Letter 6006: Formula of the Master of Offices.

VI. FORMULA OF THE OFFICE OF THE MASTER [Master of the Offices, magister officiorum]. [1] Whoever has received the name of Master assumes an honor that is to be revered, because this title always derives from skill, and it is recognized in the name what must be reckoned concerning his character. To him assuredly pertains the discipline of the palace: he himself, by the favorable calm of his moderation, clears the stormy manners of the insolent schools. So many ranks are arranged without any confusion, and he himself bears the burden of all that the crowd holds as distinct. Thus, having discharged the gravity of his name, he adorns the principate by his deeds. [2] Through him the senator, on his arrival, is presented to our gaze: he admonishes the trembling man, he composes the one who is speaking, and indeed he is even accustomed to insert his own words, so that we ought fittingly to hear everything. He is no idle promiser of the royal countenance, the glorious bestower of our conversation, a kind of morning star of the court consistory: for just as that star promises the coming day, so does this man grant to those who long for it the face of our Serenity. Moreover, the greatest weight of legal cases we deposit in the recesses of his hearing with the best security, so that, relieved by his faithful cares, we may more vigorously occupy ourselves with public concerns. [3] He likewise guards, by the strictness of his diligence, the timely swiftness of the post-horses, whose condition is always on the move, so that he may, by the benefit of speed, dispatch our anxieties, which he aids by his counsel. [4] Through him courtesy is dispensed to foreign nations for the praise of our commonwealth, and those whom he has received in grief depart unwilling [to leave]. Through him indeed the arrival of envoys, however much they hasten, is announced to us in advance: through him the dispatching forth of our name is appointed, and to him is principally entrusted that which is felt to be so necessary. [5] These labors having also been weighed, antiquity decreed to him the greatest power, that none of the judges throughout the provinces should take up the fasces unless he too had decreed this to be done. It subjected to his judgment the judgments of others, so that what another seemed to have rendered should return to him. He does not, indeed, have the vexations of exacting money, but he enjoys broadly the good of the power he has obtained, in order, I believe, that from various titles a dignity might be culled, established for the relief of the prince. [6] He also appoints by his own will the equalizers [assessors] of provisions in the royal city, and makes himself the judge of so necessary a matter. For he himself affords joy to the peoples, he himself affords adornment to our times, when he sets such men over the public stores, so that the complaining populace, being satisfied, may not know how to raise sedition. [7] His office, moreover, is honored with so great a prerogative of distinction that, having fulfilled the duties of military service, he is adorned with the name of the principate, and in a wonderful manner among the praetorian cohorts and the soldiers of the urban prefecture they seem to have found a primacy, by whom a humble obedience was rendered to you. Thus in the favor of so great an honor a certain injustice comes from the laws, when one is set over the watch-duties of others who is declared to have served as a soldier elsewhere. [8] An assistant to the Master is also presented to our gaze, so that by an alternating allotment of benefit we may choose his protection who affords us faithful solace. This dignity, then, distinguished by so many titles, enriched with so many insignia, we commit to you, to be governed during such-and-such an indiction, with becoming gravity, so that whatever you do you may seem to have done as Master: because nothing is left over for character, if-which God forbid-an offense should be committed against so great a maturity.

VI. FORMULA MAGISTERIAE DIGNITATIS. [1] Reverendum honorem sumit, quisquis magistri nomen acceperit, quia hoc vocabulum semper de peritia venit et in nomine cognoscitur, quid sit de moribus aestimandum. ad eum nimirum palatii pertinet disciplina: ipse insolentium scholarum mores procellosos moderationis suae prospero disserenat. tam multi ordines sine confusione aliqua componuntur et ipse sustinet onus omnium, quod habet turba discretum. sic nominis sui gravitate perfunctus ornat actibus principatum. [2] Per eum senator veniens nostris praesentatur obtutibus: ammonet trepidum, componit loquentem, sua quin etiam verba solet inserere, ut nos decenter omnia debeamus audire. aspectus regii haud irritus promissor, collocutionis nostrae gloriosus donator, aulici consistorii quasi quidam lucifer: nam sicut ille venturum diem promittit, sic iste desiderantibus vultus nostrae serenitatis attribuit. causarum praeterea maximum pondus in eius audientiae sinibus optima securitate reponimus, ut eius curis fidelibus sublevati utilitatibus publicis vivacius occupemur. [3] Veredorum quin etiam opportunam velocitatem, quorum status semper in cursu est, diligentiae suae districtione custodit, ut sollicitudines nostras, quas consilio iuvat, beneficio celeritatis expediat. [4] Per eum exteris gentibus ad laudem rei publicae nostrae ordinatur humanitas et nolentes redeunt, quos maerentes exceperit. per eum quippe nobis legatorum quamvis festinantium praenuntiatur adventus: per eum nominis nostri destinatur evectio et isti principaliter creditur, quod tam necessarium esse sentitur. [5] His etiam laboribus aestimatis potestatem maximam huic decrevit antiquitas, ut nemo iudicum per provincias fasces assumeret, nisi hoc et ipse fieri decrevisset. subdidit eius arbitrio aliena iudicia, ut ad ipsum rediret quod alter visus est praestitisse. molestias quidem non habet exigendae pecuniae, sed late bono fruitur potestatis indeptae, credo, ut ex diversis titulis defloraretur dignitas ad levamen principis instituta. [6] Peraequatores etiam victualium rerum in urbe regia propria voluntate constituit et tam necessariae rei iudicem facit. ipse enim gaudium populis, ipse nostris temporibus praestat ornatum, quando tales viros copiae publicae praeficit, ut plebs querula seditionem nesciat habere satiata. [7] Officium vero eius tanta genii praerogativa decoratur, ut militiae perfunctus muneribus ornetur nomine principatus miroque modo inter praetorianas cohortes et urbanae praefecturae milites videantur invenisse primatum, a quibus tibi humile solvebatur obsequium. sic in favore magni honoris iniustitia quaedam a legibus venit, dum alienis excubiis praeponitur, qui alibi militasse declaratur. [8] Adiutor etiam magistri nostris praesentatur obtutibus, ut vicaria sorte beneficii nos eligamus eius praesidium qui nobis praestat fidele solacium. hanc igitur dignitatem, tot titulis claram, tot insignibus opulentam, per indictionem illam gubernandam tibi congrua gravitate committimus, ut omnia quae gesseris magister fecisse videaris: quia nihil moribus residuum relinquitur, si, quod absit, a tanta maturitate peccetur.