Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/683

CONSTANTINOPOLIS.

portant frontiers of the Rhine, the Upper and Lower Danube and the Euphrates, was committed to 8 masters-general of cavalry and infantry: under them were stationed 35 military commanders in the provinces; 3 in Britain; 6 in Gaul; 1 in Spain; 1 in Italy; 5 on the Upper Danube; 4 on the Lower Danube; 8 in Asia; 3 in Aegypt; 4 in Africa. These were distinguished by the titles of "dux" or duke, and "comes", counts or companions. There were 583 stations or garrisons established on the frontiers, and the effective force of the troops, under the successors of Constantine was computed at 645,000 soldiers. From the difficulty of the levies, they were compelled to have recourse to barbarian auxiliaries.

Besides these magistrates and generals 7 great officers of state remained at court.

1. The eunuch, "praepositus," or praefect of the bed-chamber, under whom were "comites" to regulate the wardrobe and table of the emperor.

2. The "masters of the offices," the supreme magistrate of the palace, who inspected the discipline of the civil and military schools. In his office the public correspondence was managed in the 4 scrinia or bureaux.

3. The "quaestor," who may be compared with a modern chancellor.

4. The "count of the sacred largesses," or treasurer general of the revenue.

5. The "count of the private estate," or privy purse.

6, 7. The "counts of the domestics," or officers in command of the horse and foot guards, consisting of 7 battalions of 500 men each.

To facilitate intercourse between the court and the provinces "posts" were established: by an intolerable abuse the agents employed for this purpose became the official spies; and as in the new jurisdiction of the empire the "quaestio" or torture was permitted in any offence where "hostile intention" against prince or state was presumed, the terrors of malicious informations were materially increased.

The treasury was supplied by a system of direct taxation, and the word indiction was transferred from the solemn edict of the emperor to the measure of tribute which it prescribed, and the term allowed for payment. The "decurions," who formed the corporations of the cities, were charged with assessing according to the census of property prepared by the "tabularii" the payment due from each proprietor. Besides the land-tax, which was in its operation a proprietor or landlord's tax, there was a capitation tax on all who were not possessed of landed property. Certain classes were gradually exempted, till at length it fell solely on the "coloni" and agricultural slaves. (Comp. Savigny, Abhand. der Berlin. Acad. 1822-23. p. 27.) Besides these general taxes upon industry "benevolences," under the name of coronary gold, were also exacted from communities on certain occasions.

It must be admitted that the Byzantine fiscal system, though so rapacious that it extracted for the government the whole annual surplus of the people's industry, was constructed with great financial skill. One fact may be cited to show how wisely this branch of the public service was administered. From the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders the gold coinage of the Empire was maintained constantly of the same weight and

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standard. The concave gold byzants of Isaac II. are precisely of the same weight and value as the solidus of Leo the Great and Zeno the Isaurian.

Gold was the circulating medium of the Empire, and the purity of the Byzantine coinage rendered it for many centuries the only gold currency that circulated in Europe.

An admirable account of the internal administration of the empire, and the social condition of the people will be found in Mr. Finlay's learned volumes, Greece under the Romans, and Mediaeval Greece. See also Hullmann, Geschichte der Byzantischen Handels.

For the topography of Constantinople the following works can be consulted:—Von Hammer, Constantinopel und die Bosporus; Dallaway, Constantinople, Ancient and Modern; Andreossy, Constantinople et le Bosphore; Carbognano, Descr. Topograph. di Const.; Banduri, Imp. Orient.; Codinus, de Orig. Constant.; Ducange, Constant. Christ. [ E. B. J. ]

CONSUANTAE, or CONSUAKTES (Konrev- orrcu), a Celtic tribe of Vindelicia, on the upper Lecky in the neighbourhood of Schoangau. (PtoL iu 13. § 1 ; PJin. iiL 24, who calls them Con- mtaneieg,) [L. S.] CONTACOSSTLA (Korrmr^ot;Aa, Ptol. vii. 1 § 1 5), a place called by Ptolemy an emporium in the country of Maesolia or Masalia, in the & of India. It has been conjectured, with good reason, to be the same as the modern Mandipatam, [V.] CONTENEBRA, a town of Etruria, mentioned only by livy (vi. 4), from whom it appean that it was situated in the territory of Tarquinii It was taken and destroyed by the Romans in b.c. 388, at the same time with Oortuosa, the site of which is equally unknown. [E. H. B.] CONTESTA'KI (Korr«mu>90) a P«>ple in the SE. of Hispania Tarraconenas, K of the Bastetani. Thrir country, called Contestania, extended along the coast from the city of Urci, at the E. extremity of Baetica, to the river Sucro, and corresponded to Mwrda and the & part of Valenoia. Besides Carthago Nova, and Saetabis, they possessed the following less important cities: on the coast, Luoenti or LucEKTUM {howtiyroi ^ AoUcwrw Alonae ('AAMraQ, the port luci (*IAiicrrayor Xtpihy, the dty itself stood a littie inland); and, in the interior, Menlaria (JAevXapia), VALUfTiA (O^ Acrrk), Saetabicula (pSorra^UovAa), and laspis Cicunrif : Ptol. ii. 6. §§ 14. 62 ; Plin. iU. 3. s. 4 ; Liv. Fr. xci.). [P. &] CONTHYLE (Koi^Aii), a demus of Attica of unknown site. [See p. 334.] CONTOPCRIA. [Aboob, p. 201, b.] CONTRA AGINNUM is pUused by tiie Anton. Itin. half way between Augusta Veromanduorum (iS^ QaenUn) and Augusta Suessionum (Sommmu), 13 M. P. from each. The Table makes the distance 26 M. P. between these two places, and does not mention Contra Aginnum. D'Anville places Contra Aginnum at CofSkan on the Oite, The Notitia mentions a body of Batari Contraginnenses who were stationed at Novionuigus Belgicae Secundae or Nojfon, [G. L.] CONTRE'BIA (Contrebienses). 1. One of the chief cities, and, according to Valerius Maximus, the capital of Celtiberia. It is conspicuous in the history of the Celtiberian War; and in the Ser- torian War, it was the scene of one of thoee obstinate defences which so often occur in Spanish history, its reduction costing Sertorius Ibrty-four days and