MAGISTER OFFICIORUM. - He is one of the great central officials of the absolute Roman Empire, that is, as it came to be defined following the constitutional reform of Diocletian and Constantine.
His name is due, in all likelihood, to the fact that he directed the officia or scrinia, that is, the sections of the imperial chancery. But the functions entrusted to him are so numerous and are exercised in such diverse fields as to make it difficult to define his office in modern terms. Toward the end of the 4th century he already belonged to the highest category of imperial officials, that of the illustres.
The m. o. commands the scholae palatinae, an armed corps that took the place of the disbanded praetorian cohorts; the schola of the agentes in rebus publicis, to whom are entrusted supervisory duties in matters concerning the public administration; he directs the service of the imperial post and that of those whose task it is to prepare the lodgings of the emperor and his retinue on the occasion of journeys.
The arms factories are subject to the supervision of the m. o. Under his authority is placed the officium admissionum, which regulates imperial audiences; it falls to him, therefore, to handle relations with the representatives of the cities of the Empire and of foreign states, which allows him to influence foreign policy.
He is furthermore invested with civil and criminal jurisdiction over all the personnel of the court and, in connection with the supervision he exercises over the frontiers of the Empire, with jurisdiction over the frontier troops and their commanders.
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Rodolfo Danieli