John Lydus: On the Months

...his duties in the Praetorian prefecture, he assisted the exceptores (shorthand clerks) in the "temple of Justice" called the Secretum. These labors, he says, were putting him on the path to joining the ranks of the a secretis (secretaries) of the "court" [aulē]. This "temple of Justice" was the law court of the Praetorian prefecture, not located in the palace itself;⁸ however, the office of a secretis was separate from the prefecture and involved with judicial matters presented to the imperial council, or consistorium.⁹

Once he found himself without the help of his compatriot Zoticus, however, John's career seems to have stalled somewhat. The subsequent Praetorian prefects seem to have been less well-disposed toward John; bureaucratic infighting was at play, as the prefects more and more frequently came from the financial rather than the judicial branch.¹⁰ Furthermore, in 524, the bureaucracy's financial "double-dipping" (or multiple office-holding), which had previously seemed to advance John's career, was banned (Cod. Just. 12.33.5).¹¹ Still, John mentions that he had moved along in his career path, serving as chartularius (secretary) in the office of the commentarienses (officials pertaining to criminal law), likely around 517.¹² At some point, he took a trip to Cyprus;¹³ this was most likely on official business and therefore took place prior to 536, when the island was removed from the Eastern Praetorian prefecture; in fact, the trip may well have been connected with this administrative change.¹⁴ Otherwise, however, the 530s were to all appearances extremely difficult for John. Our author's great bugbear, the Praetorian prefect John of Cappadocia, was in office between 531 and 541, except for a few months (late January to mid-October) in 532 during the context of the Nika riots.¹⁵ During that gap, the prefecture was headed by Phocas, with whom John had good relations.¹⁶ The Cappadocian's tenure of office was a time of turbulent change for the bureaucracy. This "efficiency...

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⁸ Kelly, Ruling the Later Roman Empire, pp. 82, 263-4 (with references to further scholarship), contrary to Kaster, p. 307. Cf. De mag. 3.65.

⁹ Kelly, Ruling the Later Roman Empire, pp. 83, 264 (with further references)—and cf. De mag. 3.10 with discussion in Dubuisson-Schamp, 2: ccxxxv-ccxlii (cf. 1.1: xxx); Bandy (1983), p. 315, on the other hand, followed by Dubuisson-Schamp, 2: 77 n. 107, asserts that this is a reference to the "court" of the Praetorian prefect.

¹⁰ Stein, pp. 730-31—citing in particular Zoticus' immediate successor Marinus, and noting too the influence exercised by John the Cappadocian even before he became Praetorian prefect in 531.

¹¹ Kelly, Ruling the Later Roman Empire, pp. 83-4; Caimi, pp. 56-7.

¹² Bandy (1983), p. xiii; Stein, p. 838.

¹³ De mens. 4.47.

¹⁴ So Stein, p. 838, followed by Bandy (1983), p. xiv and Dubuisson-Schamp, 1.1: xxxviii. For doubts, see Caimi, pp. 58-9 (as Caimi points out, Carney suggested that John spent some time in Antioch, witnessing the Persian attack of A.D. 540 [De ost. 1], and may have fled from there to Cyprus [Carney, Bureaucracy 2: 16 n. 16, 32 n. 11]).

¹⁵ For John the Cappadocian generally, see PLRE 3A: 627-35 (s.v. Ioannes 11); Caimi, pp. 243-57; Stein, pp. 435-49; 463-83.

¹⁶ See De mag. 3.73 and further discussion below.