the senatorial order. The heads of the great central civil ministries, the magistri militum and other high level military commanders as well as the Praepositus sacri cubiculi were all graded as illustres, the highest of the new senatorial ranks. The second class (spectabiles) was assigned to a large group of civil servants, including the Proconsuls, vicarii, the military governors in the provinces and the magistri scriniorum. The entry level class, clarissimus, was the minimum qualification for membership of the Senate. It was automatically awarded as part of the governorship of a province, and to a myriad of other lesser officers. It was held by a large number of junior imperial public servants, as well as being awarded to them after their retirement. The generosity of the emperors in bestowing the clarissimus witnessed the gradual erosion in its value. As a consequence, the emperors began to raise many clarissimi graded officials to the rank of spectabiles, which in turn cheapened the highest rank of illustres. This inflationary pressure resulted in the creation of a new senatorial rank before the middle of the 6th century, that of gloriosi. Higher in grading than the illustres, all of the highest state officials were regraded to this rank. Military reforms Under the Principate, provinces that contained legions were under the proconsular authority of the emperor, who managed those provinces through designated legates (Legatus Augusti pro praetore), while the units stationed at Rome were under the authority of the Praetorian Prefect. During the Crisis of the Third Century, greater authority over imperial military matters was ceded to the Praetorian Prefects, while the imperial legates took advantage of weakened centralised authority to use the troops under their command to rebel against the emperor and claim the imperial title for themselves. It was Diocletian who initially divided the military administrative apparatus and the civil administration in order to mitigate the risk that future imperial governors or Praetorian Prefects might attempt to seize the throne through force, and then he reorganized both of them. During the Tetrarchy, the Praetorian Prefects were the Emperor's top administrators, ranking just below the Emperor himself in dignity. While initially serving as the Emperor's second in command in all matters of imperial administration (military, civil, judicial, taxation, etc.), during the course of the Dominate the Prefects gradually had portions of their authority stripped from them and given to other offices: the Masters of the