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 p807  Notarii

Unsigned article on p807 of

William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.

NOTA′RII, short-hand writers, were generally slaves or freedmen, and are spoken of under Nota. They were likewise called Actuarii. They were also employed by the emperors (Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 28, Aurel. 36; Trebell. Claud. 14), and in course of time the title of Notarii was exclusively applied to the private secretaries of the emperors, who, of course, were no longer slaves, but persons of high rank. The short-hand writers were now called exceptores, as is remarked under Nota. On the reorganisation of the empire by Constantine, the Notarii were constituted into a kind of imperial chancery, who, in addition to their regular duties, were frequently employed by the emperor on important public missions. The first of them in rank was called Primicerius Notariorum, and the second, Secundicerius Notariorum. Others were called tribuni et notarii, and another class domestici et notarii, who probably acted specially as private secretaries of the emperors. Others again who served under the Praefecti Praetorii, were called Notarii Praetoriani (Cod. Theod. 6 tit. 10; Cassiod. Var. VI.16; Walter, Geschichte des Römischen Rechts, § 345, 2d ed.).

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