EVOLUTION OF CEREMONIAL GOVERNMENT. 27 



in the Merovingian period, the mayors of the palace were known, viz. : 

 major domils regice, senior domUs, princeps dom'ds, and in other in- 

 stances prcepositKS, proefectus^ rector^ gubernator, moderator, du'x, cus- 

 tos, suhregidiis. In which list (noting as we .pass how our own title 

 " mayor," said to be derived from the French onaire, is originally de- 

 rived from the Latin major, meaning either greater or elder) we are 

 shown how further names of honor carry us back to words implying age 

 as their originals ; and how in place of these descriptive words the 

 alternative words used are descriptive of functions. 



Perhaps better in the case of titles than in any other case is illus- 

 trated the diffusion of ceremonial forms that are used to propitiate first 

 the most powerful, then the less powerful, and, finall}*, all others. 



Uncivilized and semi-civilized peoples, civilized peoples of past 

 times, and existing civilized peoples, all furnish examples. Among 

 Samoans " it is usual, in the courtesies of common conversation, for all 

 to call each other chiefs. If you listen to the talk of little boys even, 

 you will hear them addressing each other as chief this, that, and the 

 other thing." In Siam, a man's children by any of his inferior wives 

 address their father as " my lord, the king ; " and the word Nai, which 

 is the name for chief among the Siamese, " has become a term of civil- 

 ity which the Siamese give to one another." A kindred result has 

 occurred in China, where sons speak of their father as " family's majes- 

 ty," " prince of the family ; " and China supplies a further instance, 

 which is the more noteworthy because it is special. Here, where the 

 supremacy of ancient teachers became so great, and where the titles tze 

 or futze, signifying "great teacher," added to their names, were subse- 

 quently added to the names of distinguished writers, and where class 

 distinctions based on intellectual eminence characterize the social or- 

 ganization, it has resulted that this name of honor, signifying teacher, 

 has become an ordinary complimentary title. Ancient Rome furnishes 

 other evidences. The spirit which led to the diffusion of titles is well 

 exhibited by Mommsen in describing the corrupt giving of public tri- 

 umphs that were originally accorded only to a " supreme magistrate 

 who augmented the power of the state in open battle." 



" In order to put an end to peaceful triumphators, . . . the granting of a 

 triumph was made to depend on the producing proof of a pitched battle which 

 had cost the lives of at least five thousand of the enemy ; but this proof was fre- 

 quently evaded by false bulletins. . . . Formerly the thanks of the community 

 once for all had sufficed for service rendered to the state ; now every meritori- 

 ous act seemed to demand a permanent distinction. ... A custom came into 

 vogue, by which the victor and his descendants derived a permanent surname 

 from the victories they had won. . . . The example set by the higher was fol- 

 lowed by the humbler classes." 



And under the influence thus illustrated, dorainus and rex eventuall}'^ 

 became titles used to ordinary persons. Nor do modern European na- 



