Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.—Part IV

Those who, in the imperial hierarchy, were distinguished by the
title of _Respectable_, formed an intermediate class between the
_illustrious_ præfects, and the _honorable_ magistrates of the
provinces. In this class the proconsuls of Asia, Achaia, and
Africa, claimed a preëminence, which was yielded to the
remembrance of their ancient dignity; and the appeal from their
tribunal to that of the præfects 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 præfect_ 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-præfects_, 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_.

110 (return) [ Eunapius affirms, that the proconsul of Asia was
independent of the præfect; which must, however, be understood
with some allowance. the jurisdiction of the vice-præfect he most
assuredly disclaimed. Pancirolus, p. 161.]

111 (return) [ 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.]

112 (return) [ 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, and 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 præfects 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
præfects, 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 Prætorian præfect. 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

113 (return) [ 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.]

114 (return) [ The presidents, or consulars, could impose only
two ounces; the vice-præfects, three; the proconsuls, count of
the east, and præfect 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.]

115 (return) [ Ut nulli patriæ suæ 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.]

116 (return) [ Pandect. l. xxiii. tit. ii. n. 38, 57, 63.]

117 (return) [ 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.]

118 (return) [ Cessent rapaces jam nunc officialium manus;
cessent, inquam nam si moniti non cessaverint, gladiis
præcidentur, &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.]

All the civil magistrates were drawn from the profession of the
law. The celebrated Institutes of Justinian are addressed to the
youth of his dominions, who had devoted themselves to the study
of Roman jurisprudence; and the sovereign condescends to animate
their diligence, by the assurance that their skill and ability
would in time be rewarded by an adequate share in the government
of the republic. 119 The rudiments of this lucrative science were
taught in all the considerable cities of the east and west; but
the most famous school was that of Berytus, 120 on the coast of
Phœnicia; which flourished above three centuries from the time of
Alexander Severus, the author perhaps of an institution so
advantageous to his native country. After a regular course of
education, which lasted five years, the students dispersed
themselves through the provinces, in search of fortune and
honors; nor could they want an inexhaustible supply of business
in a great empire already corrupted by the multiplicity of laws,
of arts, and of vices. The court of the Prætorian præfect of the
east could alone furnish employment for one hundred and fifty
advocates, sixty-four of whom were distinguished by peculiar
privileges, and two were annually chosen, with a salary of sixty
pounds of gold, to defend the causes of the treasury. The first
experiment was made of their judicial talents, by appointing them
to act occasionally as assessors to the magistrates; from thence
they were often raised to preside in the tribunals before which
they had pleaded. They obtained the government of a province;
and, by the aid of merit, of reputation, or of favor, they
ascended, by successive steps, to the _illustrious_ dignities of
the state. 121 In the practice of the bar, these men had
considered reason as the instrument of dispute; they interpreted
the laws according to the dictates of private interest and the
same pernicious habits might still adhere to their characters in
the public administration of the state. The honor of a liberal
profession has indeed been vindicated by ancient and modern
advocates, who have filled the most important stations, with pure
integrity and consummate wisdom: but in the decline of Roman
jurisprudence, the ordinary promotion of lawyers was pregnant
with mischief and disgrace. The noble art, which had once been
preserved as the sacred inheritance of the patricians, was fallen
into the hands of freedmen and plebeians, 122 who, with cunning
rather than with skill, exercised a sordid and pernicious trade.
Some of them procured admittance into families for the purpose of
fomenting differences, of encouraging suits, and of preparing a
harvest of gain for themselves or their brethren. Others, recluse
in their chambers, maintained the dignity of legal professors, by
furnishing a rich client with subtleties to confound the plainest
truths, and with arguments to color the most unjustifiable
pretensions. The splendid and popular class was composed of the
advocates, who filled the Forum with the sound of their turgid
and loquacious rhetoric. Careless of fame and of justice, they
are described, for the most part, as ignorant and rapacious
guides, who conducted their clients through a maze of expense, of
delay, and of disappointment; from whence, after a tedious series
of years, they were at length dismissed, when their patience and
fortune were almost exhausted. 123

119 (return) [ Summâ igitur ope, et alacri studio has leges
nostras accipite; et vosmetipsos sic eruditos ostendite, ut spes
vos pulcherrima foveat; toto legitimo opere perfecto, posse etiam
nostram rempublicam in par tibus ejus vobis credendis gubernari.
Justinian in proem. Institutionum.]

120 (return) [ The splendor of the school of Berytus, which
preserved in the east the language and jurisprudence of the
Romans, may be computed to have lasted from the third to the
middle of the sixth century Heinecc. Jur. Rom. Hist. p. 351-356.]

121 (return) [ As in a former period I have traced the civil and
military promotion of Pertinax, I shall here insert the civil
honors of Mallius Theodorus. 1. He was distinguished by his
eloquence, while he pleaded as an advocate in the court of the
Prætorian præfect. 2. He governed one of the provinces of Africa,
either as president or consular, and deserved, by his
administration, the honor of a brass statue. 3. He was appointed
vicar, or vice-præfect, of Macedonia. 4. Quæstor. 5. Count of the
sacred largesses. 6. Prætorian præfect of the Gauls; whilst he
might yet be represented as a young man. 7. After a retreat,
perhaps a disgrace of many years, which Mallius (confounded by
some critics with the poet Manilius; see Fabricius Bibliothec.
Latin. Edit. Ernest. tom. i.c. 18, p. 501) employed in the study
of the Grecian philosophy he was named Prætorian præfect of
Italy, in the year 397. 8. While he still exercised that great
office, he was created, it the year 399, consul for the West; and
his name, on account of the infamy of his colleague, the eunuch
Eutropius, often stands alone in the Fasti. 9. In the year 408,
Mallius was appointed a second time Prætorian præfect of Italy.
Even in the venal panegyric of Claudian, we may discover the
merit of Mallius Theodorus, who, by a rare felicity, was the
intimate friend, both of Symmachus and of St. Augustin. See
Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 1110-1114.]

122 (return) [ Mamertinus in Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.] 20. Asterius
apud Photium, p. 1500.]

123 (return) [ The curious passage of Ammianus, (l. xxx. c. 4,)
in which he paints the manners of contemporary lawyers, affords a
strange mixture of sound sense, false rhetoric, and extravagant
satire. Godefroy (Prolegom. ad. Cod. Theod. c. i. p. 185)
supports the historian by similar complaints and authentic facts.
In the fourth century, many camels might have been laden with
law-books. Eunapius in Vit. Ædesii, p. 72.]

III. In the system of policy introduced by Augustus, the
governors, those at least of the Imperial provinces, were
invested with the full powers of the sovereign himself. Ministers
of peace and war, the distribution of rewards and punishments
depended on them alone, and they successively appeared on their
tribunal in the robes of civil magistracy, and in complete armor
at the head of the Roman legions. 124 The influence of the
revenue, the authority of law, and the command of a military
force, concurred to render their power supreme and absolute; and
whenever they were tempted to violate their allegiance, the loyal
province which they involved in their rebellion was scarcely
sensible of any change in its political state. From the time of
Commodus to the reign of Constantine, near one hundred governors
might be enumerated, who, with various success, erected the
standard of revolt; and though the innocent were too often
sacrificed, the guilty might be sometimes prevented, by the
suspicious cruelty of their master. 125 To secure his throne and
the public tranquillity from these formidable servants,
Constantine resolved to divide the military from the civil
administration, and to establish, as a permanent and professional
distinction, a practice which had been adopted only as an
occasional expedient. The supreme jurisdiction exercised by the
Prætorian præfects over the armies of the empire, was transferred
to the two _masters-general_ whom he instituted, the one for the
_cavalry_, the other for the _infantry;_ and though each of these
_illustrious_ officers was more peculiarly responsible for the
discipline of those troops which were under his immediate
inspection, they both indifferently commanded in the field the
several bodies, whether of horse or foot, which were united in
the same army. 126 Their number was soon doubled by the division
of the east and west; and as separate generals of the same rank
and title were appointed on the four important frontiers of the
Rhine, of the Upper and the Lower Danube, and of the Euphrates,
the defence of the Roman empire was at length committed to eight
masters-general of the cavalry and infantry. Under their orders,
thirty-five military commanders were stationed in the provinces:
three in Britain, six in Gaul, one in Spain, one in Italy, five
on the Upper, and four on the Lower Danube; in Asia, eight, three
in Egypt, and four in Africa. The titles of _counts_, and
_dukes_, 127 by which they were properly distinguished, have
obtained in modern languages so very different a sense, that the
use of them may occasion some surprise. But it should be
recollected, that the second of those appellations is only a
corruption of the Latin word, which was indiscriminately applied
to any military chief. All these provincial generals were
therefore _dukes;_ but no more than ten among them were dignified
with the rank of _counts_ or companions, a title of honor, or
rather of favor, which had been recently invented in the court of
Constantine. A gold belt was the ensign which distinguished the
office of the counts and dukes; and besides their pay, they
received a liberal allowance sufficient to maintain one hundred
and ninety servants, and one hundred and fifty-eight horses. They
were strictly prohibited from interfering in any matter which
related to the administration of justice or the revenue; but the
command which they exercised over the troops of their department,
was independent of the authority of the magistrates. About the
same time that Constantine gave a legal sanction to the
ecclesiastical order, he instituted in the Roman empire the nice
balance of the civil and the military powers. The emulation, and
sometimes the discord, which reigned between two professions of
opposite interests and incompatible manners, was productive of
beneficial and of pernicious consequences. It was seldom to be
expected that the general and the civil governor of a province
should either conspire for the disturbance, or should unite for
the service, of their country. While the one delayed to offer the
assistance which the other disdained to solicit, the troops very
frequently remained without orders or without supplies; the
public safety was betrayed, and the defenceless subjects were
left exposed to the fury of the Barbarians. The divided
administration which had been formed by Constantine, relaxed the
vigor of the state, while it secured the tranquillity of the
monarch.

124 (return) [ See a very splendid example in the life of
Agricola, particularly c. 20, 21. The lieutenant of Britain was
intrusted with the same powers which Cicero, proconsul of
Cilicia, had exercised in the name of the senate and people.]

125 (return) [ The Abbé Dubos, who has examined with accuracy
(see Hist. de la Monarchie Françoise, tom. i. p. 41-100, edit.
1742) the institutions of Augustus and of Constantine, observes,
that if Otho had been put to death the day before he executed his
conspiracy, Otho would now appear in history as innocent as
Corbulo.]

126 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 110. Before the end of the
reign of Constantius, the _magistri militum_ were already
increased to four. See Velesius ad Ammian. l. xvi. c. 7.]

127 (return) [ Though the military counts and dukes are
frequently mentioned, both in history and the codes, we must have
recourse to the Notitia for the exact knowledge of their number
and stations. For the institution, rank, privileges, &c., of the
counts in general see Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xii.—xx., with the
commentary of Godefroy.]

The memory of Constantine has been deservedly censured for
another innovation, which corrupted military discipline and
prepared the ruin of the empire. The nineteen years which
preceded his final victory over Licinius, had been a period of
license and intestine war. The rivals who contended for the
possession of the Roman world, had withdrawn the greatest part of
their forces from the guard of the general frontier; and the
principal cities which formed the boundary of their respective
dominions were filled with soldiers, who considered their
countrymen as their most implacable enemies. After the use of
these internal garrisons had ceased with the civil war, the
conqueror wanted either wisdom or firmness to revive the severe
discipline of Diocletian, and to suppress a fatal indulgence,
which habit had endeared and almost confirmed to the military
order. From the reign of Constantine, a popular and even legal
distinction was admitted between the _Palatines_ 128 and the
_Borderers;_ the troops of the court, as they were improperly
styled, and the troops of the frontier. The former, elevated by
the superiority of their pay and privileges, were permitted,
except in the extraordinary emergencies of war, to occupy their
tranquil stations in the heart of the provinces. The most
flourishing cities were oppressed by the intolerable weight of
quarters. The soldiers insensibly forgot the virtues of their
profession, and contracted only the vices of civil life. They
were either degraded by the industry of mechanic trades, or
enervated by the luxury of baths and theatres. They soon became
careless of their martial exercises, curious in their diet and
apparel; and while they inspired terror to the subjects of the
empire, they trembled at the hostile approach of the Barbarians.
129 The chain of fortifications which Diocletian and his
colleagues had extended along the banks of the great rivers, was
no longer maintained with the same care, or defended with the
same vigilance. The numbers which still remained under the name
of the troops of the frontier, might be sufficient for the
ordinary defence; but their spirit was degraded by the
humiliating reflection, that _they_ who were exposed to the
hardships and dangers of a perpetual warfare, were rewarded only
with about two thirds of the pay and emoluments which were
lavished on the troops of the court. Even the bands or legions
that were raised the nearest to the level of those unworthy
favorites, were in some measure disgraced by the title of honor
which they were allowed to assume. It was in vain that
Constantine repeated the most dreadful menaces of fire and sword
against the Borderers who should dare desert their colors, to
connive at the inroads of the Barbarians, or to participate in
the spoil. 130 The mischiefs which flow from injudicious counsels
are seldom removed by the application of partial severities; and
though succeeding princes labored to restore the strength and
numbers of the frontier garrisons, the empire, till the last
moment of its dissolution, continued to languish under the mortal
wound which had been so rashly or so weakly inflicted by the hand
of Constantine.

128 (return) [ Zosimus, l ii. p. 111. The distinction between the
two classes of Roman troops, is very darkly expressed in the
historians, the laws, and the Notitia. Consult, however, the
copious _paratitlon_, or abstract, which Godefroy has drawn up of
the seventh book, de Re Militari, of the Theodosian Code, l. vii.
tit. i. leg. 18, l. viii. tit. i. leg. 10.]

129 (return) [ Ferox erat in suos miles et rapax, ignavus vero in
hostes et fractus. Ammian. l. xxii. c. 4. He observes, that they
loved downy beds and houses of marble; and that their cups were
heavier than their swords.]

130 (return) [ Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. i. leg. 1, tit. xii. leg.
i. See Howell’s Hist. of the World, vol. ii. p. 19. That learned
historian, who is not sufficiently known, labors to justify the
character and policy of Constantine.]

The same timid policy, of dividing whatever is united, of
reducing whatever is eminent, of dreading every active power, and
of expecting that the most feeble will prove the most obedient,
seems to pervade the institutions of several princes, and
particularly those of Constantine. The martial pride of the
legions, whose victorious camps had so often been the scene of
rebellion, was nourished by the memory of their past exploits,
and the consciousness of their actual strength. As long as they
maintained their ancient establishment of six thousand men, they
subsisted, under the reign of Diocletian, each of them singly, a
visible and important object in the military history of the Roman
empire. A few years afterwards, these gigantic bodies were shrunk
to a very diminutive size; and when _seven_ legions, with some
auxiliaries, defended the city of Amida against the Persians, the
total garrison, with the inhabitants of both sexes, and the
peasants of the deserted country, did not exceed the number of
twenty thousand persons. 131 From this fact, and from similar
examples, there is reason to believe, that the constitution of
the legionary troops, to which they partly owed their valor and
discipline, was dissolved by Constantine; and that the bands of
Roman infantry, which still assumed the same names and the same
honors, consisted only of one thousand or fifteen hundred men.
132 The conspiracy of so many separate detachments, each of which
was awed by the sense of its own weakness, could easily be
checked; and the successors of Constantine might indulge their
love of ostentation, by issuing their orders to one hundred and
thirty-two legions, inscribed on the muster-roll of their
numerous armies. The remainder of their troops was distributed
into several hundred cohorts of infantry, and squadrons of
cavalry. Their arms, and titles, and ensigns, were calculated to
inspire terror, and to display the variety of nations who marched
under the Imperial standard. And not a vestige was left of that
severe simplicity, which, in the ages of freedom and victory, had
distinguished the line of battle of a Roman army from the
confused host of an Asiatic monarch. 133 A more particular
enumeration, drawn from the_ Notitia_, might exercise the
diligence of an antiquary; but the historian will content himself
with observing, that the number of permanent stations or
garrisons established on the frontiers of the empire, amounted to
five hundred and eighty-three; and that, under the successors of
Constantine, the complete force of the military establishment was
computed at six hundred and forty-five thousand soldiers. 134 An
effort so prodigious surpassed the wants of a more ancient, and
the faculties of a later, period.

131 (return) [ Ammian. l. xix. c. 2. He observes, (c. 5,) that
the desperate sallies of two Gallic legions were like a handful
of water thrown on a great conflagration.]

132 (return) [ Pancirolus ad Notitiam, p. 96. Mémoires de
l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xxv. p. 491.]

133 (return) [ Romana acies unius prope formæ erat et hominum et
armorum genere.—Regia acies varia magis multis gentibus
dissimilitudine armorum auxiliorumque erat. T. Liv. l. xxxvii. c.
39, 40. Flaminius, even before the event, had compared the army
of Antiochus to a supper in which the flesh of one vile animal
was diversified by the skill of the cooks. See the Life of
Flaminius in Plutarch.]

134 (return) [ Agathias, l. v. p. 157, edit. Louvre.]

In the various states of society, armies are recruited from very
different motives. Barbarians are urged by the love of war; the
citizens of a free republic may be prompted by a principle of
duty; the subjects, or at least the nobles, of a monarchy, are
animated by a sentiment of honor; but the timid and luxurious
inhabitants of a declining empire must be allured into the
service by the hopes of profit, or compelled by the dread of
punishment. The resources of the Roman treasury were exhausted by
the increase of pay, by the repetition of donatives, and by the
invention of new emolument and indulgences, which, in the opinion
of the provincial youth might compensate the hardships and
dangers of a military life. Yet, although the stature was
lowered, 135 although slaves, least by a tacit connivance, were
indiscriminately received into the ranks, the insurmountable
difficulty of procuring a regular and adequate supply of
volunteers, obliged the emperors to adopt more effectual and
coercive methods. The lands bestowed on the veterans, as the free
reward of their valor were henceforward granted under a condition
which contain the first rudiments of the feudal tenures; that
their sons, who succeeded to the inheritance, should devote
themselves to the profession of arms, as soon as they attained
the age of manhood; and their cowardly refusal was punished by
the loss of honor, of fortune, or even of life. 136 But as the
annual growth of the sons of the veterans bore a very small
proportion to the demands of the service, levies of men were
frequently required from the provinces, and every proprietor was
obliged either to take up arms, or to procure a substitute, or to
purchase his exemption by the payment of a heavy fine. The sum of
forty-two pieces of gold, to which it was _reduced_ ascertains
the exorbitant price of volunteers, and the reluctance with which
the government admitted of this alternative. 137 Such was the
horror for the profession of a soldier, which had affected the
minds of the degenerate Romans, that many of the youth of Italy
and the provinces chose to cut off the fingers of their right
hand, to escape from being pressed into the service; and this
strange expedient was so commonly practised, as to deserve the
severe animadversion of the laws, 138 and a peculiar name in the
Latin language. 139

135 (return) [ Valentinian (Cod. Theodos. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg.
3) fixes the standard at five feet seven inches, about five feet
four inches and a half, English measure. It had formerly been
five feet ten inches, and in the best corps, six Roman feet. Sed
tunc erat amplior multitude se et plures sequebantur militiam
armatam. Vegetius de Re Militari l. i. c. v.]

136 (return) [ See the two titles, De Veteranis and De Filiis
Veteranorum, in the seventh book of the Theodosian Code. The age
at which their military service was required, varied from
twenty-five to sixteen. If the sons of the veterans appeared with
a horse, they had a right to serve in the cavalry; two horses
gave them some valuable privileges]

137 (return) [ Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg. 7. According
to the historian Socrates, (see Godefroy ad loc.,) the same
emperor Valens sometimes required eighty pieces of gold for a
recruit. In the following law it is faintly expressed, that
slaves shall not be admitted inter optimas lectissimorum militum
turmas.]

138 (return) [ The person and property of a Roman knight, who had
mutilated his two sons, were sold at public auction by order of
Augustus. (Sueton. in August. c. 27.) The moderation of that
artful usurper proves, that this example of severity was
justified by the spirit of the times. Ammianus makes a
distinction between the effeminate Italians and the hardy Gauls.
(L. xv. c. 12.) Yet only 15 years afterwards, Valentinian, in a
law addressed to the præfect of Gaul, is obliged to enact that
these cowardly deserters shall be burnt alive. (Cod. Theod. l.
vii. tit. xiii. leg. 5.) Their numbers in Illyricum were so
considerable, that the province complained of a scarcity of
recruits. (Id. leg. 10.)]

139 (return) [ They were called _Murci. Murcidus_ is found in
Plautus and Festus, to denote a lazy and cowardly person, who,
according to Arnobius and Augustin, was under the immediate
protection of the goddess _Murcia_. From this particular instance
of cowardice, _murcare_ is used as synonymous to _mutilare_, by
the writers of the middle Latinity. See Linder brogius and
Valesius ad Ammian. Marcellin, l. xv. c. 12]