nction
between infantry and cavalry commands was abandoned. Consequently, the
titles of master of the horse and master of the foot were altered to those
of masters of horse and foot, masters of each service, or masters of the
soldiers. In the East by the close of the fourth century there were two
masters of the soldiers at Constantinople, each commanding half of the
palatini in the vicinity of the capital, and three others commanding the
_comitatenses_ in the Orient, Thrace and Illyricum, respectively. In the
West there were two masterships at the court, and a master of the horse in
the diocese of Gaul.

But while in the East the several masters of the soldiers enjoyed
independent commands, in the West by 395 A. D. there had developed a
concentration of the supreme military power in the hands of one master,
who united in his person the two masterships at the court. The master in
Gaul, with the _duces_ and _comites_ in the provinces were under his
orders. This subordination was emphasized by the fact that the heads of
the office staff (_principes_) of the _comites_ and _duces_ were appointed
by the master at the court. On the other hand, in the East, these
_principes_ were appointed by a civil official, the master of the offices,
who was also charged with the inspection of the frontier defences, and
from the opening of the fifth century exercised judicial authority over
the _duces_. The latter, however, remained the military subordinates of
the masters of the soldiers. Thus the concentration of military power in
the West in the hands of a single commander-in-chief prepared the way for
the rise of the king-makers of the fifth century, while the division of
the higher command in the East prevented a single general from completely
dominating the political situation.

*Judicial status of the soldiers.* Characteristic of the times was the
removal of soldiers from the jurisdiction of the civil authority. In the
fourth century they could only be prosecuted on criminal charges in the
courts of their military commanders, and in the fifth century they were
granted this privilege in civil cases also.

III. THE PERFECTION OF THE BUREAUCRACY

*The administrative divisions of the empire.* The administrative machinery
of the late empire was simply an outgrowth from, and a more complete form
of, the bureaucracy which had developed under the principate. All the
officers of the state were now servants of the emp