[Footnote 159: They are alluded to in Var. xii. 13. The Canonicarii (Tax-collectors) had plundered the Churches of Bruttii and Lucania in the name of 'sedis nostrae Numerarii;' but the Numerarii with holy horror declared that they had received no part of the spoils.]
[Footnote 160: See Bethmann Hollweg, 184.]
[Footnote 161: Illustres and Spectabiles.]
We may perhaps see in the _Scriniarius Curae Militaris_ of Cassiodorus[162] one of these Numerarii detailed for service as paymaster to the soldiers who waited upon the orders of the Praefect.
(7) The _Subadjuvae_. This is probably a somewhat vague term, like Adjutores, and indicates a second and lower class of cashiers who acted as deputies for the regular Numerarii.
(8) _Cura Epistolarum._ The officer who bore this title appears to have had the duty of copying out all letters relating to fiscal matters[163]. This theory as to his office is confirmed by the words of Cassiodorus (Var. xi. 23): 'Let Constantinian on his promotion receive the care of the letters relating to the land-tax' (Hic itaque epistolarum _canonicarum_ curam provectus accipiat).
[Footnote 163: This is Bethmann Hollweg's interpretation of the words of Lydus, [Greek: hoi tas men epi tois dêmosiois phoitôsas psêphous graphousi monon, to loipon kataphronoumenoi] (iii. 21). In another passage (iii. 4, 5) Lydus appears to assign a reason for the fact that the Praefectus Urbis Constantinopolitanae, the Magister Militum, and the Magister Officiorum had no _Cura Epistolarum_ on their staff; but the paragraph is to me hopelessly obscure. Curiously enough, too, while he avers that every department of the State (perhaps every diocese) had, as a rule, its own Curae Epistolarum, he limits the two in the Praetorian Praefect's office to the diocese of Pontica ([Greek: koura epistolaroum Pontikês duo]).]
[Sidenote: Regerendarius, or Regendarius.]
(9) _Regerendarius_, or _Regendarius_[164]. This officer had the charge of all contracts relating to the very important department of the _Cursus Publicus_, or Imperial Mail Service. At the time of the compilation of the 'Notitia' only one person appears to have acted in this capacity under each Praefect. When Lydus wrote, there were two Regendarii in each Praefecture, but, owing to the increasing influence of the Magister Officiorum over the Cursus Publicus[165], their office had become apparently little more than an ill-paid sinecure. As we hear nothing of similar changes in the West, the Cursus Publicus was probably a part of the public service which was directly under the control of Cassiodorus when Praetorian Praefect, and was administered at his bidding by one or more Regendarii.