With regard to the provincial governors the Pragmatica sanctio ordains that they should be chosen from the inhabitants by the bishops and most distinguished men in each province, but must obtain the sanction of the praefect — a very peculiar regulation, which does not agree with the general bureaucratic principles of the Byzantine administration, and which seems to prove that as early as the middle of the sixth century the position of the provincial governors, like that of the town councils in Italy, was brought very low and considered more of an onus than an honor. Not long afterwards this regulation was extended to the whole Empire. The special position of the municipal officials of Rome under the praefectus urbi together with other privileges of the old imperial capital was maintained, though from the outset this administrative department hardly fitted any better here than elsewhere into the frame of the general administration, and had to be relieved of a number of its former duties.
The defence of the frontiers, temporarily established by Belisarius in Africa, was organised in Italy by Narses, who had restored the natural frontiers of Italy in the north to nearly the dimensions which had been recognised by the Lombards in Gothic times after the cession of Noricum and Pannonia to them. It is probable that the location of the frontier troops was also influenced by the distribution of the garrisons during the Gothic rule. In the east, Forum Julii (Friuli) was the centre of a chain of small fortresses on the southern slope of the Alps, which were connected with the fort of Aguntum (Innichen) by the pass over the Kreuzberg. From this point the valley of the Rienz probably became the frontier. The bishopric of Seben (Brixen) also belonged to the Empire, and further south a chain of forts from Verruca (near Trent) as far as Anagni (Nanó) can be traced. Further west, the Alpine passes were secured by forts at their southern end; thus mention is made of one situated on an island in the Lake of Como, and of another at the outlet of the pass over Mont Cenis at Susa. It is not clear in what manner these limites, which had replaced the old ducatus Rhaetiarum and the tractus Italiae circa Alpes of the Notitia Dignitatum, were separated from each other. It appears, however, that some of the troops which had come to Italy under Narses were garrisoned and settled in them, and that certain generals who had served under Narses were placed at the head of these ducatus. This would be the easiest explanation for the fact that at a very early date the command over the garrisoned legions in Italy was not held by ordinary duces, but by men holding the higher rank of magister militum.
Justinian's dispositions had all been made on the assumption that peace would be completely restored throughout the two new sections of the Empire. During the wars of conquest, the Emperor's authorised generals were, in Africa Belisarius, who was magister militum per orientem, and in Italy latterly Narses, who, as patricius and holder of high court offices, belonged to the highest rank. These had acted
