e his
ordinances for their relief effective, because the officials cooeperated
with one another to conceal their misdemeanors and to enrich themselves at
the expense of the civilian population. So thoroughly had the spirit of
"graft" and intrigue penetrated all ranks of the civil and military
service that to gratify their personal ambitions they were even willing to
compromise the safety of the empire itself. The burden imposed upon the
tax payers by the vast military and civil establishment was immensely
aggravated by the extortions practised by representatives of both
services, whose rapacity knew no bounds.

IV. THE NOBILITY AND THE SENATE

*The senatorial order.* The conflict between the principate and the Senate
resulted, as we have seen, in the exclusion of members of the senatorial
order from all offices of state. But it was unthinkable that the great
landed proprietors should be permanently shut out of the public service,
and with the loss of any claim to authority by the Senate as a body there
was no longer any objection to their entering the service of the emperor.
Consequently, the essential distinction between the senatorial and
equestrian orders vanished and a new senatorial order arose into which was
merged a large equestrian element.

*The clarissimate.* The distinguishing mark of this new senatorial order
was the right to the title _clarissimus_, which might be acquired by
inheritance, by imperial grant, or by the attainment of an office which
conferred the clarissimate upon its holder, either during his term of
service or upon his retirement. Practically all of the higher officials in
the imperial service were _clarissimi_ and there was consequently a great
increase in the number of senators in the course of the fourth century.
The place of the equestrian order was in part filled by the
perfectissimate, an inferior order of rank conferred upon lower imperial
officials and municipal senators.

*The higher orders of rank.* The development of an oriental court life
with its elaborate ceremonial demanding a fixed order of precedence among
those present at imperial audiences, and the increase in the number and
importance of the public officials, which necessitated a classification of
the various official posts from the point of view of rank, led to the
establishment of new and more exclusive rank classes within the circle of
the _clarissimi_. There were in the ascending order th