64 Bjornlie
the comes in managing the annona suggest that these appointments involved
superintending the collection and distribution of taxes.82 The comites with
the widest such powers were the comites provinciarum assigned to specific
provinces, usually those in regions subject to military threat such as Pannonia
and Dalmatia. The formula for this post emphasizes the balance of military
and judicial powers, explicitly noting the distinction of this authority above
that enjoyed by governors in other provinces and indicating that the comes
provinciae was in fact a branch of the civil administration.83 Descriptions of
the comites Gothorum per singulas civitates assigned to specific cities such as
Syracuse and Naples indicate that these officials also enjoyed the same range
of judicial, administrative, and military powers, albeit restricted to the jurisdic-
tion of a particular city.84 Gothic officials could also be assigned to presumably
less important municipalities as comites diversarum civitatum, holding rank
secondary to other Gothic comites (in illa civitate comitivae honorem secondi
ordinis).85 Similar to the comites provinciarum, urban centres warranted the
administration of a comes on the basis of strategic needs that required the
presence of a substantial Gothic garrison. It is important to note that not every
province or city had a comes; such appointments were selective and often
based on military considerations. Nevertheless, it is clear that these appoint-
ments substituted layers of administration present in other provinces and cit-
ies. Each comes, whether of a province or a city, had a civilian princeps militum
assigned to superintend his administrative officium.86 The importance of these
comites to the Gothic administration is underscored by the sheer number of
letters in the Variae attesting their various activities.87 The frequent reappear-
ance of specific individuals in various capacities as comites again suggests an
administration based on central personalities affiliated with the Gothic court,
as opposed to an elaborate institutional hierarchy.
One of the obvious advantages to granting administrative competence to
military comites is that it reduced the need in many regions for potentially
expensive gubernatorial officia. In fact evidence seems to indicate that the
presence of actual provincial governors was far less regular than in earlier
periods of Roman government or in the contemporary provinces of the eastern
82 Variae 7.25, ed. Mommsen; similarly, Gothic comites were involved in fiscal matters in
Variae 3.25, 3.26, 4.19, 5.14, 5.15, 5.39, 9.11, 9.14.
83 Variae 7.1, ed. Mommsen.
84 Variae 6.22, 6.23, 7.3, ed. Mommsen.
85 Variae 7.26.3, ed. Mommsen.
86 Variae 6.25, 7.24, ed. Mommsen.
87 Variae 1.5, 1.40, 2.7, 2.29, 3.23, 3.24, 3.25, 3.26, 3.45, 4.9, 4.12, 4.16, 4.19, 4.21, 4.23, 4.23, 4.49,
5.14, 5.15, 5.29, 5.35, 5.39, 8.26, 8.28, 9.8, 9.9, 9.11, 9.14, ed. Mommsen.