§ 1. How greatly it concerns the Prince—indeed, the whole state—to have brave, faithful, and prudent men about him and to remove slanderers, avaricious men, and the ambitious far away, the course of many centuries and the destruction of the best-known Kings have taught.
In the court there are two kinds of companions of Princes: either they assist the industry of rulers in counsel and government, or they attend upon the Prince’s person and affairs. For this is a distinction of offices, not of men, since many offices are frequently conferred upon one and the same man.
The chief officer in the imperial court was indeed the Prefect of the Praetorium, concerning whom it has been spoken elsewhere.
Equal to the Prefect of the Praetorium in France was the Mayor of the Palace, or Mayor of the Household. His offices were small at the beginning: to administer justice at home among the courtiers and attend to Palatine discipline. From this he acquired authority among his peers; and because they were elected by common suffrage, and possessed esteem with the King, with whom they were continually present, they were gradually brought into the state until, through the sloth of the Kings, they drew the whole power of the kingdom to themselves. Hence Pepin possessed the kingdom and appointed not a Mayor of the Palace, but a Count to adjudicate the controversies of the household. Cedrenus wrote various things concerning these men in his account of Leo the Iconoclast, which may be consulted.
Justinian gave recovered Africa a Prefect of the Praetorium and assigned 396 ministers to his office. Code of Justinian, On the Office of the Prefect of the Praetorium of Africa, title 25, law 2 G: “And by him, with God assisting, let seven provinces be ordered with their Judges: of these, Tingitana, which was previously called Proconsular, Carthage, Byzantium, and Tripolis shall have Governors of consular rank; but the rest—that is, Numidia, Mauritania, and Sardinia—shall be governed by Governors with God’s assistance. And in the office
of Your Magnitude, and of the magnificent man who is for the time being Prefect of the Praetorium of Africa, we decree that three hundred and ninety-six men shall serve in the various bureaux and offices. But in the offices of the Consular Governors and Governors we ordain that there shall be fifty men in each office.
“The schedule annexed below declares what emoluments either Your Magnificence, or the Consular Governors and Governors, and each person from their office, ought to obtain from the public treasury.
“We desire, therefore, that all our Judges should strive to govern their administrations according to the will and fear of God and according to our election and ordinance, so that none of them is either devoted to avarice, or himself inflicts any violence, or permits it to be inflicted by their Judges or offices, or by any other tax collectors. For although, with God assisting, we hasten throughout all our provinces to keep the taxpayers unharmed, we nevertheless take especial counsel for the tributaries of the African diocese, who after the captivity of so many ages have deserved, with God assisting, to behold the light of liberty through us. We therefore command all violence and all avarice to cease, and justice and truth to be preserved toward all our tributaries. For thus God will be propitiated, and they can more quickly, like the other contributors of our state, be relieved and flourish.”
§ 2. The court of the Emperor has great Princes as ministers. The first office is that of Cupbearer, ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ κρατῆρος, a great and favored dignity among Kings. For great fidelity is necessary in those in whose hand is the life of the Prince. Nehemiah discharged this office under Artaxerxes. Among the men of Constantinople the Cupbearer was greater than the Curopalates; and now the King of Bohemia, who excels among the seven Electors, is Cupbearer of the Emperor.
§ 3. There were various Domestics, such as the Domestic of the Table, of the Schools, of the Walls, and so forth. The man placed over the table was of no lesser dignity.
In the Roman Empire the Margrave of Brandenburg is Archchamberlain, concerning whom the Golden Bull, title 25, On the Offices of the Princes at the Solemn Courts of the Emperors, speaks thus: “Then the Margrave of Brandenburg, Archchamberlain, shall approach on horseback, having in his hands silver basins with water, weighing twelve marks of silver, and a beautiful towel; and, descending from his horse, he shall give water to the Emperor, or King of the Romans, for washing his hands.” The Chamberlain in France, whom they are accustomed to call Camlerlan and Camerling, was held in such honor that even the relatives by marriage and kinsmen of Kings occupied that dignity. Under Louis the Pious, Bernard, brother of the Queen, administered this function.
In the same Empire the Palatine is Archsteward. The Elector of Saxony carries the sword, which formerly the ἀρχισπαθάριος performed, who, bareheaded and next to the Emperor’s kinsmen, carried the sword. Thus it appears that the ancestors wished those who were themselves Princes to be about the Prince.
§ 4. There are very many other Magistrates of the palace or court, all of whom are called by the single name Palatines. The lesser men were so called: the memorial secretaries, agentes in rebus, and attendants; obsequium was the name of the entire body of attendants, which served equally for protection and honor. But because at court there is frequent mention of a School and Scholastics, I judge that something must be said concerning them.
Scholastics are indeed commonly said to be those who devote themselves to learning and philosophy. Jerome testifies that Serapion was called a Scholastic because of the elegance of his intellect; Salvian joins Scholastics with discerning men. Augustine, On Dialectic, says that properly and originally those who are still in Schools are called Scholastics, yet that all who live among letters employ this name.
But Schools and Scholastics had an altogether different meaning in the state. Scholastics were present in council with the Prefects of the Praetorium and the Governors of Provinces.
Schools were orders of soldiers. They were so called by antiphrasis because they were by no means at leisure, as many think; but I think that in truth they were so called because of leisure, for training in arms was not so great that they could appear not to be at leisure. A soldier spends a large part of his life at leisure. In Vegetius, book 2, chapter 21, a School is a century.
The laws themselves sufficiently indicate that the labors of the military Schools were not excessive. For service in the eleven Schools was easier than that of men who endured service under the exalted Masters of the Soldiers. Indeed, two Schools served without arms: those of the Silentiaries and the agentes in rebus. The others were armed and were as though in Praetorian military service—that is, affluent, soft, and idle, which is seen more in pomp than in dangers. Hence there were two Schools of Candidates, Seniors and Juniors, whom a later age called Ostensionales, because they stood beside the rulers for the display of Majesty, commended by height and form. Yet the number of Schools varied at different times.
To these belong the Ducenarii and Centenarii, which are dignities of the legions but were transferred to Palatine offices. They presided over one hundred and two hundred members of the cohorts. Ducena and Centena were the names of the dignity itself. Paul of Samosata wished to be called Ducenarius rather than Bishop. They were in the School of the agentes in rebus. Augustus first instituted Ducenary Procurators, Dio, book 53, who collected taxes; they were so called because they possessed two hundred thousand sesterces in the census. The man who governed the order was called Primicerius: the Primicerius of the court εὐτακτεῖ τοὺς ἐν αὐλῇ πάντας, “sets all those in the court in good order.”
§ 5. These too were chief offices in the royal court. The Protovestiarius presided over the inner wardrobe and kept precious treasures; but the Protovestiarites was President of the treasury, and his dignity was great and not unequal to the Count of the Largesses. Under him was the Vestiarius and the man who was called Avestiarius in the imperial trireme.
The Great Shield-bearer is the King’s groom. He offered the belt and sword to the King as he mounted or dismounted his horse, and formerly also the shield.
The Protallogator, who presided over the horses destined for the public post, is subject to the Great Primicerius.
The Λογαριαστής exercised care of all the courtiers, lest anyone lack his stipend.
The Sacellarius presided over alms. Zonaras, volume 3, page 76. Nevertheless he also exacted payments and decreed punishments. They were generally eunuchs and powerful.
The Great Master of the Hospice has under him eight arrangers of the table and tasters.
The Provost of the Hospice punishes those who offend in courtly service or wherever the King acts.
Other nobles were present in the palace and were created by letters patent; they enjoyed honor and titles without labor or emolument. Cassiodorus, book 6 of the Variae.
Among the French a Magistrate whom they called the King of the Ribalds presides over cleansing the courts. Ribalds are strong men, σακκοφόροι, “burden bearers,” such as the ancient
Egyptians. Accordingly, they called wanderers and vagrants, worthless men, and rogues by this name. That King therefore drove this whole kind of dregs from the court, lest, like flies, they cling to the royal banquets and befoul the palace.
§ 6. An ordinary fault of ancient courts was an excessive multitude of men. The Proconsul of Africa and his Legates had four hundred attendants. Arcadius and Honorius, Code, book 12, title 56: “We judge that four hundred must be assigned to your staff and that of your Legates, from those only whom the members of the state do not complain have been taken from them.”
The Count of the East had six hundred, under Theodosius and Arcadius: “In the office of the Count of the East let there be no more than six hundred attendants, whom we know to be abundantly sufficient for public necessities.”
§ 7. The Franks were much more moderate: one hundred nobles, to whom one hundred gold pieces were given monthly; one hundred others were added to them.
The privilege of all Palatines, given by Constantine, is that they should possess what they have acquired as though it were military peculium. “We command,” he says in chapter 12, title 31, “that all Palatines upon whom certain privileges of our edict have long since been poured should possess as military peculium any property which, while they remain in our palace, they have acquired by their own economy or obtained by our gifts. For what is so truly from the camp as that which is acquired with our knowledge and almost beneath our eyes? Nor are those men strangers to the dust and labor of camps who accompany our standards, who are always ready for duties, whom the length of journeys and the difficulty of expeditions exercise, intent upon and instructed in their studies. Therefore let our Palatines, who have been able to use the privileges of the edict, retain as their own their peculia which, while appointed in our palace, they have acquired either by their own labor, as has been said, or by our donation. Posted ten days before the Kalends of June, Constantine Augustus for the sixth time and Constantius Caesar being Consuls.”
Finally, there was also the Tribune of Shining Things, who possessed this function: that the palace and all public things should be cared for and kept shining.