ed to the remembrance of their ancient dignity; CHAP. and the appeal from their tribunal to that of the XVII. præfects was almost the only mark of their dependence o But the civil government of the empire was diftributed into thirteen great DIOCESES, each of which equalled the just measure of a powerful kingdom. The firft of thefe diocefes was subject to the jurifdiction of the count of the eaft; and we may convey fome idea of the importance and variety of his functions, by obferving, that fix hundred apparitors, who would be ftyled at prefent either fecretaries, or clerks, or ufhers, or meffengers, were employed in his immediate office . The place of Auguftal præfect of Egypt was no longer filled by a Roman knight; but the name was retained; and the extraordinary powers which the fituation of the country, and the temper of the inhabitants, had once made indifpenfable, were ftill continued to the governor The eleven remaining diocefes, of Afiana, Pontica, and Thrace; of Macedonia, Dacia, and Pannonia or Weftern Illyricum; of Italy and Africa; of Gaul, Spain, and Britain; were governed by twelve vicars, or vice-præfects ", whofe

III

name

110 Eunapius affirms, that the proconful of Afia was independent of the præfect; which muft, however, be understood with some allowance; the jurifdiction of the vice-præfe&t he most affuredly disclaimed. Pancirolus, p. 161.

III The proconsul of Africa had four hundred apparitors; and they all received large falaries, either from the treafury or the province. See Pancirol. p. 26. and Cod. Justinian. 1. xii. tit. Ivi, lvii. 112 In Italy there was likewife the Vicar of Rome. It has been much disputed, whether his jurisdiction measured one hundred miles YOL. III.

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CHAP. name fufficiently explains the nature and deXVII. pendence of their office. It may be added, that the lieutenant-generals of the Roman armies, the military counts and dukes, who will be hereafter mentioned, were allowed the rank and title of Refpectable.

The governors of

the provinces.

As the fpirit of jealoufy and oftentation prevailed in the councils of the emperors, they proceeded with anxious diligence to divide the fubstance, and to multiply the titles of power. The vaft countries which the Roman conquerors had united under the fame fimple form of adminiftration, were imperceptibly crumbled into minute fragments; till at length the whole empire was diftributed into one hundred and fixteen provinces, each of which fupported an expenfive and splendid establishment. Of thefe, three were governed by proconfuls, thirty-feven by confulars, five by correctors, and feventy-one by prefidents. The appellations of these magiftrates were different; they ranked in fucceffive order, the enfigns of their dignity were curiously varied, and their fituation, from accidental circumftances, might be more or lefs agreeable or advantageous. But they were all (excepting only the proconfuls) alike included in the clafs of honourable perfons; and they were alike entrusted, during the pleafure of the prince, and under the authority of the præfects or their deputies, with the administration of justice and the finances in their refpective diftricts. The ponderous volumes of the Codes and from the city, or whether it ftretched over the ten fouthern pro. vinces of Italy. Pande s

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Pandects 3 would furnish ample materials for a CHAP. minute enquiry into the fyftem of provincial go- XVII. vernment, as in the fpace of fix centuries it was improved by the wifdom of the Roman statesmen and lawyers. It may be fufficient for the hiftorian to felect two fingular and falutary provifions intended to restrain the abuse of authority. 1. For the preservation of peace and order, the governors of the provinces were armed with the fword of justice. They inflicted corporal punishments, and they exercised, in capital offences, the power of life and death. But they were not authorised to indulge the condemned criminal with the choice of his own execution, or to pronounce a sentence of the mildest and most honourable kind of exile. Thefe prerogatives were reserved to the præfects, who alone could impofe the heavy fine of fifty pounds of gold: their vicegerents were confined to the trifling weight of a few ounces 114 This distinction, which feems to grant the larger, while it denies the fmaller degree of authority, was founded on a very rational motive. The fmaller degree was infinitely more liable to abuse. The paffions of a provincial magiftrate might frequently provoke him into acts of oppreffion,

114.

113 Among the works of the celebrated Ulpian, there was one in ten books, concerning the office of a proconful, whofe duties in the most effential articles were the fame as those of an ordinary governor of a province.

114 The prefidents, or confulars, could impofe only two ounces; the vice-præfects, three; the proconfuls, count of the east, and præfe&t of Egypt, fix. See Heineccii Jur. Civil. tom, i. p. 75. Pande&t. 1. xlviii. tit. xix. n. 8. Cad. Juftinian. 1. i. tit. liv.

leg. 4. 6.

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CHA P. which affected only the freedom or the fortunes of XVII. the subject; though, from a principle of prudence, perhaps of humanity, he might still be terrified by the guilt of innocent blood. It may likewise be confidered, that exile, confiderable fines, or the choice of an eafy death, relate more particularly to the rich and the noble; and the persons the most exposed to the avarice or resentment of a provincial magiftrate, were thus removed from his obfcure perfecution to the more auguft and impartial tribunal of the Prætorian præfect. 2. As it was reasonably apprehended that the integrity of the judge might be biaffed, if his interest was concerned, or his affections were engaged; the stricteft regulations, were established to exclude any person, without the special difpenfation of the emperor, from the government of the province where he was born "s; and to prohibit the governor or his fon from contracting marriage with a native or an inhabitant 116 ; or from purchafing flaves, lands, or houses, within the extent of his jurisdiction "7. Notwithstanding

115 Ut nulli patriæ fuæ administratio fine speciali principis permiffu permittatur. Cod. Juftinian, I. i. tit. xli. This law was first enacted by the emperor Marcus, after the rebellion of Caffius (Dion. 1. lxxi.) The fame regulation is observed in China, with equal stri&ness, and with equal effect.

116 Pandect. 1. xxiii, tit. ii. n. 38. 57. 63.

17 In jure continetur, ne quis in adminiftratione conftitutus aliquid compararet. Cod. Theod. 1. viii. tit. xv. leg. 1. This maxim of common law was enforced by a series of edicts (fee the remainder of the title) from Constantine to Juftin. From this prohibition, which is extended to the meaneft offices of the governor, they except only clothes and provifions. The purchafe within five years may be recovered; after which, on information, it devolves to the treasury.

thefe

thefe rigorous precautions, the emperor Conftan- CHAP. tine, after a reign of twenty-five years, ftill de- XVII. plores the venal and oppreffive administration of justice, and expreffes the warmest indignation that the audience of the judge, his dispatch of business, his seasonable delays, and his final fentence, were publicly fold, either by himself or by the officers of his court. The continuance, and perhaps the impunity, of thefe crimes, is attested by the repetition of impotent laws, and ineffectual

the law.

All the civil magiftrates were drawn from the The proprofeffion of the law. The celebrated Inftitutes feffion of of Juftinian are addreffed to the youth of his dominions, who had devoted themselves to the ftudy of Roman jurifprudence; and the fovereign condefcends to animate their diligence, by the affurance that their skill and ability would in time be rewarded by an adequate fhare in the government of the republic 119. The rudiments of this lucrative science were taught in all the confiderable cities of the east and weft; but the most famous school was that of Berytus 120, on the coaft

of

118 Ceffent rapaces jam nunc officialium manus; ceffent, inquam; nam fi moniti non ceffaverint, gladiis præcidentur, &c. Cod. Theod. 1. i. tit. vii. leg. 1. Zeno enacted, that all governors should remain in the province, to answer any accufations, fifty days after the expiration of their power. Cod. Juftinian. I. ii. tit. xlix. leg. 1.

119 Summâ igitur ope, et alacri ftudio has leges noftras accipite; et vofmetipfos fic eruditos oftendite, ut fpes vos pulcherrima foveat; toto legitimo opere perfecto, poffe etiam noftram rempublicam in partibus ejus vobis credendis gubernari. Juftinian. in proem. Inftitutionum.

120 The splendor of the fchool of Berytus, which preserved in the eaft the language and jurisprudence of the Romans, may be computed

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