t, and that appeals should come to him from their decisions.
He has no charge of collecting money, only of spending it. It is his
to appoint _peraequatores_[442] of provisions in the capital, and a
Judge to attend to this matter. He also superintends the pleasures of
the people, and is bound to keep them from sedition by a generous
exhibition of shows. The members of his staff, when they have served
their full time, are adorned with the title of _Princeps_, and take
their places at the head of the Praetorian cohorts and those of the
Urban Praefecture [the officials serving in the bureaux of those two
Praefects]--a mark of favour which almost amounts to injustice, since
he who serves in one office (the Master's) is thereby put at the head
of all those who have been serving in another (the Praefect's)[443].'

[Footnote 442: Are these Superintendents of the Markets, charged with
the regulation of prices?]

[Footnote 443: 'Miroque modo inter Praetorianas cohortes et Urbanae
Praefecturae milites videantur invenisse primatum, a quibus tibi
humile solvebatur obsequium. Sic in favore magni honoris injustitia
quaedam a legibus venit, dum alienis excubiis praeponitur, qui alibi
militasse declaratur.']

[We learn from Lydus how intense was the jealousy of the grasping and
aspiring _Magistriani_ felt by the Praefect's subordinates; and we may
infer from this passage that Cassiodorus thought that there was some
justification for this feeling.]

'The assistant (Adjutor) of the Magister is also present at our
audiences, a distinguished honour for his chief.

'Take therefore this illustrious office and discharge it worthily,
that, in all which you do, you may show yourself a true Magister. If
_you_ should in anywise go astray (which God forbid), where should
morality be found upon earth?'

7. FORMULA OF THE OFFICE OF COMES SACRARUM LARGITIONUM.

[Sidenote: Office of Count of Sacred Largesses.]

'Yours is the high and pleasing office of administering the bounty of
your Sovereign[444]. Through you we dispense our favours and relieve
needy suppliants on New Year's Day. It is your business to see that
our face is imprinted on our coins, a reminder to our subjects of our
ceaseless care on their behalf, and a memorial of our reign to future
ages.

[Footnote 444: 'Regalibus magna profecti felicitas _militare_
donis.... Laetitia publica _militia_ tua est.' Observe the continued
use of military terms for what we call the Civil Serv