Note 47 — BOOK IX. CONCERNING FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES.

The military organization of the Visigoths bore a striking resemblance to those of modern armies, and coincided, in only a few unimportant particulars, with that of the Roman legion. Division by means of the decimal system, popular among all semi-barbarian races on account of its simplicity, and the facility of arrangement it affords, was universally employed. The commander-in-chief, styled in the Code, præpositus hostis, was usually a dux, or duke; the lieutenant-general a comes, or count. The commander of a thousand men, corresponding to our colonel, was denominated tiuphadus; next in rank came the quingentarius, who had charge of a battalion of five hundred; then the centurion, and the decurion, in command of a company of a hundred, and a squad of ten men, respectively. The conscription officers were called compulsores exercitus, and the quarter-masters or commissaries, annonarii.

This military gradation was also maintained in civil life, in time of peace. The dux was the governor of the province in which he lived; the comes, the governor of the chief city of his district; the tiuphadus was responsible for the behavior of the thousand men, and their families, over whom he exercised control. All these, with several other civil functionaries, had the privilege of holding court, and were invested by the law with the title of judge: “judicis nomine censeantur ex lege.” See Code II, 1–25.—[Ed.]