over the provinces and armies,
the emperor conferred the rank of Illustrious on seven of his more
immediate servants, to whose fidelity he intrusted his safety, or his
counsels, or his treasures. 1. The private apartments of the palace were
governed by a favorite eunuch, who, in the language of that age, was
styled the propositus, or praefect of the sacred bed-chamber. His
duty was to attend the emperor in his hours of state, or in those of
amusement, and to perform about his person all those menial services,
which can only derive their splendor from the influence of royalty.
Under a prince who deserved to reign, the great chamberlain (for such we
may call him) was a useful and humble domestic; but an artful domestic,
who improves every occasion of unguarded confidence, will insensibly
acquire over a feeble mind that ascendant which harsh wisdom and
uncomplying virtue can seldom obtain. The degenerate grandsons of
Theodosius, who were invisible to their subjects, and contemptible to
their enemies, exalted the praefects of their bed-chamber above the heads
of all the ministers of the palace; and even his deputy, the first of
the splendid train of slaves who waited in the presence, was thought
worthy to rank before the respectable proconsuls of Greece or Asia.
The jurisdiction of the chamberlain was acknowledged by the counts,
or superintendents, who regulated the two important provinces of the
magnificence of the wardrobe, and of the luxury of the Imperial table.
2. The principal administration of public affairs was committed to the
diligence and abilities of the master of the offices. He was the supreme
magistrate of the palace, inspected the discipline of the civil and
military schools, and received appeals from all parts of the empire, in
the causes which related to that numerous army of privileged persons,
who, as the servants of the court, had obtained for themselves and
families a right to decline the authority of the ordinary judges. The
correspondence between the prince and his subjects was managed by
the four scrinia, or offices of this minister of state. The first
was appropriated to memorials, the second to epistles, the third to
petitions, and the fourth to papers and orders of a miscellaneous kind.
Each of these was directed by an inferior master of respectable dignity,
and the whole business was despatched by a hundred and forty-eight
secretaries, chosen for the most part from the profession of the law,
on