ng upon his orders.

There were two great financial ministers, _the Count of Sacred
Largesses_ ("sacred", of course, is equivalent to "Imperial"), and the
_Count of Private Domains,_ whose duties practically related in the
former case to the personal, in the latter to the real, estate of the
sovereign. Or perhaps, for it is difficult exactly to define the nature
of their various duties, it would be better to think of the Count of
Sacred Largesses as the Imperial Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the
Count of Private Domains as the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests.

The _Superintendent of the Sacred Dormitory_ was the Grand Chamberlain
of the Empire, and commanding, as he did, the army of pages, grooms of
the bed-chamber, vestiaries, and life-guardsmen, who ministered to the
myriad wants of an Arcadius or a Honorius, he was not the least
important among the chief officers of the State.

These great civil ministers, eight in number under the Western Emperors
(for there were three Praetorian Prefects, one for the Gauls, one for
Italy, and one for the City of Rome), formed, with the military officers
of highest rank (generally five in number), the innermost circle of
"Illustres", who may be likened to the Cabinet of the Emperor. At this
time the Cabinet of Illustres may have been smaller by one or two
members, on account of the separation of the Gaulish provinces from
Rome, but we are not able to speak positively on this point.

Nearly every one of these great ministers of state had under him a
large, ambitious, and often highly-paid staff of subordinates, who were
called his _Officium._ The civil service was at least as regular and
highly specialised a profession under the Emperors and under Theodoric
as it is in any modern State. It is possible that we should have to go
to the Celestial Empire of China to find its fitting representative. A
large number of _singularii, rationalii, clavicularii,_ and the like
(whom we should call policemen, subordinate clerks, and gaolers) formed
the "Unlettered Staff" _(Militia Illiterata),_ who stood on the lowest
stage of the bureaucratic pyramid. Above these was the lettered staff,
beginning with the humble chancellor _(Cancellarius),_ who sat by the
_cancelli_ (latticework), at the bottom of the Court (to prevent
importunate suitors from venturing too far), and rising to the dignified
_Princeps or Cornicularius,_ who was looked upon as equal in rank to a
Count, and who expecte