ce sacra sententiam dicis.']

[Footnote 453: 'Carpentum.']

[Footnote 454: 'Aula libertatis.']

'Take therefore this dignity, and wield it with moderation and
courage.'

16. FORMULA OF THE NOTARIES.

[Sidenote: Notaries.]

'It is most important that the secrets of the Sovereign, which many
men so eagerly desire to discover, should be committed to persons of
tried fidelity. A good secretary should be like a well-arranged
_escritoire_, full of information when you want it, but absolutely
silent at other times. Nay, he must even be able to dissimulate his
knowledge, for keen questioners can often read in the face what the
lips utter not. [Cf. the description of the Quaestor Decoratus in v.
3.]

'Our enquiries, keen-scented as they are for all men of good life and
conversation, have brought your excellent character before us. We
therefore ordain that you shall henceforth be a Notary. In due course
of service you will attain the rank of Primicerius, which will entitle
you to enter the Senate, "the Curia of liberty." Moreover, should you
then arrive at the dignity of Illustris or at the [Comitiva] Vacans,
you will be preferred to all who are in the same rank but who have not
acquired it by active service[455].

[Footnote 455: I think this must be the meaning of the sentence:
'Additur etiam perfuncti laboris aliud munus, ut si quo modo ad
Illustratum vel Vacantem meruerit pervenire, omnibus debeat anteponi,
qui Codicillis Illustratibus probantur ornari.']

'Enter then upon this duty, cheered by the prospect of one day
attaining to the highest honours.'

17. FORMULA OF THE REFERENDARII.

[Sidenote: Referendarii.]

[We have no word corresponding to this title. Registrar, Referee,
Solicitor, each expresses only part of the duties of the
Referendarius, whose business it was, _on behalf of the Court_, to
draw up a statement of the conflicting claims of the litigants before
it. See the interesting letters (v. 40 and 41) describing the useful
services rendered in this capacity by Cyprian in the King's Court of
Appeal. His duties seem to have been very similar to those which in
the Court of the Praetorian Praefect were discharged by the officer
called _Ab Actis_ (See p. 107).]

'Great is the privilege of being admitted to such close converse with
the King as you will possess, but great also are the responsibilities
and the anxieties of the Referendarius. In the midst of the hubbub of
the Court he has to make out