rs 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. 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 Praetorian
praefects 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. 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, 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