*(II). The Patrimonium.* But with the extinction of the Julio-Claudian house and the accession of Vespasian the patrimony of the Caesars passed as an appendage of the principate to the new ruler. It then became state property, and as it had grown to enormous size owing to the inheritances of Augustus and the confiscations of Caligula and Nero, the _patrimonium_ was organized as an independent branch of the imperial financial administration. The personal estate of the princeps was henceforth distinguished as the _patrimonium privatum_. This situation continued until the accession of Septimius Severus, whose enormous confiscations of the property of the adherents of Niger and Albinus were incorporated in his personal estate. This, the _patrimonium privatum_, was now placed under a new department of the public administration called the _ratio_ or _res privata_. The old _patrimonium_ became a subordinate branch of the _fiscus_. The title of the secretary of the treasury in charge of the _fiscus_ was now changed to that of _rationalis_, while the new secretary in charge of the privy purse was called at first _procurator_, and later _magister_, _rei privatae_. The reform of Severus, which gave to the private income of the princeps a status in the administration comparable to that of the public revenues, is a further expression of the monarchical tendencies of his rule. *The officiales.* The subaltern personnel of the various bureaus, the clerks, accountants, etc., during the first two centuries of the principate was composed almost entirely of imperial freedmen and slaves. Among these there was apparently no fixed order of promotion or uniform system of pay, nor could they ever advance to the higher ranks of the service. However, from the time of Severus soldiers began to be employed in these capacities and a military organization was introduced into the bureaus. The way was thus gradually paved for completely dispensing with the services of freedmen and slaves in any part of the civil administration. III. THE ARMY AND THE DEFENCE OF THE FRONTIERS *The barbarization of the army.* It will be recalled that the military policy of Augustus aimed at securing the supremacy of the Roman element in the empire by restricting admission to the legions to Roman citizens or to freeborn inhabitants of provincial municipalities who received a grant of citizenship upon entering the service. The gradual abandonment of this policy is one of the most significant facts in the military history of the principate.