nd of the survival of this title in the Ostrogothic
Court. Theodahad, nephew of Theodoric, is addressed simply as 'Vir
Senator[111],' and he is spoken of as 'praecelsus et amplissimus
vir[112].' It is not so, however, in respect of the three great
official classes which follow--the Illustres, Spectabiles, and
Clarissimi--whose titles were rendered as punctiliously in the Italy
of Theodoric as ever they were in the Italy of Diocletian and
Constantine.

[Footnote 110: The existence of this title is proved not only by the
language of Arcadius in the Theodosian Code x. 25. 1, concerning
'Nobilissimae puellae, filiae meae,' but also by Zosimus (ii. 39), who
says that Constantine bestowed the dignity of Nobilissimus on his
brother Constantius and his nephew Hannibalianus ([Greek: tes tou
legomenou nobelissimou par' autou Konstantinou tuchontes axias aidoi
tes syngeneias]); and by Marcellinus Comes, s. a. 527, who says:
'Justinus Imperator Justinianum ex sorore sua nepotem, jamdudum a se
Nobilissimum designatum, participem quoque regni ani, successoremque
creavit.' It is evident that the title did not come by right of birth,
but that some sort of declaration of it was necessary.]

[Footnote 111: Var. iii. 15.]

[Footnote 112: Var. viii. 23.]

[Sidenote: Illustres.]

I. The _Illustres_ were a small and select circle of men, the chief
depositaries of power after the Sovereign, and they may with some
truth be compared to the Cabinet Ministers of our own political
system. The 'Notitia' mentions thirteen of them as bearing rule in the
Western Empire. They are:

1. The Praetorian Praefect of Italy.

2. The Praetorian Praefect of the Gauls.

3. The Praefect of the City of Rome.

4. The Master of the Foot Guards (Magister Peditum in Praesenti).

5. The Master of the Horse Guards (Magister Equitum in Praesenti).

6. The Master of the Horse for the Gauls (per Gallias).

7. The Grand Chamberlain (Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi).

8. The Master of the Offices.

9. The Quaestor.

10. The Count of Sacred Largesses.

11. The Count of the Private Domains (Comes Rerum Privatarum).

12. The Count of the Household Cavalry (Comes Domesticorum Equitum).

13. The Count of the Household Infantry (Comes Domesticorum Peditum).

Substantially these same titles were borne by the Illustres to whom
Cassiodorus (himself one of them) addressed his 'Various Letters.' The
second and the sixth (the Praetorian Praefect of the Gauls, and the