THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 020
The Power and Precedence of the Imperial Quaestor
2-8. The Power and Precedence of the Imperial Quaestor
An officer called princeps, drawn from the schola, was sent to every Vicarius and into every province, where he was the chief of the governor's staff of assistants (officium). This officer had gone through a course of espionage in lower situations, and his relation to the magister officiorum made his proximity uncomfortable for his nominal superior. Indeed the princeps came to play the part of a sort of Maire du Palais to the rector provindae, who tended to become a merely nominal ruler. The princeps and the officium were quite capable of conducting the affairs of the province alone. Hence we hear of youths being corruptly placed in important governorships, and of these offices being purchased, as in the days of the Republic, only in a different manner. After this provincial service, the princeps usually became governor of a province himself.
At an earlier stage of his career, the agens in rebus would be despatched to a province to superintend the imperial Post service there, and see that it was not in any way abused. This title was then praepositus cursus publici, or later cursiosus. This service would enable him to play the part of a spy wherever he went. The burden of providing for the Post was one of the heaviest which the provincials had to bear, and those who contravened the regulations concerning it were often highly-placed officials. That the curiosi by their espionage could make themselves intolerable there is much evidence to show.
The agentes in rebus were also the general messengers of the government, and were continually despatched on occasions great or small, to make announcements in every part of the emperor's dominions. While performing this function they were often the collectors of special donations to the imperial exchequer, and made illegitimate gains of their own, owing to the fear which they inspired. A regulation which is recorded forbidding any agens in rebus from entering Rome without special permission, is eloquent testimony to the reputation which the schola in general had earned.
Among the other miscellaneous duties of the magister officiorum was the supervision of formal intercourse between the Empire and foreign communities and princes. Also the general superintendence of the imperial factories and arsenals which supplied the army with weapons. The corps of guards (scholae scutariorum et gentium) who replaced the destroyed Praetorians were under his command, so that he resembled the Praefectus Praetorio of the earlier empire. And connected with this was a responsibility for the safety for the frontiers (limites) and control over the military commanders there. Further the servants who attended to the court ceremonial (publicium admissionis) were under his direction, as were some others who belonged to the emperor's state. His civil and criminal jurisdiction extended over the immense mass of public servants at the capital, with few exceptions, and his voice in selecting officials for service there was potent. In short, no officer had more constant and more confidential relations with the monarch than the magister officiorum. He was the most important executive officer at the centre of government.
The greatest judicial and legal officer was the quaestor sacri palatii. The early history of this officer is obscure and no acceptable explanation has been found for the use of the title quaestor in connexion with it. The dignity of the Quaestor's functions may be understood from descriptions given in literature. Symmachus calls him "the disposer of petitions and the constructor of laws" (arbiter precum, legum conditor). The poet Claudian says that he "issued edicts to the world, and answers to suppliants," while Corippus describes him as “the Champion of justice, who under the emperor's auspices controls legislation and legal principles”. The Quaestor's office, like many others, advanced in importance after its creation, which appears to have taken place not earlier than Constantine's reign.
In the latter part of the fourth century he took precedence even of the magister officiorum, and with one brief interruption, he maintained this rank. The requirements for the office were above all skill in the law and in the art of legal expression. On all legal questions, whether questions of change in law, or questions of its administration, the emperor gave his final decision by the voice of the Quaestor. No body of servants (officium) was specially allotted to him, but the scrinia were at his service. Indeed he may be said to have been the intermediary between the scrinia and the emperor. His relations with the heads of the departments a libellis and a memoria, and particularly with the latter, must have been very close; but their work was preparatory and subordinate to his so far as legal matters were concerned. The instances in which the magister memoriae succeeded in acting independently of the Quaestor were exceptional. A share in the appointment to certain of the lesser military offices was also assigned to the Quaestor, who kept a record of the names of their holders, which was known as laterculum minus. In this duty he was assisted by a high official of the scrinium memoriae, whose title was later culensis.
There was another body called tribuni et notarii, not attached to the scrinia, which was of considerable importance. The service of these functionaries was closely connected with the deliberations of the great Imperial Council, the Consistorium, which is to be described presently. They had to see that the proper officers carried out the decisions of the Council. Their business often brought them into close and confidential relation with the emperor himself. The officer at the head is primicerius (literally, one whose name is written first on a wax tablet — prima cerus). The title is given to many officers serving in other departments and indicates usually, but not always, high rank. This particular primicerius ranked even higher than the chiefs of the scrinia and the casirensis sacri palatii. According to the Notitia he has "cognizance of all dignities and administrative offices both military and civil.” He kept the great list known as laterculum maius, in which were comprised not only the actual tenants of the greater offices, but forms for their appointment, schedules of their duties, and even a catalogue of the different sections of the army and their stations, including the scholae which served as imperial guards.
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