Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/123

 cases, however, the promotion of the Rector was due chiefly to the extension of his authority over a wider area. Some of the smaller provinces lying adjacent were annexed to each other, and received a single governor, especially those which had been previously known as "First" and "Second" of the same name. In general the power of those Rectors who did not take over the military command was augmented by granting them an official guard sufficient to render them incontestably superior to such of the local magnates as had previously terrorized the district by the multitude of their armed retainers. As the ordinary judge, the Rector's posi-*

grade.]
 * [Footnote: precedence was only nominal, the Praetors, etc., being also of that