PRIMICE´RIUS
PRIMICE´RIUS a name given to various officers and
dignitaries under the later Roman empire, is explained by:Suidas (s. v.) to
be the person who holds the first rank in anything. The etymology of the
word is doubtful: it is supposed that a person was called
Primicerius because his name stood first in the wax (
cera), that is, the tablet made of wax, which
contained a list of persons of any rank.
The word Primicerius does not seem. to have been always applied to the person
who was at the head of any department of the state or army, but also to the
one second in command or authority; as, for instance, the
Primicerius Sacri Cubiculi, who was under the
Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi. [
PRAEPOSITUS] Various
Primicerii are mentioned, as the
Primicerius
Domesticorum and
Protectorum (Cod.
12, 17, 2),
Fabricae (Cod. 11, 9, 2),
Mensorum (Cod. 12, 28, 1),
Notariorum (Cod. 12, 7), &c.
[
W.S]