f trifling and solemn
ceremonies, which it was a study to learn, and a sacrilege to neglect.
[74] The purity of the Latin language was debased, by adopting, in the
intercourse of pride and flattery, a profusion of epithets, which Tully
would scarcely have understood, and which Augustus would have rejected
with indignation. The principal officers of the empire were saluted,
even by the sovereign himself, with the deceitful titles of your
Sincerity, your Gravity, your Excellency, your Eminence, your sublime
and wonderful Magnitude, your illustrious and magnificent Highness. [75]
The codicils or patents of their office were curiously emblazoned
with such emblems as were best adapted to explain its nature and high
dignity; the image or portrait of the reigning emperors; a triumphal
car; the book of mandates placed on a table, covered with a rich carpet,
and illuminated by four tapers; the allegorical figures of the provinces
which they governed; or the appellations and standards of the troops
whom they commanded Some of these official ensigns were really exhibited
in their hall of audience; others preceded their pompous march whenever
they appeared in public; and every circumstance of their demeanor, their
dress, their ornaments, and their train, was calculated to inspire
a deep reverence for the representatives of supreme majesty. By a
philosophic observer, the system of the Roman government might have been
mistaken for a splendid theatre, filled with players of every character
and degree, who repeated the language, and imitated the passions, of
their original model. [76]

[Footnote 73: Scilicet externae superbiae sueto, non inerat notitia
nostri, (perhaps nostroe;) apud quos vis Imperii valet, inania
transmittuntur. Tacit. Annal. xv. 31. The gradation from the style of
freedom and simplicity, to that of form and servitude, may be traced in
the Epistles of Cicero, of Pliny, and of Symmachus.]

[Footnote 74: The emperor Gratian, after confirming a law of precedency
published by Valentinian, the father of his Divinity, thus continues:
Siquis igitur indebitum sibi locum usurpaverit, nulla se ignoratione
defendat; sitque plane sacrilegii reus, qui divina praecepta neglexerit.
Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. v. leg. 2.]

[Footnote 75: Consult the Notitia Dignitatum at the end of the
Theodosian code, tom. vi. p. 316. * Note: Constantin, qui remplaca le
grand Patriciat par une noblesse titree et qui changea avec d'autres
institutions