Customary ceremonies alone were evidently enough to absorb a very large part of the grand vizier’s time; but they were a mere incident to the vast amount of administrative and judicial business that demanded his attention. It is not to be wondered at that the period of service in this office was short, on the average. The post was a dangerous one; for the possessor, with all his greatness, was the sultan’s _kul_, and liable to summary execution if he failed to give satisfaction. Of some two hundred men who served as grand viziers in the course of five hundred years, about twenty were executed at the time of their deposition.[564] Suleiman’s grand viziers held office for comparatively long periods.[565] Seven, taken together, served him forty years; Mohammed Piri Pasha, whom he found in office at his accession, served in all six years, and Mohammed Sokolli, whom he left in office at his death, served fifteen years. Thus in sixty-two years there were only nine in all. Three of them deserve to be called great,—Ibrahim for his splendor, his breadth of mind, and his continuance in favor, Rustem for his financial shrewdness, and Mohammed Sokolli for his statesmanship. These three also served the longest,—Ibrahim thirteen years, Rustem fifteen years in two periods, and Mohammed Sokolli fifteen years without a break. Four of the nine ended their service at death, two were deposed and executed, three were simply deposed. All except Mohammed Piri Pasha were Christian renegades, who had risen as slaves to the highest honor of the empire. The _Kaziaskers_ were, under the sultan and the grand vizier, the heads of the judiciary of the empire. They sat in the Divan, where they ranked next to the grand vizier. Since they belonged to the Moslem Institution, discussion of their duties will be postponed to the next chapter. THE DEFTERDARS, OR TREASURERS[566] The great labor of accounting for the receipts and expenditures of the Ruling Institution in practically all its capacities was under the care of the two principal _Defterdars_, or treasurers, one for Rumelia and one for Anatolia, aided by two of lower rank, one for Aleppo and the southwest and one for the Danubian countries.[567] The principal _Defterdars_ were men of great position, with large incomes and households, and possessing the right of audience with the sultan in regard to matters of revenue.[568] Under them were twenty-five departments or bureaus, as instituted by the Conqueror, each with a chief, or _Khojagan_, who directed a number of clerks of different grades. Between these and the _Defterdars_ were several intermediate officials, of whom the most important were the two _Rusnamehjis_, or book-keepers. The total personnel of the treasury department numbered more than eight hundred.[569]