A History of Rome to 565 A. D Part 22

*The end of the pax Romana.* The period of fifty years from 235 to 285 A. D. is a prolonged repet.i.tion of the shorter epochs of civil war of 6869 and 193197 A. D. During this interval twenty-six Augusti, including such as were colleagues in the _imperium_, obtained recognition in Rome and of these only one escaped a violent death. In addition, there were numerous usurpers or "tyrants," as candidates who failed to make good their claims to the princ.i.p.ate were called. Almost all of these emperors were the nominees of the soldiery, and at least possessed military qualifications that were above the average. In general they conscientiously devoted themselves to the task of restoring order in the empire, but their efforts were in the main nullified by the treachery of their own troops and the rise of rival emperors.

*The mutiny of the army.* The main cause of this disorganization lay in the fact that the professional army had lost all sense of loyalty to the empire, an att.i.tude already frequently evidenced by the praetorians, and by the legions also under Caracalla and his successors. Recruited, as the latter now were, almost entirely from the frontiers of the Roman world, they felt no community of interest with the inhabitants of the peaceful provinces and turned upon them, like unfaithful sheep dogs upon the flocks whom it was their duty to guard. The sole object of the troops was to enrich themselves by plunder and the extortion of high pay and frequent largesses from the emperor whom they supported. Hence, in the expectation of fresh rewards, each army hailed as Imperator the commander who had led it to victory over foreign foes or revolting soldiers of Rome.

*Barbarian invasions.* In addition to constant civil war, the Roman world was exposed to all the horrors of barbarian invasions. We have already noticed the rise of a new Persian state whose object was the reestablishment of the empire as it had existed prior to the conquests of Alexander the Great. Likewise on the whole extent of the northern frontier new and more aggressive peoples a.s.saulted and penetrated the frontier defences. On the North Sea coast, between the Rhine and the Weser were the Saxons whose s.h.i.+ps raided the sh.o.r.es of Britain and Gaul. Facing the Romans along the lower Rhine were the Franks, along the upper Rhine the Alamanni, further east on the upper Danube the Marcomanni, while on the eastern frontier of Dacia and to the north of the Black Sea were situated the Goths and the Heruli. The withdrawal of troops from some sectors of the frontier to meet attacks at others and the neglect of their duty by the army corps who plunged into the maelstrom of civil war in support of various candidates for the imperial power gave the northern barbarians the opportunity to sweep down in destructive hordes upon the peaceful and undefended provinces.

*Dissolution of the empire.* The natural consequence of the failure of the imperial government to defend the provinces from hostile invasions was that the provincials began to take measures for their own protection and to transfer their allegiance from the Roman emperors to local authorities, who proved a more efficient help in time of trouble. These separatist tendencies were active both in the East and in the West and led to a temporary dissolution of the unity of the Empire.

*Pestilence.* A third scourge which afflicted the Roman world at this critical period was a pestilence which, originating in the East, entered the Empire about 252 A. D., and raged for fifteen years.

*Valerian and Gallienus: 253268 A. D.* The fortunes of the Empire reached their lowest ebb under Valerian and his son Gallienus (253268 A. D.). In 256, the Persians invaded Mesopotamia and Syria, and captured Antioch.

Valerian at once undertook the defence of the eastern provinces, leaving Gallienus in charge of the West. Antioch was recovered, but when Valerian entered Mesopotamia to relieve the blockade of Edessa, he was defeated by the Persian king Sapor, and taken prisoner (258 A. D.). He died soon afterwards in captivity. The Persians not only reoccupied Antioch but also seized Tarsus in Cilicia and Caesarea in Cappadocia, and ravaged Asia Minor to the sh.o.r.es of the Aegean Sea.

While Valerian was waging his ill-fated war in the East, the rest of the empire was in a continual state of turmoil. In 257 the Goths and other peoples overran Dacia, crossed the Danube and penetrated as far south as Macedonia and Achaia. In 258 a revolt broke out in Mauretania. The Berber tribesmen, led by an able chief, Faraxen, invaded the province of Numidia, and were only reduced to submission by the capture of their leader (260 A. D.). At the same time the Alamanni broke into Raetia, and made their way over the Alps into the Po valley. Gallienus hastened to the rescue and defeated them near Milan. But in his absence in Italy the Franks crossed the Rhine and poured in devastating hordes over Gaul and Spain. The Roman possessions on the right bank of the Rhine were lost at this time and never recovered.

*The empire of the Gauls.* At the news of the death of Valerian the commander in Pannonia, Ingenuus, raised the standard of revolt. After defeating him, Gallienus found another serious rival in Regalia.n.u.s, whom, however, he was likewise able to overcome. But at the same time (258 A. D.), Marcus Ca.s.sius Latinius Postumus, whom Gallienus had left in command in Gaul, a.s.sumed the imperial t.i.tle, after a victory gained over a body of Franks. He was able to clear Gaul of its foes and make himself master of Britain and Spain. Gallienus was powerless to depose him.

Postumus did not endeavor to establish a national Gallic state but regarded himself as exercising the Roman _imperium_ in a portion of the empire. He fixed his capital at Treves, and organized a senate and other inst.i.tutions on the Roman model. His coins bore the inscription _Roma Aeterna_.

*Palmyra.* In the Orient the Persians were unable to retain their hold on Syria and Asia Minor. Their withdrawal was in large measure caused by the activities of Odaenathus, the ruler of the city of Palmyra, who inflicted a severe defeat upon Sapor and recovered Roman Mesopotamia. Thereupon two brothers, Fulvius Macria.n.u.s and Fulvius Quietus, sons of an officer who had distinguished himself against the Persians, were acclaimed as emperors in Asia Minor. However, the one was defeated in attempting to invade Europe and the other was overthrown by Odaenathus. In recognition of his services Gallienus bestowed upon him the t.i.tle of "Commander of the East"

(_dux orientis_), with the duty of protecting the East (264 A. D.). In Palmyra, he ruled as _basileus_, or king, and although he nominally acknowledged the overlords.h.i.+p of the Roman emperor, he was practically an independent sovereign.

*The Goths.* A fresh peril arose in the maritime raids of the Goths, Heruli, and other tribes who had seized the harbors on the north coast of the Black Sea. With the s.h.i.+ps that they thus secured they ravaged the northern coast of Asia Minor as early as 256 A. D. In 262 they forced the pa.s.sage of the Bosphorus and h.e.l.lespont and plundered the sh.o.r.es of the Aegean. Their most noted raid was in 267, when they sacked the chief cities of Greece, including Athens.

No less than eighteen usurpers, for the most part officers who had risen from the ranks, had unsuccessfully challenged the authority of Gallienus in the various provinces. At last, in 268 A. D., one of his leading generals, Aureolus, laid claim to the imperial t.i.tle. Gallienus defeated him and was besieging him in Milan, when he was killed at the instigation of his officers, who proclaimed as his successor one of their own number, Marcus Aurelius Claudius.

*Claudius Gothicus, 268270 A. D.* The rule of Claudius lasted only two years, in which his greatest achievement was the crus.h.i.+ng defeat which he inflicted upon the Goths who had again overrun Greece and the adjacent lands (269 A. D.). This victory won him the name of Gothicus. Upon the death of Claudius in 270 A. D., the army chose Lucius Domitius Aurelia.n.u.s as emperor.

*Lucius Domitius Aurelia.n.u.s, 270275 A. D.* Aurelian's first task was to clear Italy and the Danubian provinces of barbarian invaders. Two incursions of the Alamanni into Raetia and Italy were repulsed, the latter with great slaughter. But the emperor recognized that the security of Italy could no longer be guaranteed and so he ordered the fortification of the Italian cities. The imposing wall which still marks the boundary of part of ancient Rome was begun by Aurelian. A horde of Vandals were beaten and driven out of Pannonia and a victory was won over the Goths in Moesia.

But the exposed position of Dacia, and the fact that it was already in large part occupied by the barbarians, induced Aurelian to abandon it altogether. The rest of the Roman settlers were withdrawn to Moesia, where a new province of Dacia was formed behind the barrier of the Danube.

*The overthrow of Palmyra.* Aurelian was now ready to attempt his second and greater task, the restoration of imperial unity. And in this the East first claimed his attention. There Vaballathus, the son of Odaenathus, ruled over Palmyra, supported and directed by his mother, Zen.o.bia. At the outset Aurelian had recognized his position but in 271 Vaballathus a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Augustus and thereby declared his independence of Roman suzerainty. He was able to extend his authority over Egypt and a great part of Asia Minor. In 272 Aurelian set out to bring back the East to its allegiance. He speedily recovered Asia Minor, and entered Syria, where he signally defeated the famous Palmyrene archers and mailed hors.e.m.e.n at Emesa. He then crossed the desert and laid siege to Palmyra itself.

Zen.o.bia tried to escape, but was taken, and the city surrendered. The queen and her family were carried off to Rome but Palmyra was at first spared. However, it rebelled again when Aurelian had set out for Rome.

Thereupon the emperor returned with all speed and recaptured the city.

This time it was utterly destroyed. The authority of Rome was once more firmly reestablished in the East.

*The reconquest of Gaul.* Following his conquest of Palmyra, Aurelian proceeded to overthrow the already tottering empire of the Gauls. At the death of Postumus in 268, Spain and Narbonese Gaul had acknowledged the Roman emperor Claudius Gothicus. After several successors of Postumus had been overthrown by the mutinous Gallic soldiery, Publius Esuvius Tetricus was appointed emperor in Gaul and Britain. However, foreseeing the speedy dissolution of his empire, he secretly entered into negotiations with Aurelian. The latter invaded Gaul and met the Gallic army at the plain of Chalons. In the course of the battle, Tetricus went over to Aurelian, who won a complete victory. Britain and Gaul submitted to the conqueror (274 A. D.). Thus the unity of the empire was restored and Aurelian a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of "Restorer of the World" (_rest.i.tutor orbis_).

*Dominus et deus natus.* Not only was Aurelian one of the greatest of Roman commanders; he also displayed sound judgment in his administration.

Here his chief work was the suppression of the debased silver currency and the issuing of a much improved coinage. Aurelian regarded himself as an absolute monarch and employed on his coins the t.i.tles _dominus et deus natus_-"born Lord and G.o.d." He likewise reestablished in Rome the official cult of the Unconquered Sun G.o.d, previously introduced by Elagabalus. One of the characteristics of this cult was the belief that the monarch was the incarnation of the divine spirit, a belief which gave a moral justification to absolutism.

*Probus, 276282 A. D.* Aurelian was murdered in 275 A. D., and was succeeded by Tacitus, who met a like fate after a rule of less than two years. He was followed by Marcus Aurelius Probus, an able Illyrian officer. Probus was called upon to repel fresh invasions of Germanic peoples, to subdue the rebellious Isaurians in Asia Minor and suppress a revolt in Egypt. Everywhere he successfully upheld the authority of the empire, but his strict discipline eventually cost him the favor of the soldiers who hailed as Imperator Marcus Aurelius Carus. Probus was put to death (282 A. D.). Like his predecessor, Carus was a general of great ability. He appointed his eldest son Carinus Augustus as his co-ruler, and left him in charge of the West while he embarked on a campaign against the Persians. This was crowned with complete success and terminated with the capture of Ctesiphon. But on his return march he died, probably at the hands of his troops (283 A. D.). His younger son, the Caesar Numeria.n.u.s, who took command of the army, was a.s.sa.s.sinated by the praetorian prefect Aper. However, the choice of the army fell upon Gaius Valerius Aurelius Diocletia.n.u.s, who a.s.sumed the imperial t.i.tle in September, 284 A. D. But Carinus had retained his hold upon the West and advanced to crush Diocletian. In the course of a battle at the river Margus in Moesia he was murdered by his own officers (285 A. D.), and with the victory of Diocletian a new period of Roman history begins.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE PRINc.i.p.aTE

I. THE VICTORY OF AUTOCRACY

*The senate and the appointment of the princeps.* In the preceding chapters we have traced in outline the political history of the princ.i.p.ate to the point where it had become an undisguised military autocracy. This change is clearly seen in connection with the imperial nomination. The appointment to the princ.i.p.ate originally involved the conferment of the _imperium_, the tribunician power and other rights and privileges. The _imperium_ might be bestowed either by a senatorial decree or through the acclamation as _imperator_ by a part of the soldiery. Each of these forms was regarded as valid, but was regularly confirmed by the other. But the tribunician authority and the remaining powers of the princeps were conferred only by a decree of the Senate, confirmed, during the first century at least, by a vote of the a.s.sembly of the Centuries. However, after the accession of Carus (282 A. D.), the Senate, which could no longer claim to exercise any authority in the state, ceased to partic.i.p.ate in the appointment of the new ruler. This marks the formal end of the princ.i.p.ate.

*The Senate's loss of administrative power. I. Rome and Italy.* The const.i.tutional history of the princ.i.p.ate is the story of the gradual absorption of the Senate's powers by the princeps and the supplanting of the Senate's officers by those in the imperial service. It has been well said that Augustus aimed at the impossible when he sought to be the chief magistrate in the state without being at the same time the head of the administration. He had intended that the Senate should conduct the administration of Rome, Italy and the ungarrisoned provinces, but, as we have seen, he himself had been brought by force of circ.u.mstances to take the initial steps in infringing upon the Senate's prerogatives. Not only did he take over the duties of provisioning and policing the city by establis.h.i.+ng the prefectures of the grain supply and the watch, but he also a.s.sumed responsibility for the upkeep of the public buildings, streets and aqueducts of Rome, as well as the highways of Italy. These departments of public works were put in charge of commissioners of senatorial rank, called curators, whom the princeps nominated. However, from the time of Claudius equestrian officials, ent.i.tled procurators, were appointed to these departments and became their real directors. Finally, under Septimius Severus, the senatorial curators were dispensed with.

*II. The aerarium.* Augustus had left to the Senate the control of the public treasury, the _aerarium_, which was maintained by revenues from the senatorial provinces and Italy. But when the princeps came to a.s.sume control of those branches of the administration the expense of which was defrayed by the _aerarium_, it was inevitable that the treasury itself should pa.s.s in some degree under his supervision. And so in 44 A. D. the princeps began to designate two quaestors to be in charge of the treasury for a three-year period. Under Nero the place of these quaestors was taken by two prefects appointed in the same manner but from among the ex-praetors. The importance of the _aerarium_ declined in proportion as its revenues pa.s.sed into the hands of the ministers of the princeps, until in the period between Septimius Severus and Diocletian it sank to the position of a munic.i.p.al chest for the city of Rome.

*III. The senatorial provinces.* In the early princ.i.p.ate the senatorial provinces were administered by appointees of the Senate, all of whom now bore the t.i.tle of proconsul, a.s.sisted as in former days by quaestors.

However, only the proconsul of Africa was at the same time commander of a provincial garrison, and his command was transferred to the imperial governor of Numidia by Caligula. Even in the time of Augustus the imperial procurators had appeared in the senatorial provinces in charge of the revenues which were at the disposal of the princeps, and, before the close of the third century they were in complete control of the financial administration of these provinces. But long before this, by the opening of the second century, the princeps had usurped the Senate's privilege of appointing the proconsuls. The result was that by the close of the princ.i.p.ate all the provinces without distinction were equally under imperial control.

*Restriction of Senate's elective powers.* It was Tiberius who transferred to the Senate the electoral functions of the a.s.sembly but he, as Augustus before him, limited the Senate's freedom of action by the recommendation of imperial candidates for the lower magistracies. From the time of Nero the consuls.h.i.+p also was regularly filled by nominees of the emperors. The custom of appointing several successive consular pairs in the course of each year, each pair functioning for two or four months, greatly weakened the influence of the consulate, while it enabled the emperors to gratify the ambitions of a larger number of candidates for that office.

*Loss of legislative functions.* The rapid disappearance of the a.s.sembly resulted in the transfer of its sovereign legislative powers to the Senate. The decrees of the Senate thus acquired the validity of laws and after the time of Nerva comitial legislation completely ceased. However, the influence of the princeps encroached more and more upon the legislative freedom of the Senate until in the time of the Severi the senatorial decrees were merely proclamations of the princeps (_orationes principis_) which were read to the Senate and approved by it. Furthermore, the princeps developed independent legislative power and by the middle of the second century the ordinances or const.i.tutions of the princeps had acquired the force of law. Early in the third century legislation of this type altogether superseded the senatorial decrees. The imperial const.i.tutions included edicts, _decreta_, or judicial verdicts, responses to the pet.i.tions of officers of the princeps or private citizens, and mandates or instructions to his subordinates. Originally, the edicts were only valid during the princ.i.p.ate of their author and the other forms of const.i.tutions merely applied to special cases. However, in course of time, they all alike came to be recognized as establis.h.i.+ng rules of public and private law which remained in force unless they were specifically revoked by another imperial const.i.tution.

*The administration of justice.* The republican system of civil and criminal jurisdiction was inherited by the princ.i.p.ate, and the courts of the praetors continued to function for Rome and Italy, while the proconsuls were in charge of the administration of justice in the senatorial provinces. In addition the Senate, under the presidency of the consuls, acted as a tribunal for the trial of political offences and criminal charges brought against members of the senatorial order. The Senate also served as a court of appeals from the decisions of the proconsuls. But from the time of Augustus the princeps exercised an unlimited right of jurisdiction which enabled him to take cases under his personal cognizance (_cognitio_), or appoint a delegate to try them. The imperial officials administered justice in their respective spheres by virtue of delegated authority and consequently appeals from their courts were directed to the princeps. The development of judicial functions by the military and administrative officials of the princeps in Rome-the praetorian prefect, the city prefect, the prefects of the watch and the prefect of the grain supply-seriously encroached upon the judicial power of the praetors. In addition, the _consulares_ of Hadrian, and the _iuridici_ of Marcus Aurelius further limited the sphere of the praetorian courts. Ultimately, under Septimius Severus, we find the city prefect as the supreme judicial authority for all criminal cases arising in Rome or within a radius of one hundred miles of the city and also exercising appellate jurisdiction in civil cases within the same limits, subject however, to an appeal to the court of the princeps. For the rest of Italy, the court of the praetorian prefect was now the highest tribunal in both criminal and civil suits. By this time also the princeps had acquired supreme appellate jurisdiction for the whole empire, a power which was regularly exercised by the praetorian prefect acting in his place, In the third century the Senate ceased to exercise any judicial authority whatever.

As a result of the above processes the princeps became in the end the sole source of legislative, administrative and judicial authority. The republican magistrates had become practically munic.i.p.al officers, and one of them, the aediles.h.i.+p, disappeared in the third century. The complete victory of the princeps over the Senate is marked by the exclusion of senators from military commands under Gallienus, and their removal from the provincial governors.h.i.+ps in which they had continued to exercise civil authority between the time of Aurelian and the accession of Diocletian.

*The friction between the Senate and the princeps.* It might be thought that owing to the gradual admission to the Senate of the nominees of the princeps that harmony would have been established between the two administrative heads of the state. But although this new n.o.bility was thoroughly loyal to the princ.i.p.ate, they proved just as tenacious of the rights of the Senate as the descendants of the older n.o.bility who preserved the tradition of senatorial rule. Augustus and Tiberius endeavored to govern in concord with the Senate by organizing an advisory council appointed from the Senate, but their successors abandoned the practice. The friction between the princeps and the Senate was due in part to the realization that it was from the senatorial order that rivals might arise and in part to the fact that those emperors who did not interpret their position, as did Augustus, in the light of a magistracy responsible to the Senate, were bound to regard the Senate's powers as restrictions upon their own freedom of action, and as an unnecessary complication of the administration. The chief services of the Senate were to provide a head for the government when the princ.i.p.ate was vacant, and to furnish the only means for the expression of opinion with regard to the character of the administration of the individual emperors. The spontaneous deification or the _d.a.m.natio memoriae_ of a deceased princeps was not without weight, for it expressed the opinion of the most influential cla.s.s in the state.

While the Senate as a body was thus stripped of its power, the senatorial order remained a powerful cla.s.s. Originally embracing the chief landholders of Italy, it came to include those of the whole empire.

Collectively the senators lost in influence, but individually they gained.

By the end of the second century the senatorial order had acquired an hereditary t.i.tle, that of _clarissimus_ (most n.o.ble), indicative of their rank.

II. THE GROWTH OF THE CIVIL SERVICE

*The first steps.* The necessary counterpart to the a.s.sumption of administrative duties by the princeps was the development of an imperial civil service, the officials of which were nominated by the princeps, and promoted or removed at his pleasure. In this Augustus had taken the first steps by the establishment of equestrian procurators.h.i.+ps and prefectures, and the opening up of an equestrian career, but the number of these posts greatly increased with the extension of the administrative sphere of the princeps at the expense of the Senate. The idea of conducting the government through various departments manned by permanent salaried officials was absolutely foreign to the Roman republic, which only employed such servants for clerical positions of minor importance in Rome.

However, the chaotic conditions which had resulted from the republican system showed the need of a change, and the concentration of a large share of the administration in the hands of the princeps both required and gave the opportunity for the development of an organized civil service. This development was unquestionably stimulated and influenced by the incorporation in the Roman empire of the kingdom of Egypt, which possessed a highly organized bureaucratic system that continued to function unchanged in its essential characteristics.

*The imperial secretarys.h.i.+ps.* At first the imperial civil service lacked system and there was little or no connection between the various administrative offices in Italy and in the provinces. Augustus and his immediate successors conducted the administration as part of their private business, keeping in touch with the imperial officials through the private secretaries of their own households, that is to say, their freedmen, who, in another capacity, conducted the management of the private estate of the princeps. An important change was introduced under Claudius, when his influential freedmen caused the creation within the imperial household of a number of secretarys.h.i.+ps with definite t.i.tles that indicated the sphere of their duties. The chief of these secretarys.h.i.+ps were the _a rationibus_, the _ab epistulis_, the _a libellis_, the _a __cognitionibus_ and the _a studiis._ The _a rationibus_ acted as a secretary of the treasury, being in charge of the finances of the empire which were controlled by the princeps; the _ab epistulis_ was a secretary for correspondence, who prepared the orders which the princeps issued to his officials and other persons; the _a libellis_ was a secretary for pet.i.tions, who received all requests addressed to the princeps; the _a __cognitionibus_ served as a secretary for the imperial inquests, entrusted with the duty of preparing the information necessary for the rendering of the imperial decision in the judicial investigations personally conducted by the princeps (_cognitiones_); and the _a studiis_, or secretary of the records, had the duty of searching out precedents for the guidance of the princeps in the conduct of judicial or administrative business. The establishment of these secretarys.h.i.+ps in the imperial household tended to centralize more completely the imperial administration and to give it greater uniformity and regularity. At the same time the influence of the freedmen who occupied these important positions was responsible for the admission of freedmen to many of the minor administrative procurators.h.i.+ps. It was under Claudius also that the preliminary military career of the procurators was more definitely fixed.

*The reforms of Hadrian and Septimius Severus.* Hadrian took the next decisive step in the development of the central administrative offices when he transformed the secretarys.h.i.+ps of the imperial household into secretarys.h.i.+ps of state by filling them with equestrians of procuratorial rank in place of imperial freedmen. From this time the latter were restricted to minor positions in the various departments. Under Hadrian also there was a marked increase in the number of administrative procurators.h.i.+ps owing to the final abolition of the system of farming the revenues and their subsequent direct collection by imperial officials as well as the establishment of the public post as a means of intercourse throughout all the provinces. It was possibly with the object of supplying the necessary officials to undertake these new tasks that Hadrian created the office of the advocate of the _fiscus_ as an alternative for the preliminary military career of the procurators.

Septimius Severus, as we have seen, opened the posts of the civil administration to veteran officers upon the completion of a long period of military service. Thus, although a purely civil career was established, which led ultimately to the highest prefectures, nevertheless, during the princ.i.p.ate the civil administrative offices were never completely separated from the traditional preliminary military service. It was Septimius Severus also who made the praetorian prefect, as the representative of the princeps, the head of the civil as well as of the military administration.

*The salary and t.i.tles of the equestrian officials.* The ordinary career of an official in the imperial civil service included a considerable number of procurators.h.i.+ps in various branches of the administration, both in Rome, Italy and the provinces. Although from the time of Augustus a definite salary was attached to each of these offices, it was not until after the reforms of Hadrian that four distinct cla.s.ses of procurators were recognized on the basis of the relative importance of their offices expressed in terms of pay. These four cla.s.ses of procurators were the _tercenarii_, _ducenarii_, _centenarii_ and _s.e.xagenarii_, who received respectively an annual salary of 300,000, 200,000, 100,000 and 60,000 sesterces; this cla.s.sification remained unchanged until the close of the third century. At that time the highest cla.s.s included the imperial secretaries of state, whose t.i.tle was now that of _magister_, or master.

The salary of the four chief prefectures was probably higher still.

Following the example of the senatorial order, the equestrians also acquired t.i.tles of honor, which depended upon their official rank. From the time of Hadrian the t.i.tle _vir eminentissimus_ (most eminent) was the prerogative of the praetorian prefects. Under Marcus Aurelius appear two other equestrian t.i.tles, _vir perfectissimus_ and _vir egregius_. In the third century the latter was borne by all the imperial procurators, while the former was reserved for the higher prefectures (apart from the praetorian), the chief officials of the treasury and the imperial secretaries.

*Administration of the finances: (I). The Fiscus.* The most important branch of the civil administration was that of the public finances, which merits special consideration. Augustus did not centralize the administration of the provincial revenues which were at his disposal, but created a separate treasury or _fiscus_ for each imperial province.