His
leadership in war we have seen to be but the natural continuance of
his original office; and that as _dux_ he was to be ranked among the
first nobles of the land, the "optimates," the "viri illustres," we
can see from the following passage in the laws of Liutprand, when in
the prologue to the third book already quoted, he gives forth the
edict with the judges as "una cum illustribus viris optimatibus meis
ex Neustriae et Austriae et Tusciae partibus vel universis nobilibus
Langobardis."[23] Although the position of the _duces_ as nobles of
the land never altered, their power relative to that of the king
suffered many modifications. The ducal power--"principes" of
Tacitus--preceding among the Lombards that of the king, we see the
dukes exercising much greater control in the earlier stages of the
monarchy: even, on the death of Clefis--576--actually establishing a
sort of aristocratic republic, under the leadership of thirty dukes,
which lasted for ten years; after which time, on the event of a
dangerous war with the Greeks and the Franks, Authari, the son of
Clefis, gained the throne by election; the dukes giving up to him,
says Paulus Diaconus,[24] the half of their estates for the support of
his dignity, retaining, however, the rest, not as servants of the
king, but as "principes" of the people, an important distinction.
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