains, indigenous animals, and miniature fortresses representing the chief towns. In the case of rulers of lesser rank—dukes, vicars, correctors, counts, presidents—a portly volume inscribed with the initials of a conventional sentence supplants the painted*