The participation of the Excubitors in campaigns is well attested, such as in 598, when Emperor Maurice took them to defend the Anastasian Wall against the Avars. They served with Heraclius () against the Sasanian Persians, and some Excubitors appear as guards to Pope Martin I. During the later 7th century, like the "Scholae" before them, the Excubitors too degenerated to a parade-ground unit that saw no active service. Indeed, that appears that during the 7th and early 8th centuries, the titles of "excubitor" and "scribon" (see below) were awarded as court dignities, paralleling the development of similar formerly military titles such as "candidatus". This is evidenced by a large number of seals naming individual "excubitors" during this time, in stark contrast to the periods before and after, when the Excubitors are attested as an active military unit. Furthermore, in many of these seals, individual "excubitores"—as well as "scribones"—are shown to have conjointly held bureaucratic offices, while at least one seal is known of a certain George, who was both "excubitor" and a "scholarius", a member of the "Scholae".