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of dismissal. The Palace is then shut up, but at two o'clock it is reopened with the same formalities for the further transaction of affairs. At five o'clock it is again closed and the routine of Imperial reception is at an end for the day. On the Dominica or Sunday the assembly is most numerous, and the company repairs in procession to one of the adjoining halls to attend the performance of a brief divine service.^[1] As a concession to the holiness of this day adoration of the Emperor is less formal. When the Emperor or Empress drives through the streets the carriage is drawn by four white horses or mules,^[2] the vehicle and the trappings of the animals being ornate in the highest degree.^[3] Public processions on festal days of the Church are regular and frequent; and on these occasions, as well as on those of national rejoicing, the Emperor rides a white horse amidst his train of eunuchs, nobles, and guards. At such times the Praefect of the City enjoins a special cleansing and decoration of the streets on the prescribed route. The way is adorned from end to end with myrtle, rosemary, ivy, box, and flowers of all kinds which are in bloom at the season. The air is filled with the

↑ Const. Porph., ii, 1, 2; cf. Valesius ad Ammianum, xxii, 7. These early visitations were habitual in the Roman republic, as when the whole Senate waited on the newly-elected consuls on the Calends of January; Dion Cass., lviii, 5, etc.; and especially in the regular matutinal calls of clients on their patrons re the sportula; cf. Sidonius Ap. Epist., i, 2. His description of the routine of a court c. 450 corresponds closely with the above. It must have been copied from Rome.
↑ Chrysostom, De Perf. Carit., 6 (in Migne, vi, 286); Theophanes, an. 6094, 6291, etc.; cf. Suetonius, in Nero, 25, etc.; Ducange, sb. eq. alb.
↑ These state carriages, open and closed, painted in gaudy colours, with gilded pilasters, mouldings, and various figures in relief, resembled certain vehicles used in the last century and some circus cars of the present day; see Banduri, ii, pl. 4, sup. cit.; the work of Panvinius on Triumphs, etc.

[1] Const. Porph., ii, 1, 2; cf. Valesius ad Ammianum, xxii, 7. These early visitations were habitual in the Roman republic, as when the whole Senate waited on the newly-elected consuls on the Calends of January; Dion Cass., lviii, 5, etc.; and especially in the regular matutinal calls of clients on their patrons re the sportula; cf. Sidonius Ap. Epist., i, 2. His description of the routine of a court c. 450 corresponds closely with the above. It must have been copied from Rome.

[2] Chrysostom, De Perf. Carit., 6 (in Migne, vi, 286); Theophanes, an. 6094, 6291, etc.; cf. Suetonius, in Nero, 25, etc.; Ducange, sb. eq. alb.

[3] These state carriages, open and closed, painted in gaudy colours, with gilded pilasters, mouldings, and various figures in relief, resembled certain vehicles used in the last century and some circus cars of the present day; see Banduri, ii, pl. 4, sup. cit.; the work of Panvinius on Triumphs, etc.

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