Governmental Administration 67
inclusive of managing military personnel or their affairs.96 A similar tendency
is observable with respect to officials embedded in the provinces as represen-
tatives of the officium of the praetorian prefect such as cancellarii or canonica-
rii, which were often delegated to investigate matters similar in nature to the
affairs attended by comitiaci and apparitores.97 Indeed it may be that a comitia-
cus or apparitor would be sent from the Gothic court only when a cancellarius
or canonicarius from the officium of the prefect was not at hand in the prov-
ince to attend to a particular matter. This illustrates a tendency for the Gothic
administration to accommodate itself to fewer officials by granting personnel
a wider field of operation in which magistrates representing the Gothic court
had authority over the same range of judicial and financial activities when cir-
cumstances required it.
The final aspect of Gothic administrative behaviour that again illustrates
the degree to which bureaucracy had been downsized is the tendency to rely
upon persons in ex officio positions of authority. In keeping with the culture
of the comitatus, which derived its authority from proximity to an Amal ruler,
the Gothic court could expect individuals not properly vested in office to con-
duct business of the state. Often, as seen in the Variae, these individuals were
among the highest ranking in society—men with patrician, illustris or specta-
bilis rank. Obviously, fulfilment of such requests depended upon the prestige
that an individual would obtain through association with the Gothic court. The
court in turn relied upon the status of these individuals to grant the author-
ity needed to pursue legal and administrative affairs in ex officio capacity. The
interplay of prestige sharing between court and individual is underscored in
formulae for honorary appointments (such as patrician status), which specify
the honour of attaining rank without official obligations.98 Nonetheless, the
Variae describe elites throughout Italy ‘assigned’ to various roles: the pro-
duction of costly goods and building materials, the guardianship of property
rights and the adjudication of property disputes, the coercion of payments
from recalcitrant taxpayers, quelling civil disturbances associated with games
in Rome, investigating the fraudulent use of public funds, arbitration in legal
disputes and the investigation of criminal cases, the maintenance of political
hostages, assistance in the repair of fortifications and other urban infrastruc-
ture, investigating vandalism to pubic monuments, maintaining order and
96 Variae 2.10, 2.21, 3.20, 5.6, ed. Mommsen.
97 For the activities of the cancellarii, Variae 11.10, 11.14, 11.39, 12.1, 12.3, 12.10, 12.12, 12.15, ed.
Mommsen; on the canonicarii, Variae 11.38, 12.13, 12.4, 12.7, 12.13.
98 Variae 6.2, ed. Mommsen, describing the rank of patrician; 6.10, for vacantes proceres; 6.11,
for illustris vacantis.