СНАР.

XVII.

The go

vernors of

the provinces.

and dukes, who will be hereafter mentioned, were allowed the rank and title of Respectable.

As the spirit of jealousy and oftentation prevailed in the councils of the emperors, they proceeded with anxious diligence to divide the fubftance, and to multiply the titles of power. The vast 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 fplendid eftablishment. 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 pleasure of the prince, and under the authority of the præfects or their deputies, with the adminiftration of juftice and the finances in their refpective diftricts. The ponderous volumes of the Codes and Pandects " would furnish ample materials for a minute enquiry into the fyftem of provincial government, as in the space of fix centuries it was improved by the wisdom of the Roman ftatefmen and lawyers. It may be fufficient for the hiftorian to felect two

113

fingular and falutary provifions intended to
ftrain the abuse of authority. 1. For the preferva-
tion of peace and order, the governors of the pro-
vinces were armed with the fword of juftice. They
inflicted corporal punishments, and they exercised,
in capital offences, the power of life and death.
But they were not authorised to indulge the con-
demned criminal with the choice of his own
execution, or to pronounce a sentence of the mild-
eft and most honourable kind of exile. These pre-
rogatives were referved 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 ". This diftinc-
tion, which feems to grant the larger, while it
denies the fmaller degree of authority, was found-
ed on a very rational motive. The fmaller degree
was infinitely more liable to abufe. The paffions
of a provincial magiftrate might frequently provoke
him into acts of oppreffion, which affected only
the freedom or the fortunes of the fubject;
though, from a principle of prudence, perhaps of
humanity, he might ftill be terrified by the guilt
of innocent blood. It may likewife be confidered,
that exile, confiderable fines, or the choice of
an easy death, relate more particularly to the rich
and the noble; and the perfons the most exposed
to the avarice or refentment of a provincial magi-
ftrate, were thus removed from his obfcure perfe
cution to the more auguft and impartial tribunal
of the Prætorian præfect. 2. As it was reasonably
apprehended that the integrity of the judge might

CHAP.

XVII.

XVII.

tant

116

115

CHAP. be biaffed, if his intereft was concerned, or his affections were engaged; the ftricteft regulations were established, to exclude any perfon, without the fpecial difpenfation of the emperor, from the government of the province where he was born "'; and to prohibit the governor or his fon from contracting marriage with a native or an inhabi; or from purchafing slaves, lands, or houses, within the extent of his jurifdiction "". Notwithstanding these rigorous precautions, the emperor Conftantine, after a reign of twenty-five years, ftill deplores the venal and oppreffive administration of justice, and expreffes the warmest indignation that the audience of the judge, his difpatch of bufinefs, his feafonable 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 these crimes, is attefted by the repetition of impotent laws, and ineffectual menaces

The pro

the law.

118

All the civil magiftrates were drawn from the profeffion of the law. The celebrated Inftitutes 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 share in the government of the republic ". The rudiments of this Jucrative fcience were taught in all the confiderable cities of the eaft and weft; but the most famous school was that of Berytus ", on the coaft

of Phoenicia; which flourished above three centuries from the time of Alexander Severus, the author perhaps of an inftitution fo advantageous to his native country. After a regular course of education, which lafted five years, the students difperfed themselves through the provinces, in fearch of fortune and honours; nor could they want an inexhaustible supply of business in a great empire, already corrupted by the multiplicity of laws, of arts, and of vices. The court of the Prætorian præfect of the east could alone furnish employment for one hundred and fifty advocates, fixty-four of whom were diftinguished by peculiar privileges, and two were annually chofen with a falary of fixty pounds of gold, to defend the causes of the treafury, The first experiment was made of their judicial talents, by appointing them to act occafionally as affeffors to the magiftrates; from thence they were often raised to prefide in the tribunals before which they had pleaded. They obtained the government of a province; and, by the aid of merit, of reputation, or of favour, they afcended, by fucceffive steps, to the illuftrious dignities of the ftate ". In the practice: of the bar, these men had confidered reason as the inftrument of difpute; they interpreted the laws according to the dictates of private intereft; and the fame pernicious habits might still adhere to their characters in the public adminiftration of the ftate. The honour of a liberal profeffion has indeed been vindicated by ancient and modern advocates, who have filled the most important

CHAP.

XVIE

CHAP
XVII.

The mili tary offi

cers,

122

ftations, with pure integrity, and confummate
wisdom: but in the decline of Roman jurifpru
dence, the ordinary promotion of lawyers was
pregnant with mifchief and difgrace. The noble
art, which had once been preferved as the facred
inheritance of the patricians, was fallen into the
hands of freedmen and plebeians 11, who, with
cunning rather than with skill, exercised a fordid
and pernicious trade. Some of them procured ad-
mittance into families for the purpose of fomenting
differences, of encouraging fuits, and of prepa.
ring a harveft of gain for themselves or their bre-
thren. Others, reclufe in their chambers, main-
tained the dignity of legal profeffors, by furnish-
ing a rich client with fubtleties to confound the
plaineft truth, and with arguments to colour the
moft unjustifiable pretenfions. The fplendid and
popular clafs was compofed of the advocates, who
filled the Forum with the found of their turgid and
loquacious rhetoric. Careless of fame and of jufti-
ce, they are defcribed, for the most part, as
ignorant and rapacious guides, who conducted
their clients through a maze of expence, of delay,
and of disappointment; from whence, after a
tedious series of years, they were at length dif-
miffed, when their
when their patience and fortune were
almost exhausted ".

123

III. In the fyftem of policy introduced by Auguftus, the governors, thofe at leaft of the imperial provinces, were invested with the full powers of the fovereign himself. Minifters of peace and war, the diftribution of rewards and punishments