Originally, in
ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English "
vice-" (as in "
deputy"), used as part of the title of various officials. Each
vicarius was assigned to a specific superior official, after whom his full title was generally completed by a
genitive (e.g.
vicarius praetoris). At a low level of society, the
slave of a slave, possibly hired out to raise money to buy
manumission, was a
servus vicarius. Later, in the 290s, Emperor
Diocletian carried out a series of administrative reforms, ushering in the period of the
Dominate. These reforms also saw the number of
Roman provinces increased, and the creation of a new administrative level, the
diocese. The dioceses, initially twelve, grouped several provinces, each with its own
governor. The dioceses were headed by a
vicarius, or, more properly, by a
vices agens praefecti praetorio ("deputy of the
praetorian prefect"). An exception was the
Diocese of the East, which was headed by a
comes ("count"). In 370 or 381, Egypt and Cyrenaica were detached from the Diocese of the East and made a diocese under an official called the Augustal Prefect. According to the
Notitia dignitatum (an early 5th century imperial
chancery document), the
vicarius had the rank of
vir spectabilis; the staff of a
vicarius, his
officium, was rather similar to a gubernatorial
officium. For example, in the diocese of
Hispania, the staff of the
vicarius included: • The
princeps (i.e. chief of staff) was chosen from among the senior
agentes in rebus (couriers or special investigators, 'men of affairs,' from the ministry of the interior headed by the master of the offices), from the salaried class of the
ducenarii (those earning 200,000
sesterces a year—the highest regular pay grade in the Roman civil service; the highest officials, governors and above, were not civil service). • A
cornicularius ("chief of staff"). • Two
numerarii (chief accountants). • A
commentariensis ("keeper of the commentary", the official diary). • An
adiutor (adjutant; literally "helper", an assistant). • An
ab actis ("acts-keeper",
archivist). • A
cura epistolarum ("curator of correspondence"). • An unnamed number of
subadiuvae ("deputy assistants"). • Various
exceptores (lower clerks). •
Singulares et reliquum officium (various menial staff). File:Roman Empire with dioceses in 300 AD.png|Original
dioceses of the Roman Empire, created by emperor Diocletian (284–305) File:Roman_Empire_with_dioceses_in_400_AD.png|Later dioceses of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD ==See also==