8 The reference is to the _toga virilis_, the ordinary
white-coloured garb of a Roman citizen who at his sixteenth year
laid aside the purple-edged _toga praetexta_, which was worn
during the days of boyhood.
16 ff. The cities referred to are unknown: but it is probable that
they were two _municipia_ in Northern Spain, and that the office
held by Prudentius was that of duumvir or prefect. Provision was made
by the twenty-fourth clause of the law of Salpensa (a town in the
_provincia Baetica_ of Spain) by which the emperor could be elected
first magistrate of a _municipium_, and could thereupon appoint a
prefect to take his place. This would explain the language of the
text as to the semi-imperial nature of the post. The phrase
_militiae gradus_ need only be taken to indicate advancement in the
_civil_ service. But the words have been interpreted in accordance
with the more familiar and definite meaning of _militia_, and
understood to refer to a purely military post. Dressel thinks that
Prudentius was a _miles Palatinus_, that is, a member of the
best-paid and most highly-privileged imperial troops, who furnished
officers for some of the most lucrative posts in the provinces.
Though in the translation the usual meaning has been given to
_militia_, it must be regarded as uncertain in the absence of
more definite information regarding the office held by Prudentius.
24 The consulship of Salia (or Salias) belongs to the year 348, the
date of the birth of Prudentius. An inscription (quoted by Migne from
Muratorius, _Nov. Thes. Inscrip._, i. 379) has been found in the
monastery of St. Paul's outside the city bearing the words