BOOK XII
TITLE I. Concerning dignities.
TITLE II. Concerning praetors, praetorian honors, and the abolition of the contributions known as glebe, leaf, and seven solidi.
TITLE III. Concerning consuls, and the prohibition against their squandering money, and concerning prefects, military commanders, and patricians.
TITLE IV. Concerning praetorian and urban prefects and military commanders.
TITLE V. Concerning the imperial chamberlains, and valets-de-chambre and their privileges.
TITLE VI. Concerning quaestors, masters of the offices, and counts of the imperial largesses and of private affairs.
TITLE VII. Concerning the primicerius, the secundicerius, and notaries.
TITLE VIII. Concerning the maintenance of the order of dignities.
TITLE IX. Page concerning the chiefs of the imperial bureaus.
TITLE X. Concerning the counts of the consistory.
TITLE XI. Concerning the counts and tribunes of associations.
TITLE XII. Concerning military counts.
TITLE XIII. Concerning the counts and chief physicians of the imperial palace.
TITLE XIV. Concerning the counts who govern the provinces.
TITLE XV. Concerning the professors, who, by giving instruction in the city of Constantinople, have attained to the rank of count.
TITLE XVI. Concerning silentarii and their decurions.
TITLE XVII. Concerning domestics and protectors.
TITLE XVIII. Concerning the superintendents of public works.
TITLE XIX. Concerning persons attached to the office of imperial secretary, and others who are employed in the same.
TITLE XX. Concerning agents employed in the transaction of business.
TITLE XXI. Concerning the overseer of agents employed in the transaction of business.
TITLE XXII. Concerning the chiefs of agents employed in the transaction of business.
TITLE XXIII. Concerning spies and detectives.
TITLE XXIV. Concerning officers of the palace attached to the bureaus of the imperial largesses and private affairs.
TITLE XXV. Page concerning strators.
TITLE XXVI. Concerning castrensiarii and ministerianii.
TITLE XXVII. Concerning deans.
TITLE XXVIII. Concerning surveyors.
TITLE XXIX. Concerning the privileges of those who are employed in the imperial palace.
TITLE XXX. Concerning the privileges of the favored divisions of the army.
TITLE XXXI. Concerning the castrense peculium of all palatines.
TITLE XXXII. Concerning the equestrian dignity.
TITLE XXXIII. Concerning the dignity of perfectissimatus.
TITLE XXXIV. Who can serve in the army and who cannot, and concerning slaves who aspire to enter the military service or be raised to any dignity. No one can have two employments, or hold two dignities at once.
TITLE XXXV. Merchants should not serve in the army.
TITLE XXVI. Concerning military affairs.
TITLE XXXVII. Concerning the castrense peculium of soldiers and the subordinates of the prefects.
TITLE XXXVIII. Concerning the distribution of military subsistence.
TITLE XXXIX. Concerning the cooking and the transport of provisions for the army.
TITLE XL. Page concerning the clothing of soldiers.
TITLE XLI. Concerning furriers and quartermasters.
TITLE XLII. Concerning supplies which should not be furnished to guests.
TITLE XLIII. Concerning furloughs.
TITLE XLIV. Concerning new recruits.
TITLE XLV. Concerning the protection of the shores of the sea, and highways.
TITLE XLVI. Concerning deserters and those who harbor them.
TITLE XLVII. Concerning veterans.
TITLE XLVIII. Concerning the sons of military officers who die during war.
TITLE XLIX. Concerning the offering of good wishes.
TITLE L. Concerning accountants, recorders, clerks, assistants, secretaries and collectors of the capital, and other judicial officers, military as well as civil.
TITLE LI. Concerning the public post, post-horses, and vehicles.
TITLE LII. Concerning drivers and stations.
TITLE LIII. Concerning the subordinates of the praetorian prefects and their privileges.
TITLE LIV. Concerning the attendants of the prefect of the city.
TITLE LV. Concerning the staff officers or generals and their privileges.
TITLE LVI. Page concerning the attendants of the proconsul and the lieutenant of the emperor.
TITLE LVII. Concerning the attendants of the count of the east.
TITLE LVIII. Concerning the attendants attached to the cohorts of princes and their cornicularii and primipilarii.
TITLE LIX. Concerning the attendants of the prefect of subsistence.
TITLE LX. Concerning the different officials and attendants of judges, and their prerogatives.
TITLE LXI. Concerning executive officers and collectors of taxes.
TITLE LXII. Concerning the profits of advocates and the extortions of officials or their subordinates.
TITLE LXIII. Concerning the chief centurion of the triarii.
TITLE LXIV. Those who announce the occasions of public rejoicing or the names of the consuls, or who publish the imperial constitutions or any other imperial or judicial documents, should not receive excessive sums for expenses from people against their consent.
TITLE I.
CONCERNING DIGNITIES.
1. The Emperor Antoninus.
If as you state, your grandfather was of consular dignity, and your father had held the office of Pretor, and you did not marry men of private condition, but those of illustrious rank, you will retain he eminent position of your family.
Without date or designation of Consulate.
2. The Emperor Alexander.
The gates of dignities do not lie open to men of bad reputation who are branded with infamy, and whose wickedness, baseness of life, and evil repute exclude them from the society of respectable people.
3. The Emperor Gordian.
The highest dignity does not abrogate the privileges of an inferior rank, previously obtained, or those attaching to military service.
4. The Emperor Philip.
We order that property belonging to senators, which they possess in different cities and provinces, and their retainers, shall be exempt from furnishing transportation, and any other requirements imposed by judges, as well as from all ignoble, extraordinary, and debasing services, and neither they nor their children shall, under any circumstances, be compelled to perform duties inconsistent with their rank.
5. The Emperors Valerian and Gallienus.
No urban Prefect shall, without Our authority or knowledge, subject a senator to the performance of any civil obligation whatsoever, and no one shall inflict such an atrocious injury upon Our Senate. For it is reserved for Us to issue any commands to persons of senatorial rank, as whatever is done by Our order becomes a distinction.
6. The Emperors Diocletian and Maximian.
Let no one who belongs to the lowest class of merchants, brokers, or persons engaged in vile or abject pursuits and employments, or who occupy base or dishonorable positions, attempt to enjoy any dignity. Anyone who has obtained such a place shall be deprived of it, and shall be restored to his former status.
7. The Same Emperors and Csesars.
When different judges require public works to be erected in cities, the property of senators shall not be liable to contribute to expenses of this kind.
8. The Emperor Julian to Sallust, Prsstorian Prefect.
The rights of senators and the authority of their order (in which We Ourselves are also included) must be protected from all injury.
Given at Constantinople, on the ninth of February, during the Consulate of Mammertinus and Nevitta.
9. The Same Emperor and Csesars.
We forbid the children of freedmen to attain to the dignity of nobles.
10. The Emperors Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian to Gracchus, Prsetorian Prefect.
We exempt men of illustrious rank from liability to torture.
Given on the day before the Nones of January, during the Consulate of Gratian, Consul for the fourth time, and Merobaudus, 377.
11. The Emperor Constantine.
If a senator, or any other man of illustrious rank, has children born to him before he was raised to the above-mentioned dignity (which rule applies to sons as well as to daughters), they will follow the condition of their father. As children should not be excluded from the honors enjoyed by their fathers, a child born to a senator or other person of illustrious rank must be considered to be invested with that same rank and dignity.
12. The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius to Neo-therius, Prsetorian Prefect.
Judges who have been convicted of having been polluted by dishonesty and other crimes shall be deprived of their commissions and dignities, and degraded to the lowest rank of plebeians, nor shall they afterwards enjoy those honors of which they have shown themselves to be unworthy.
Given at Thessalonica, on the eighteenth of the Kalends of February, during the Consulate of Gratian, Consul for the fifth time, and Theodosius, 380.
13. The Emperors Valentinian and Valens.
We raise women to the rank of their husbands, render them noble by birth, determine the jurisdiction to which they shall be subject, and change the places of their domicile. Moreover, if they should subsequently marry men of inferior position, they shall be deprived of their former dignity, and shall follow the condition of their last husbands.
Given at Constantinople, on the fourth of the Kalends of February, 1 during the Consulate of Arcadius, Consul for the second time, and Rufinus, 392.
14. The Emperors Gratian and Theodosius.
We order that judges shall not have power to impose any public service upon a senator under any pretext whatsoever, no matter to what province he may belong.
15. The Same Emperors to Eustathius, Prefect of the City.
We grant authority to all persons of noble or illustrious rank to reside in any place whatsoever, and to journey and remain wherever they wish, without obtaining a permit to do so.
16. The Same Emperors and Arcadius to Apollonius, Prsetorian Prefect.
When any serious crime has been perpetrated by a person of eminent rank, and he has been liberated under bond, We order that the accusation shall be submitted to Us. Any charges involving persons of inferior position must be referred to Your Highness, in order that you may decide what course should be pursued with reference to the offence 'which has been committed.
17. The Emperors Honorius and Theodosius to Arcadius, Pr&-torian Prefect.
Whenever any civil or criminal action is brought by a private individual against a person of illustrious rank, he shall not be annoyed by being compelled to give bond; but, by a special privilege, he shall be placed upon his honor, and only his oath shall be exacted as security. If, however, anyone should neglect to do this, and should fail to take the oath required as security, either in his own proper person, or by his attorney, the judge having jurisdiction shall order (in pecuniary actions) that the property in dispute shall be placed in possession of those who are entitled to it by the authority of the law and the nature of the case.
In criminal matters, however, the accused party shall be deprived of the dignity of which he has rendered himself unworthy through perjury, and the judge is authorized to pronounce the sentence prescribed by the severity of the law upon the defendant as being deprived of his illustrious rank by his own crime, without referring the case to Us for consideration.
(1) We think that the following privilege should be added to those enjoyed by persons of illustrious rank, that is to say, persons of this kind should not be compelled to appear in court in either civil or criminal proceedings, except in pursuance of a written order.
18. The Emperor Justinian.
We order that, with the exception of the honor attaching to Imperial notices of recall, all inferior and superior magistrates invested with authority, as well as those who are designated illustrious shall, without first obtaining Our permission, be allowed to visit this Imperial Capital, whether they have formerly left it with the consent of the Emperor, or whether, residing in the provinces, they come here only when their business requires it.
TITLE II.
Concerning praetors, praetorian honors, and the abolition of the contributions known as glebe, leaf, and seven solidi.
1. The Emperors Arcadius and Honorius.
No one of illustrious or noble rank who resides in a province shall, hereafter, be called to the Prefecture, but everyone of such persons shall remain safely and securely at home, in the enjoyment of his dignity.
2. The Same Emperors to the Senate.
We order that the impositions known as "glebe," "leaf," and "seven solidi," of every description, whether they have reference to persons or to property, shall be absolutely abolished, and that no contributions of this kind shall, hereafter, be exacted.
TITLE III.
Concerning consuls, and the prohibition against their squandering money, and concerning prefects, military commanders, and patricians.
1. The Emperor Valentinian.
It was long since established, with reference to men of consular rank, that, as they were invested with the same honor and enjoyed the same privileges, those should take precedence who are superior only in point of time of service. For who of several persons possessing the same dignity should be considered entitled to priority unless the one who first obtained the position? He who subsequently became Consul, although he held the same office, should certainly give place to a predecessor.
This rule shall also be observed where anyone has repeatedly held the office of Consul; for, where the official insignia are frequently obtained, while they prove the virtues and the merits of the incumbent, they do not increase them, because nothing is added to the eminence of the position. Where, however, a Consul who has held one office after another acquires the dignity of patrician, he will be entitled to precedence over one who first secured that dignity, although he may have been more recently raised to patrician rank.
2. The Emperor Leo.
We wish to restore the Order of the Consulate to its ancient splendor, so that persons who obtain that honor may do so through their merits, and not by cultivating the favor of the people, and, laying aside the desire for gain, the candidates may have in view only the venerable practice of their ancestors and the auspicious ornaments of antiquity which are peculiar to the office. Therefore, We desire that other Consuls shall have this example before them, and We shall not suffer them to incur great expense to no purpose. Hence, Consuls shall, hereafter, abstain from the vile practice of scattering money among the populace, and what they lose in this way and formerly squandered without any compensating advantage should be employed for better purposes, and in measures contributory to the public welfare. If, at the beginning of every consulate, a hundred pounds of gold is paid by the Consuls for the maintenance of the aqueduct of this great city, each of them will know that this sum has been given for the benefit of his country, and that what has been bestowed will remain a perpetual evidence of his generosity,
3. The Emperor Zeno.
No one shall be permitted to attain to the high rank of the patriciate (which takes precedence of all others) unless he has first held the office of Consul, that of the Praetorian Prefecture of the East, or of Illyria, or of the City, or is known to have been a general of the army, or to have occupied the position of Master of the Offices, as only persons of this kind who are at present administering these public employments, or may do so hereafter, shall be permitted to attain the dignity of patrician, when We desire to confer it.
And, as We think that, in all respects, We should consult the interests of this Most Glorious City, which is the capital of the entire world, We order that all those who shall, hereafter, by the favor of the Emperor, be invested with the eminent dignity of honorary Consul, shall pay a hundred pounds of gold for the purpose of repairing the public aqueduct, just as those who, for a year, are elevated to the consular office, for it is only proper that this Most Flourishing City, by the munificent donation of a hundred pounds of gold, should be reminded of the benefits resulting from the bestowal of the honorary consulate.
4. The Same Emperor to Sebastian, Prsetorian Prefect.
We decree that all those who, up to this time, have been honorary Consuls, or who may become so hereafter, can, with the permission of the Emperor, conduct the business of the Consulate for a year, and that, having done so, they shall not be considered as having obtained any new distinction, or one which they have not yet acquired, but shall be considered to have again enjoyed the benefit of the consulship to which their honorary rank has already entitled them; and with reference to the adoration of the Imperial dignity, or any other honors and privileges which the Consuls could claim in former times, they are notified that the rank of Consul will date from the time when they were first appointed.
It should also be observed that where anyone of consular dignity afterwards becomes actual Consul, he shall not again be obliged to contribute a hundred pounds of gold for the maintenance of the aqueducts of this Glorious City, in accordance with the tenor of this Imperial constitution, as these were paid when he was raised to the position of honorary Consu...
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