government, has had the Gothic Sajo Amara assigned to him as his
Defensor. Amara, by an inversion of his functions, which the letter
bitterly laments and upbraids, has turned upon his _protegé_ and even
used personal violence towards him. He has drawn a sword and wounded
him in the hand; and nothing but the fact that Petrus was sheltered by
a door saved him from losing his hand altogether.
Yet, notwithstanding this assault, Amara has had the audacity to claim
from his victim 'commodi nomine,' the usual payment made by the
defended to the defender.
The first letter decrees that this shall be refunded twofold, and
assigns Tezutzat instead of Amara to the office of Defender, warning
him not to follow the evil example of his predecessor.
The second assigns to Duda the task of enquiring into the alleged
assault and punishing it with the sword[346].
[Footnote 346: The story of this assault is a typical specimen of the
style of Cassiodorus, high-flown yet not really pictorial: 'Ita ut
ictum gladii in se demersum, aliquatenus postium retardaret objectio:
subjecta est vulneri manus, quae ut in totum truncata non caderet,
januarum percussa robora praestiterunt: ubi lassato impetu corusca
ferri acies corporis extrema perstrinxit.']
29. KING THEODORIC TO ARGOLICUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.
[Sidenote: Official tardiness rebuked.]
A sharp rebuke to him for having (if the _suggestio_ of the
Clarissimus Armentarius be correct) so long delayed, it is to be
feared with a corrupt motive, complying with the instructions of the
King to do justice in some case (not described) in which the honour of
the Senate is concerned. As head of the Senate he ought to have been
eager to examine into it, without any prompting from his master.
30. KING THEODORIC TO ALBINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND PATRICIAN.
[Sidenote: Workshops may be erected above the Porticus Curba, by the
Roman Forum.]
'Those whom the Republic has honoured should in their turn bring
honour to the City. We are therefore gratified by receiving your
supplication for leave to erect workshops[347] above the Porticus
Curba, which being situated near the Domus Palmata, shuts in the Forum
in comely fashion "in modum areae." We like the plan. The range of
private dwellings will thereby be extended. A look of cheerful newness
will be given to the old walls; and the presence of residents in the
building will tend to preserve it from further decay. You have our
permission and encouragement to proceed, if the proposed erections do
not in any way interfere with public convenience or the beauty of the
City.'
[Footnote 347: Fabricae.]
[The MSS. of Cassiodorus waver between Curbae and Curiae in the above
letter. Jordan ('Topographie der Stadt Rom.' i. 2. 258) inclines to
the opinion that Porticus Curba denotes the Portico of the Secretarium
of the Senate, on the site of the present Church of Sta. Martina. As
the Curia immediately adjoined this building, there is practically but
little difference between the two readings. In either case the
fabricae were to be erected so as to overlook the north-west end of
the Forum. It is admitted that the Domus Palmata was near the Arch of
Septimius Severus.]
31. KING THEODORIC TO AEMILIANUS, VIR VENERABILIS, BISHOP.
[Sidenote: An aqueduct to be promptly finished.]
'Wise men should finish what they have begun, and not incur the
reproach which attends half-done work.
'Let your Holiness therefore promptly complete what by our authority
you so well began in the matter of the aqueduct, and thus most fitly
provide water for your thirsting flock, imitating by labour the
miracle of Moses, who made water gush forth from the flinty rock.'
32. KING THEODORIC TO DUDA THE SAJO.
[Sidenote: The rights of the Crown to the property of the proscribed
man, Tupha, to be asserted with moderation.]
'We are anxious strictly to obey the laws, and to take no advantage
over our subjects in courts of justice. If a man knows that he can get
his own by legal process, even from the Sovereign, he is the less
likely to seek it by the armed hand. The memorandum of Marinus informs
us that the property of Tupha was long ago mortgaged to a certain
Joannes[348]. But since it is quite clear that the property of a
proscribed man belongs to our fiscus, we desire you to summon the
widow of this Joannes and his secretary Januarius, "moderata
executione."
[Footnote 348: 'Marini relatione comperimus res Tuphae apud Joannem
quondam sub emissione chirographi fuisse depositas.']
'If they acknowledge that they have no right to the property let them
at once restore it; but if not, let them come before the _Consularis_
of Campania and establish their right according to course of law.
'But let all be done without loss or prejudice to the rights of
innocent persons. If any such charge be established against you, _you_
will become the offender in our eyes.'
[The description of Tupha as 'proscriptus' makes it probable that we
are dealing with that officer of Odovacar whose double treachery
(489-490) so nearly caused the failure of Theodoric's invasion of
Italy, and who finally fell in battle against his fellow-rebel,
Frederic the Rugian. The only difficulty is the lapse of time since
those events, as this letter was probably written not earlier than
about 511; but that is in some degree met by the word _quondam_ in the
sentence quoted (_n._ 1, p. 250).]
33. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE JEWS OF GENOA.
[Sidenote: Privileges of the Jews confirmed.]
'The true mark of _civilitas_ is the observance of law. It is this
which makes life in communities possible, and which separates man from
the brutes. We therefore gladly accede to your request that all the
privileges which the foresight of antiquity conferred upon the Jewish
customs shall be renewed to you[349], for in truth it is our great
desire that the laws of the ancients shall be kept in force to secure
the reverence due to us[350]. Everything which has been found to
conduce to _civilitas_ should be held fast with enduring devotion.'
[Footnote 349: 'Privilegia debere servari quae Judaicis institutis
legum provida decrevit antiquitas.']
[Footnote 350: 'Quod nos libenter annuimus qui jura veterum ad nostram
cupimus reverentiam custodiri.']
34. KING THEODORIC TO DUDA THE SAJO.
[Sidenote: Buried treasure to be reclaimed for the State.]
'It is the part of true prudence to recall to the uses of commerce
"the talent hidden in the earth." We therefore direct you, by this
"moderata jussio," where you hear of buried treasures to proceed to
the spot with suitable witnesses and reclaim for the public Treasury
either gold or silver, abstaining, however, from actually laying hands
on the ashes of the dead[351]. The dead can do nothing with treasure,
and it is not greedy to take away what the holder of it can never
mourn the loss of.
[Footnote 351: How this was to be done is not quite clear, since it is
plain that this letter is really and chiefly an order for rifling
_sepulchres_ in search of buried treasure.]
'Eacus is said to have discovered the use of gold, and Indus, King of
the Scythians, that of silver. They are extremely useful metals.'
35. KING THEODORIC TO THE REPRESENTATIVES (ACTORES) OF ALBINUS.
[Sidenote: An extravagant minor. Restitutio in integrum.]
'It has been wisely decided by Antiquity that minors cannot make a
binding contract, for they are naturally the prey of every sharper.
You allege that your _patronus_ [Albinus] is under age, that he is
heaping up expenses instead of property, and that his raw boyhood does
not know what is really for his benefit. If this be correct, and be
legally proved, he is entitled to a _restitutio in integrum_' [a suit
commenced through these Actores for the quashing of the contracts
which have been fraudulently made with the minor].
[For the _restitutio in integrum_, see Cod. Theod. ii. 16. 1, and vi.
4. 16. Nothing seems to be expressly said in this letter about the
appointment of a _Curator_.]
36. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT. A.D. 509-510.
[Sidenote: Remission of taxes for Provincials of Cottian Alps.]
'A wise ruler will always lessen the weight of taxation when his
subjects are weighed down by temporary poverty. Therefore let your
Magnificence remit to the Provincials of the Cottian Alps the _as
publicum_ for this year [the third Indiction], in consideration of
their losses by the passage of our army. [The army of Ibbas, on its
march in 408 to fight Clovis, after the fall of the Visigothic
Monarchy.] True, that army went forth with shouts of concord to
_liberate_ Gaul. But so a river bursting forth may irrigate and
fertilise a whole country, and yet destroy the increase of that
particular channel in which its waters run.
'We have earned new subjects by that campaign: we do not wish them to
suffer loss by it. Our own heart whispers to us the request which the
subjects dare not utter to their Prince.'
37. KING THEODORIC TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS WOMAN THEODAGUNDA.
[Sidenote: Theodagunda is admonished to do justice to Renatus.]
Warns Theodagunda [apparently a member of the royal family and
governing some Province; but what place could she hold in the Roman
official hierarchy?], that she must emulate the virtue of her
ancestors and show prompt obedience to the royal commands. 'The
lamentable petition of Renatus states that, after judgment given in
his favour by the King's Court, he is still harassed by the litigation
(not in the way of regular appeal) of Inquilina, who appears to be not
so much desirous of victory as anxious to ruin his adversary.'
[Notwithstanding the form of the name I think Inquilina is male, not
female.]
'You must see that this is put right at once.'
38. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: Taxes must be reduced to the figure at which they stood in
the days of Odoacer.]
'The inhabitants of Gravasi (?) and Ponto (?) complain that they have
been overloaded with taxes by the Assessors (discussores) Probus and
Januarius. They have bad land, and say that they really cannot cope
with the taxes imposed upon them [at the last Indiction?]. The former
practice is to be reverted to, and they are not to be called upon to
pay more than they did in the days of Odoacer.' [An evidence that in
one case at least the fiscal yoke of Odoacer was lighter than that of
his successor.]
39. KING THEODORIC TO THEODAHAD, VIR ILLUSTRIS [AND NEPHEW OF THE
KING].
[Sidenote: The encroachments of Theodahad repressed.]
'Avarice, which Holy Writ declares to be "the root of all evil," is a
vulgar vice which you, our kinsman, a man of Amal blood, whose family
is known to be royal, are especially bound to avoid[352].
[Footnote 352: 'Amali sanguinis virum nos decet vulgare desiderium:
quia genus suum conspicit esse purpuratum.']
'The Spectabilis Domitius complains to us that such and such portions
of his property have been seized by you with the strong hand, without
any pretence of establishing a legal claim to them.
'We send the Sajo Duda to you, and order you on his arrival[353],
without any delay, to restore the property which you have taken
possession of, with all the moveables of which you have despoiled it.
[Footnote 353: 'Si momenti tempora suffragantur.' What is the meaning
of this limitation?]
'If you have any claim to make to the lands in question, send a person
fully informed of the facts to our Comitatus, and there let the case
be fairly heard.
'A high-born man should ever act according to well-ordered
_civilitas_. Any neglect of this principle brings upon him odium,
proportioned to the oppression which the man of humbler rank conceives
himself to have suffered at his hands.'
40. KING THEODORIC TO THE REPRESENTATIVES (ACTORES) OF PROBINUS.
[Sidenote: The affair of Agapeta. Basilius, her husband, ordered to
plead.]
Recurs to the case of the Possessio Areciretina, which Agapeta, the
wife of Basilius, had given (or sold) to Probinus, and which Probinus
was commanded to restore. (See Letters ii. 10 and 11.)
The petition, now presented by the representatives of Probinus, puts a
somewhat different face upon the matter, and seems to show that the
sale by Agapeta (notwithstanding her melancholy condition of fatuity
and vice) was a _bonâ fide_ one, for sufficient consideration.
Her husband Basilius is now ordered to reply to the pleadings of the
opposite party, either at the King's Comitatus, or in some local court
of competent jurisdiction. The King's Comitatus is meant to be a
blessing to his subjects, and recourse to it is not made compulsory
where, on account of distance, the suitor would rather be excused from
resorting to it.
41. KING THEODORIC TO JOANNES, ARCH-PHYSICIAN.
[Sidenote: An unjust judgment against Joannes reversed.]
'A King should delight to succour the oppressed.
'You inform us that, by the devices of the Spectabilis Vivianus and
his superior knowledge of the laws, an unjust judgment was obtained
against you, in default, in the Court of the Vicarius of the City of
Rome: that Vivianus himself has now renounced the world, repents of
his injustice to you, and interposes no obstacle to the restitution of
your rights. We therefore (if your statements shall prove to be
correct) quash the sentence against you, restore you to your country
and your property, and that you may be preserved from future
molestation, founded on the old sentence against you, we assign you to
the guardianship (tuitio) of the Patrician Albinus, without prejudice
to the laws (salvis legibus).
'We wish that nothing contrary to _civilitas_ should be done, since
our daily labour is for the repose of all.' [I presume that this
letter is in fact an edict for 'Restitutio in integrum.']
42. KING THEODORIC TO ARGOLICUS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.
[Sidenote: The sons of Velusian to have their property restored to
them.]
'Under a good King the loss even of a father should be less felt than
with a different ruler, for the King is the father of his people.
'The petition of Marcian and Maximius, sons of Velusian (Patrician and
Magnificus), sets forth that they lost their father at Easter; that
thus the time of joy to all Christians became to them a season of
sorrow; that while they were immersed in their grief and incapable of
attending to their affairs, "the tower of the circus and the place of
the amphitheatre[354]," which had belonged to their illustrious
father, were by some heartless intriguer wrested from them, under the
authority of the Praefect.
[Footnote 354: Can this be the Amphitheatrum Castrense?]
'Be pleased to enquire into this matter, and if those places truly
belonged to Velusian, restore them to his sons. We wish to cherish
rather than oppress the sons of illustrious men, who are the germ of
our future Senate.'
43. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Punishment of incendiaries who have burned a Jewish
Synagogue.]
[On the burning of the Jewish synagogue. This synagogue of the Jews
was in the Trastevere. See Gregorovius i. 296-298 for a description of
it. I do not know on what authority he assigns 521 for the date of
the tumult in which it was burned.]
'The propriety of manners which is characteristic of the City of Rome
must be upheld. To fall into the follies of popular tumult, and to set
about burning their own City, is not like the Roman disposition[355].
[Footnote 355: 'Levitates quippe seditionum et ambire propriae
civitatis incendium, non est velle Romanum.']
'But we are informed by Count Arigern[356] that the populace of Rome,
enraged at the punishment inflicted on some Christian servants who had
murdered their Jewish masters, has risen in fury and burned their
synagogue to the ground[357], idly venting on innocent buildings their
anger against the men who used them.
[Footnote 356: It happens that one of the letters addressed to Count
Arigern also refers to a Jewish synagogue. See iii. 45.]
[Footnote 357: 'Quod in dominorum caede proruperit servilis audacia:
in quibus cum fuisset pro districtione publicâ resecatum, statim
plebis inflammata contentio synagogam temerario duxerunt incendio
concremandam.' The above is Gregorovius' explanation of the somewhat
enigmatical language of Cassiodorus.]
'Be pleased to enquire into this matter, and severely punish the
authors of the tumult, who are probably few in number.
'At the same time enquire into the complaints which are brought
against the Jews, and if you find that there is any foundation for
them, punish accordingly.'
44. KING THEODORIC TO THE VENERABLE ANTONIUS, BISHOP OF POLA.
[Sidenote: Bishop Antonius called upon to do justice to Stephanus.]
'It is an invidious task to have to listen to complaints against the
revered ministers of the Church.
'But the petition of Stephanus sets forth that a property, which
belonged to him before the time of your predecessor, has, within the
last nine months, wrongfully, and in defiance of _civilitas_, been
seized by the officers of your church. If this be so, we desire you,
as a matter of justice, to correct what your familiars have done
amiss, and restore it to him without delay. But if you dispute his
title, send a properly instructed person to plead the cause in our
Comitatus.
'You will be better off by having the matter enquired into and
settled, than if the complaints of Stephanus had never come to a
hearing[358].'
[Footnote 358: There are some technical terms in this letter the
meaning of which is not clear to me: 'Eam justitiae consideratione
_momenti_ jure restituite supplicanti.... Veruntamen si partibus
vestris in _causa_ possessionis _momentaria_ vel _principali_
justitiam adesse cognoscitis.']
45. KING THEODORIC TO THE COMITES, DEFENSORES, AND CURIALES OF TICINUM
(PAVIA).
[Sidenote: The Heruli to be forwarded on their way to Ravenna.]
[It is not easy to see why this order should be addressed to the
inhabitants of Ticinum. Had the Heruli crossed the Alps by some pass
near the modern Simplon?]
'We have ordered the Heruli, who are suppliants to us, to come to our
Comitatus at Ravenna.
'Provide them promptly with ships of provisions for five days, that
they may at once see the difference between Italy and their own hungry
country[359].'
[Footnote 359: It is probably to the same transaction that Marcellinus
Comes refers when he says, s.a. 512: 'Gens Erulorum in terras atque
civitates Romanorum jussu Anastasii Caesaris introducta.' The words
'jussu Anastasii Caesaris' represent this chronicler's tendency to
refer everything that is done in Italy to the initiation of
Byzantium.]
46. KING THEODORIC TO MARABAD, VIR ILLUSTRIS.
[Sidenote: The case of the wife of Liberius to be reheard.]
'The Spectabilis Liberius[360] complains that his wife has had an
unjust judgment given against her in your Court. Try the case over
again, associating with yourself arbitrators chosen by both parties.
If it cannot so be ended, let them appoint properly instructed
persons to represent them at our Comitatus, if they cannot come
themselves.'
[Footnote 360: Possibly a son of the Praefect Liberius.]
47. KING THEODORIC TO GUDISAL THE SAJO.
[Sidenote: Abuses of the Cursus Publicus.]
'If the public post-horses (veredi) are not allowed proper intervals
of rest they will soon be worn out.
'We are informed by our _legati_ that these horses are constantly
employed by persons who have no right to use them.
'You are therefore to reside in Rome, and to put yourself in constant
communication with the officers of the Praefectus Praetorio and the
Magister Officiorum, so as not to allow any to leave the City using
the horses of the _Cursus Publicus_ except the regularly commissioned
agents of those two functionaries. Anyone transgressing is to pay a
fine of 100 solidi (£60) per horse; not that the injury to the animal
is represented by so high a figure, but in order to punish his
impertinence. Our Sajones, when sent with a commission, are to go
straight to the mark and return, not to make pleasure-tours at the
public expense; and if they disobey this order, they are to pay the
same fine as that just mentioned.
'Moreover, the extra horses (parhippi) are not to be weighted with a
load of more than 100 lbs. For we wish our messengers[361] to travel
in light marching order, not to make of their journey a regular
domestic migration.
[Footnote 361: 'Mittendarii.' A 'Scrinium Mittendariorum' formed part
of the staff of the Count of Sacred Largesses. See Theodosian Code vi.
30. 7.]
'Cranes, when they are going to cross the sea, clasp little pebbles
with their claws, in order to steady without overweighting themselves.
Why cannot those who are sent on public errands follow so good an
example? Every transport master[362] who violates this rule by loading
a horse with more than 100 lbs. shall pay 50 solidi (£30).
[Footnote 362: 'Catabulensis.' See iii. 10.]
'All fines levied under this edict are to go to the benefit of the
postal-servants[363], and thus the evil will, as we so often see in
human affairs, furnish its own remedy.'
[Footnote 363: 'Mancipes mutationum.' The 'mutationes' were the places
for changing horses; there are generally two of them between each
'mansio' (hostelry). Probably the horses were found by the 'Mancipes
mutationum.' It was therefore a sort of _corvée_.]
48. KING THEODORIC TO EUSEBIUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS.
[Sidenote: Honourable retirement of Eusebius.]
'After the worries of the noisy City, and the heavy burden of your
official duties, your Greatness is longing to taste the sweetness of
country life. When therefore you have finished your present duties, we
grant you by our authority a holiday of eight months in the charming
recesses of Lucania [near Cassiodorus' own country], to be reckoned
from the time when by Divine [royal?] favour you depart from the City.
When those months are at an end, return with speed, much missed as you
will be, to your Roman habitation, to the assembly of the nobles, and
to social intercourse of a kind that is worthy of your character.'
49. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE PROVINCIALS AND THE LONG-HAIRED
MEN[364], THE DEFENSORES AND THE CURIALES RESIDING IN SUAVIA[365].
[Footnote 364: _Capillatis._ The only passage which throws a light on
this name--and that is a doubtful one--is Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis
xi. After describing the _pileati_, the tiara-wearing priests of the
Getae, he says: 'Reliquam vero gentem capillatos dicere jussit
[Diceneus] quod nomen Gothi pro magno suscipientes adhuc hodie suis
cantionibus reminiscuntur.']
[Footnote 365: _Suavia_ is nearly equivalent to the modern Sclavonia,
between the rivers Drave and Save.]
[Sidenote: Fridibad to be Governor of Suavia, and to punish
freebooters.]
'The King's orders must be vigorously executed, that terror may be
struck into the hearts of the lawless, and that those who have
suffered violence may begin to hope for better days. Often the threat
of punishment does more to quiet a country than punishment itself.
Therefore, under Divine guidance, we have appointed Fridibad to be
your Governor.
'He will punish cattle-lifters with due severity, will cut off
murderers, condemn thieves, and render you, who are now torn by
presumptuous iniquity, safe from the daring attempts of villains. Live
like a settled people; live like men who have learned the lessons of
morality; let neither nationality nor rank be alleged as an excuse
from these duties. If any man gives himself up to wicked courses, he
must needs undergo chastisement.'
50. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: Remission of taxes for Campanians who have suffered from an
eruption of Vesuvius.]
'The Campanians complain that their fields have been devastated by an
eruption of Vesuvius, and ask in consequence for a remission of
tribute. [This eruption is assigned--I do not know on what
authority--to the year 512[366].]
[Footnote 366: The passage in Marcellinus Comes, s.a. 512, which at
first sight seems to describe an eruption taking place in that year,
really describes the _commemoration_ of the eruption of 472. See
following note.]
'Let your Greatness send men of proved integrity to the territories of
Neapolis and Nola, who may examine the ravaged lands for themselves,
and proportion the relief granted, to the amount of damage done in
each case.
'That Province is visited at intervals by this terrible calamity, as
if to mar its otherwise perfect happiness. There is one favourable
feature in the visitation. It does not come wholly unawares. For some
time before, the mountain groans with the strife of Nature going on
inside it, and it seems as if an angry spirit within would terrify all
the neighbourhood by his mighty roar. Then the air is darkened by its
foul exhalations; hot ashes scudding along the sea, a shower of drops
of dust upon the land, tell to all Italy, to the transmarine
Provinces, to the world, from what calamity Campania is
suffering[367].
[Footnote 367: In the eruption of 472 (apparently the last great
eruption previous to 512), the ashes were carried as far as Byzantium,
the inhabitants of which city instituted a yearly religious service in
memory of the event: 'Vesuvius mons Campaniae torridus intestinis
ignibus aestuans exusta evomuit viscera, nocturnisque in die tenebris
incumbentibus, _omnem Europae faciem minuto contexit pulvere_. Hujus
metuendi memoriam cineris Byzantii annue celebrant VIII Idus
Novembris.' The eruption was accompanied by widespread earthquake: 'In
Asia aliquantae civitates vel oppida terrae motu collapsa sunt'
(Marcellinus Comes, sub anno).]
'Go nearer: you will see as it were rivers of dust flowing, and
glowing streams of barren sand moving over the country. You see and
wonder: the furrows of the fields are suddenly lifted to a level with
the tops of the trees; the country, which but now was dressed in a
robe of gladsome greenness, is laid waste by sudden and mournful heat.
And yet, even those sandy tracts of pumice-stone which the mountain
vomits forth, dry and burnt up as they appear, have their promise of
fertility. There are germs within them which will one day spring to
life, and re-clothe the mountain side which they have wasted.
'How strange that one mountain alone should thus terrify the whole
world! Other mountains may be seen with silently glowing summits; this
alone announces itself to distant lands by darkened skies and changed
air. So it still goes on, shedding its dusty dews over the land; ever
parting with its substance, yet a mountain still undiminished in
height and amplitude. Who that sees those mighty blocks in the plain
would believe that they had boiled over from the depths of that
distant hill, that they had been tossed like straws upon the wind by
the angry spirit of the mountain?
'Therefore let your Prudence so manage the enquiry that those who have
really suffered damage shall be relieved, while no room is left for
fraud.'
51. KING THEODORIC TO SYMMACHUS, PATRICIAN[368].
[Footnote 368: The father-in-law of Boethius.]
[Sidenote: Commends the public spirit of Symmachus, as shown in the
restoration of Pompey's theatre.]
Commends him for the diligence and skill with which he has decorated
Rome with new buildings--especially in the suburbs, which no one would
distinguish from the City except for the occasional glimpses of
pleasant fields; and still more for his restoration of the massive
ruins of past days[369], chiefly the theatre of Pompeius.
[Footnote 369: We have here a striking description of the massive
strength of the public buildings of Rome: '[Videmus] caveas illas
saxis pendentibus apsidatas ita juncturis absconditis in formas
pulcherrimas convenisse, ut cryptas magis excelsi montis crederes quam
aliquid fabricatum esse judicares.']
As the letter is addressed to a learned man, it seems a suitable
opportunity to explain why Antiquity reared this mighty pile.
Accordingly a very long digression follows on the origin, progress,
and decline of Tragedy, Comedy, and Pantomime.
It is remarked incidentally that Pompeius seems to have derived his
appellation _Magnus_ chiefly from the building of this wonderful
theatre.
The expense which Symmachus has been put to in these vast works is to
be refunded to him by the _Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi_, that he may
still have the glory of the work, but that the King may have done his
due part in preserving the memorials of Antiquity.
BOOK V.
CONTAINING FORTY-FOUR LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN THE NAME OF
THEODORIC.
1. KING THEODORIC TO THE KING OF THE VANDALS[370].
[Footnote 370: No doubt Thrasamund, who married Theodoric's sister. He
reigned from 496 to 523.]
[Sidenote: The King of the Vandals is thanked for his presents.]
'The swords which you have sent us are most beautiful: so sharp that
they will cut other weapons; so bright that they reflect with a sort
of iron light[371] the face of the beholder; with the two blades
descending to their edges with such absolute equality of slope, that
you would fancy them the result of the furnace rather than of the
whetstone[372]; in the middle, between the blades, channels carved
which are filled in with beautiful enamel of various colours[373].
[Footnote 371: 'Ut speculum quoddam virorum faciat ferream lucem.']
[Footnote 372: 'Quarum margines in acutum tali aequalitate descendunt,
ut non limis compositae, sed igneis fornacibus credantur effusae.']
[Footnote 373: 'Harum media pulchris alveis excavata, quibusdam
videntur crispari posse vermiculis, ubi tanta varietatis umbra
concludit, ut intextum magis credas variis coloribus lucidum
metallum.']
'Along with these arms you have also sent us musical instruments of
ebony, and slave boys of beautiful whiteness.
'We thank you heartily, send by A and B, our ambassadors, presents of
equal value; and hope that mutual concord will always unite our
States.'
2. KING THEODORIC TO THE HAESTI.
[Sidenote: The Haesti, dwellers by the Baltic. Their present of
amber.]
[These are the Aestii of Tacitus, dwelling in or on the south border
of the country which is still called Esthonia. Tacitus also mentions
their quest of amber[374].]
[Footnote 374: Germ. 45: 'Ergo jam dextro Suevici maris litore
Aestiorum gentes alluuntur, quibus ritus habitusque Suevorum, lingua
Britannicae propior.... Sed et mare scrutantur ac soli omnium sucinum
quod ipsi glesum vocant, inter vada atque in ipso littore legunt.'
Then follows an account of the nature of amber, and a history of its
supposed origin, from which Cassiodorus has borrowed in this letter.]
'It is gratifying to us to know that you have heard of our fame, and
have sent ambassadors who have pressed through so many strange nations
to seek our friendship.
'We have received the amber which you have sent us. You say that you
gather this lightest of all substances from the shores of the ocean,
but how it comes thither you know not. But, as an author named
Cornelius [Tacitus] informs us, it is gathered in the innermost
islands of the ocean, being formed originally of the juice of a tree
(whence its name _succinum_[375]), and gradually hardened by the heat
of the sun.
[Footnote 375: Cassiodorus apparently spells this word with two c's.
The more usual spelling is with one.]
'Thus it becomes an exuded metal, a transparent softness, sometimes
blushing with the colour of saffron, sometimes glowing with flame-like
clearness[376]. Then, gliding down to the margin of the sea, and
further purified by the rolling of the tides, it is at length
transported to your shores to be cast up upon them. We have thought it
better to point this out to you, lest you should imagine that your
supposed secrets have escaped our knowledge.
[Footnote 376: 'Modo croceo colore rubens, modo flammea claritate
pinguescens.']
'We send you some presents by our ambassadors, and shall be glad to
receive further visits from you by the road which you have thus opened
up, and to show you future favours.'
[The collection of amber is also noticed by Pliny ('Nat. Hist.' 37.
2). It is interesting to observe that he there, on the authority of
Pytheas, attributes to the Guttones dwelling on the Baltic shore the
collection of amber, and its sale to the Teutones. These Guttones
were, if we are right in accepting Jordanes' account of the Gothic
migrations, themselves ancestors of the Ostrogoths.]
3. KING THEODORIC TO HONORATUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, QUAESTOR.
4. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Honoratus, brother of Decoratus, is made Quaestor.]
The usual pair of letters on the promotion of Honoratus to the
Quaestorship. He succeeds his brother Decoratus, whose early death
Theodoric regrets. The date of the letters is the Third Indiction,
September 1, 509.
The writer remarks on the prophetic instinct[377] of the parents, who
named these two sons, destined to future eminence, Decoratus and
Honoratus. Decoratus was originally an advocate at Rome. His services
were often sought by men of Consular rank, and before his admission to
the Senate he had had a Patrician for his client in a very celebrated
case[378].
[Footnote 377: We have here a remark on unconscious prophecies: 'Loqui
datur quod nos sensisse nescimus: sed post casum reminiscimur, quod
ignorantes veraciter dixeramus.']
[Footnote 378: 'Inferior gradu praestabat viris consularibus se
patronum et cum honoribus vestris impar haberetur, Patricius ei dictus
est in celeberrima cognitione susceptus.' The last part of this
sentence is very obscure.]
When he became Quaestor he distinguished himself by his excellent
qualities. 'He stood beside us, under the light of our Genius, bold
but reverent; silent at the right time, fluent when there was need of
fluency. He kept our secrets as if he had forgotten them; he
remembered every detail of our orders as if he had written them down.
Thus was he ever an eminent lightener of our labours[379].'
[Footnote 379: Decoratus is called by Boethius, who was his colleague
in some office, 'a wretched buffoon and informer' (nequissimus scurra
et delator. Cons. Phil. iii. 4). But Ennodius addresses him in
friendly and cordial language (Epist. iv. 17). His epitaph, which
mentions his Spoletan origin, is of course laudatory:
'Nam fessis tribuit requiem, miseros que levavit,
Justitiae cultor, largus et hospes erat.'
(Quoted in the notes to Ennodius in Migne's Patrologia.)]
The past career of the younger brother, Honoratus, who has been
advocate at Spoleto, and has had to contend with the corrupt
tendencies of Provincial judges, full of their little importance, and
removed from the wholesome control which the opinion of the Senate
exercised upon them at Rome, is then sketched; and the hope is
expressed that, in the words of the Virgilian quotation[380], this
bough upon the family tree will be found as goodly as that which it
has untimely lost.
[Footnote 380: 'Primo avulso non deficit alter' (Aen. vi. 143).]
[Sidenote: Duties of the Quaestorship.]
The letter to the Senate has an interesting passage on the duties and
responsibilities of the Quaestor.
'It is only men whom we consider to be of the highest learning that we
raise to the dignity of the Quaestorship, such men as are fitted to be
interpreters of the laws and sharers of our counsels. This is an
honour which neither riches nor high birth by itself can procure, only
learning joined with prudence. In granting all other dignities we
confer favours, but from the holder of this we ever receive them. He
is favoured to have a share in our anxieties; he enters in by the
door of our thoughts; he is intimately acquainted with the breast in
which the cares of the whole State are weighed. Think what judgment
you ought to form of a man who is partaker of such a confidence. From
him we require skill in the laws; to him flow together all the prayers
of all suitors, and (a thing more precious than any treasure) to him
is committed our own reputation for _civilitas_. Under a just Quaestor
the mind of an innocent man is at rest: only the wicked become anxious
as to the success of their evil designs; and thus the bad lose their
hope of plunder, while more earnestness is shown in the practice of
virtue. It is his to safeguard the just rights of all men: temperate
in expenditure, lavish in his zeal for justice, incapable of
deception, prompt in succour. He serves that Sovereign mind before
which all bow: through his lips must he speak who has not an equal in
the land.'
5. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO MANNILA.
[Sidenote: Abuses of the Cursus Publicus.]
Repeats the injunctions given in Letter iv. 47 against improper use of
the public post-horses, and overloading of the extra horses. The fines
imposed are the same as in that letter [with the addition of a fine of
two ounces of gold (about £6 10s.) for overloading]; the examples from
Natural History are similar. 'The very bird when weighted with a load
flies slowly. Ships though they cannot feel their toils, yet move
tardily when they are filled with cargo. What can the poor quadruped
do when pressed by too great burden? It succumbs.'
But apparently this rule against overloading is not to apply to
Praepositi (Provincial Governors?), since 'reverenda antiquitas' has
given them special rights over the _Cursus Publicus_.
6. KING THEODORIC TO STABULARIUS, COMITIACUS[381].
[Footnote 381: Officer of the Court. See vi. 13.]
7. KING THEODORIC TO JOANNES, VIR CLARISSIMUS, ARCARIUS [TREASURER].
[Sidenote: Default in payments to Treasury made by Thomas. His
property assigned to his son-in-law Joannes.]
'The _Vir Honestus_, Thomas, has long been a defaulter (reliquator) in
respect of the Indictions payable for certain farms which he has held
under the King's house in Apulia[382], and this default has now
reached the sum of 10,000 solidi (£6,000). Repeatedly summoned to pay,
he always procrastinates, and we can get no satisfaction out of him.
The petition of Joannes, who is son-in-law to Thomas, informs us that
he is willing to pay the 10,000 solidi due, if we will make over to
him the said farms, and all the property of his father-in-law. This we
therefore now do, reserving to Thomas the right to pay the debt at any
time before the next Kalends of September, and thus to redeem his
property. Failing such payment, the property is to pass finally into
the hands of Joannes, on his paying the 10,000 solidi to the
Illustrious Count of the Patrimony [possibly Stabularius].
[Footnote 382: 'Thomatem domus nostrae certa praedia suscepisse sed
eum male administrando suscepta usque ad decem millia solidorum de
Indictionibus illa atque illa reliquatorem publicis rationibus
extitisse.' It is not quite clear whether the debt is due as what we
should call rent or as land-tax. Perhaps the debt had accumulated
under both heads.]
'It may be some little consolation to Thomas to reflect that after all
it is his son-in-law who enters into possession of his goods.'
[Dahn ('Könige der Germanen' iii. 277) remarks on this letter: 'But
even the well-meaning Theodoric takes steps in the interests of
substantial justice which from a juristic point of view it would be
hard to justify.... Evidently here the King, in his consideration of
what was practically just, has decided according to caprice, not
according to right; for the Fiscus could strictly only be repaid its
debt out of the property of the defaulter, and hold the Arcarius
(Joannes) responsible for the balance' (for which Dahn thinks he had
already made himself liable). I do not quite agree with this view. It
seems to me that Thomas was hopelessly bankrupt (the debt was 10,000
solidi, not 1,000, as stated by Dahn), and the Fiscus virtually sells
the bankrupt's estate to his son-in-law, for him to make of it what he
can.]
8. KING THEODORIC TO ANASTASIUS THE CONSULAR.
[Sidenote: Transport of marble from Faenza to Ravenna.]
'We rely upon your Sublimity's zeal and prudence to see that the
required blocks of marble are forwarded from Faventia (Faenza) to
Ravenna, without any extortion from private individuals; so that, on
the one hand, our desire for the adornment of that city may be
gratified, and on the other, there may be no cause for complaint on
the part of our subjects.'
9. KING THEODORIC TO THE POSSESSORES OF FELTRIA.
[Sidenote: New city to be built in district of Trient.]
'We have ordered the erection of a new city in the territory of
Tridentum (Trient). As the work is great and the inhabitants few, we
order you all to assist and build each your appointed length
(pedatura) of wall, for which you will receive suitable pay.'
[This use of the word _pedatura_ is found in Vegetius, 'Epitoma Rei
Militaris' iii. 8, and is illustrated by the centurial stones on the
two great Roman walls in Britain, recording the number of feet
accomplished by each century of soldiers (See 'Archaeologia Aeliana,'
vol. ix. p. 28; paper by Mr. Clayton).]
'None, not even the servants of the royal house (divina domus), are
excepted from this order.'
10. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO VERANUS.
11. KING THEODORIC TO THE GEPIDAE, ON THEIR MARCH TO GAUL.
[Sidenote: Payment to Gepidae on their march to Gaul.]
'We desire that our soldiers should always be well paid, and that they
should never become the terror of the country which they are ordered
to defend. Do you therefore, Sajo Veranus, cause the Gepid troops whom
we have ordered to come to the defence of Gaul, to march in all peace
and quietness through Venetia and Liguria.
'You Gepidae shall receive three solidi (£1 16s.) per week; and we
trust that thus supplied you will everywhere buy your provisions, and
not take them by force.
'We generally give the soldiers their pay in kind, but in this case,
for obvious reasons, we think it better to pay them in money, and let
them buy for themselves.
'If their waggons are becoming shaky with the long journey, or their
beasts of burden weary, let them exchange for sound waggons and fresh
beasts with the inhabitants of the country, but on such terms that the
latter shall not regret the transaction.'
[Does this payment of three solidi mean per head? That would be an
enormously high rate of pay. Sartorius (p. 289) feels the difficulty
so strongly that he suggests that this was the pay given to the whole
troop, whose number was not large; but 'multitudo' seems hostile to
this hypothesis[383]. Possibly the high cost of provisions in the
Alpine mountain-country may help to explain this unheard-of rate of
pay to common soldiers.]
[Footnote 383: 'Ut multitudinem Gepidarum quam fecimus ad Gallias
custodiae causâ properare, per Venetiam atque Liguriam sub omni facias
moderatione transire.']
12. KING THEODORIC TO THEODAHAD, VIR ILLUSTRIS [NEPHEW OF THE KING].
[Sidenote: Avarice and injustice of Theodahad.]
'If all are bound to seek justice and to avoid ignoble gains, most
especially are they thus bound who pride themselves on their close
relationship to us.
'The heirs of the Illustrious Argolicus [probably the Praefect of
Rome] and the Clarissimus Amandianus complain that the estate[384] of
Palentia, which we generously gave them to console them for the loss
of the Casa Arbitana, has been by your servants, for no cause,
unbecomingly invaded; and thus you, who should have shown an example
of glorious moderation, have caused the scandal of high-handed
spoliation. Wherefore, if this be true, let your Greatness at once
restore what has been taken away; and if you consider that you have
any claims on the land, come and assert them in our Comitatus. Even
success yonder is injurious to your fame; but here, after full trial
of the case and hearing of witnesses, no one will believe that any
injustice has been done if your cause should triumph.'
[Footnote 384: 'Massa;' cf. the American 'block.']
[The republication of this letter at the close of his official life
shows what was Cassiodorus' opinion of Theodahad, though he had served
under him.]
13. KING THEODORIC TO EUTROPIUS AND ACRETIUS.
[Sidenote: Commissariat.]
'We rely upon you to collect the prescribed rations and deliver them
to the soldiers. It is most important that they should be regularly
supplied, and that there should be no excuse for pillage, so hard to
check when once an army has begun to practise it.'
14. KING THEODORIC TO SEVERI(A)NUS[385], VIR ILLUSTRIS (514-515).
[Footnote 385: In the next letter the same official is called
Severinus.]
[Sidenote: Financial abuses in Suavia.]
'We send you to redress the long-standing grievances of the
Possessores of the Province of Suavia, to which we have not yet been
able to apply a remedy.
'(1) It appears that some of the chief Possessores are actually making
a profit out of the taxes, imposing heavy burdens on their poorer
neighbours and not honestly accounting for the receipts to us. See
that this is put right, that the land-tax (assis[386] publicus) is
fairly and equitably reimposed according to the ability of each
Possessor, and that those who have been oppressing their neighbours
heal the wounds which they have made.
[Footnote 386: Cassiodorus uses the rare nominative form 'assis.']
'(2) See also that a strict account is rendered by all Defensores,
Curiales, and Possessores of any receipts on behalf of the public
Treasury. If a Possessor can show that he paid his tax (tributarius
solidus) for the now expired eighth Indiction (A.D. 514-515), and the
money has not reached our Treasury, find out the defaulter and punish
his crime.
'(3) Similarly with sums disbursed by one of the clerks of our
Treasury[387], for the relief of the Province, which have not reached
their destination.
[Footnote 387: 'Tabularius a cubiculo nostro.']
'(4) Men who were formerly Barbarians[388], who have married Roman
wives and acquired property in land, are to be compelled to pay their
Indictions and other taxes to the public Treasury just like any other
Provincials.
[Footnote 388: 'Antiqui Barbari qui Romanis mulieribus elegerint
nuptiali foedere sociari, quolibet titulo praedia quaesiverint, fiscum
possessi cespitis persolvere, ac super indictitiis oneribus parere
cogantur.']
'(5) Judges are to visit each town (municipium) once in the year, and
are not entitled to claim from such towns more than three days'
maintenance. Our ancestors wished that the circuits of the Judges
should be a benefit, not a burden, to the Provincials.
'(6) It is alleged that some of the servants of the Count of the Goths
and of the Vice-dominus (?) have levied black-mail on some of the
Provincials. Property so taken must be at once restored and the
offenders punished.
'(7) Enter all your proceedings under this commission in official
registers (polyptycha), both for your own protection and for the sake
of future reference, to prevent the recurrence of similar abuses.'
[A long and interesting letter, but with some obscure passages.]
15. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE POSSESSORES IN SUAVIA.
[Sidenote: On the same subject.]
'Although our Comitatus is always ready to redress the grievances of
our subjects, yet, on account of the length of the journey from your
Province hither, we have thought good to send the Illustrious and
Magnificent Severinus to you to enquire into your complaints on the
spot. He is a man fully imbued with our own principles of government,
and he has seen how greatly we have at heart the administration of
justice. We therefore doubt not that he will soon put right whatever
has been done wrong in your Province; and we have published our
"oracles" [the previous letter, containing Severinus' patent of
appointment], that all may know upon what principles he is to act, and
that those who have grievances against the present functionaries may
learn their rights.'
16. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: Formation of a navy.]
'By Divine inspiration we have determined to raise a navy which may
both ensure the arrival of the cargoes of public corn and may, if
need be, combat the ships of an enemy. For, that Italy, a country
abounding in timber, should not have a navy of her own hath often
stricken us with regret.
'Let your Greatness therefore give directions for the construction of
1,000 _dromones_ (swift cutters). Wherever cypresses and pines are
found near to the sea-shore, let them be bought at a suitable price.
'Then as to the levy of sailors: any fitting man, if a slave, must be
hired of his master, or bought at a reasonable price. If free, he is
to receive 5 solidi (£3) as donative, and will have his rations during
the term of service.
'Even those who were slaves are to be treated in the same way, "since
it is a kind of freedom to serve the Ruler of the State[389];" and are
to receive, according to their condition, two or three solidi (£1 4s.
or £1 16s.) of bounty money[390].
[Footnote 389: 'Quando libertatis genus est servire Rectori.']
[Footnote 390: 'Arrharum nomine.']
'Fishermen, however, are not to be enlisted in this force, since we
lose with regret one whose vocation it is to provide us with luxuries;
and moreover one kind of training is required for him who has to face
the stormy wind, and another for him who need only fish close to
shore.'
17. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: On the same subject.]
'We praise you for your prompt fulfilment of the orders contained in
the previous letter. You have built a fleet almost as quickly as
ordinary men would sail one. The model of the triremes, revealing the
number of the rowers but concealing their faces, was first furnished
by the Argonauts. So too the sail, that flying sheet[391] which wafts
idle men to their destination quicker than swiftest birds can fly,
was first invented by the lorn Isis, when she set off on her
wanderings through the world to find her lost son Apochran.
[Footnote 391: 'Linum volatile.']
'Now that we have our fleet, there is no need for the Greek to fasten
a quarrel upon us, or for the African [the Vandal] to insult us[392].
With envy they see that we have now stolen from them the secret of
their strength.
[Footnote 392: 'Non habet quod nobis Graecus imputet aut Afer
insultet.']
'Let all the fleet be assembled at Ravenna on the next Ides of June.
Let our own Padus send his home-born navy to the sea, his
river-nurtured firs to battle with the winds of Ocean.
'But there is one suggestion of yours of great importance, and which
must be diligently acted upon, namely the removal of the nets whereby
the fishermen at present impede the channels of the following rivers:
Mincius, Ollius (Oglio), Anser (Serchio), Arno, Tiber. Let the river
lie open for the transit of ships; let it suffice for the appetite of
man to seek for delicacies in the ordinary way, not by rustic artifice
to hinder the freedom of the stream.'
18. KING THEODORIC TO UVILIAS [WILLIAS?], VIR ILLUSTRIS AND COUNT OF
THE PATRIMONY.
19. KING THEODORIC TO GUDINAND, A SAJO.
20. KING THEODORIC TO AVILF, A SAJO.
[Sidenote: On the same subject.]
These three letters all relate to the same subject as the two
preceding ones--the formation of a navy, and the _rendezvous_ of ships
and sailors at Ravenna on the Ides of June.
The Count of the Patrimony is courteously requested to see if there is
any timber suitable for the purposes of the navy, growing in the royal
estates along the banks of the Po.
The Sajones are ordered in more brusque and peremptory fashion:
Gudinand to collect the sailors at Ravenna on the appointed day; and
Avilf to collect timber along the banks of the Po, with as little
injury to the Possessors as possible (not, however, apparently paying
them anything for it), to keep his hands clean from extortion and
fraud, and to pull up the stake-nets in the channels of the five
rivers mentioned in Letter 17; 'for we all know that men ought to fish
with nets, not with hedges, and the opposite practice shows detestable
greediness.'
21. KING THEODORIC TO CAPUANUS, SENATOR.
22. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Capuanus appointed Rector Decuriarum.]
[On the appointment of Capuanus to the office of Rector of the Guilds
(Rector Decuriarum). The Guilds (Decuriae) of the City of Rome--not to
be confounded with the Provincial _Curiae_, membership in which was at
this time a burden rather than an advantage--enjoyed several special
privileges. We find from the Theodosian Code, Lib. xiv. Tit. 1, that
there were Decuriae of the _Librarii_, _Fiscales_, _Censuales_. The
_Decuria Scribarum_ is perhaps the same as the _Decuria Librariorum_.
I use the word Guilds, which seems best to describe a body of this
kind; but it will be seen from their names that these Guilds are not
of a commercial character, but are rather concerned with the
administration of justice. Some of them must have discharged the
duties of attorneys, others of Inland Revenue officers, others acted
as clerks to register the proceedings of the Senate, others performed
the mere mechanical work of copying, which is now undertaken by a law
stationer.
It was ordained by a law of Constantius and Julian (357) that no one
should enter the first class in these Decuriae[393] unless he were a
trained and practised literary man.
[Footnote 393: 'Locum primi ordinis.']
The office which in the Theodosian Code is called _Judex Decuriarum_
seems here to be called _Rector_.]
The young Capuanus has distinguished himself as a advocate both before
the Senate and other tribunals. There has been a certain diffidence
and hesitation in his manner, especially when he was dealing with
common subjects; but he always warmed with his peroration, and the
same man who even stammered in discussing some trifling detail became
fluent, nay eloquent, when the graver interests of his client were at
stake. When he saw that the Judge was against him he did not lose
heart, but, by praising his justice and impartiality, gradually coaxed
him into a more favourable mood. On one memorable occasion, when a
certain document was produced which appeared hostile, he boldly
challenged the accuracy of the copy [made probably by one of the
_Decuria Librariorum_] and insisted on seeing the original. This young
advocate is now appointed _Rector Decuriarum_, and thus accorded the
privilege of seniority over many men who are much older than himself.
He is exhorted to treat them with all courtesy, to remember the
importance of accuracy and fidelity in the execution of his duties and
those of the _Decuriales_ under him, on whose correct transcription of
documents the property, the liberty, nay even the life of their
fellow-subjects may depend. Especially he is exhorted to remember his
own challenge of the accuracy of a copied document, that he may not
ever find that memorable oration of his brought up against himself.
The Senate is exhorted to give the young official a kindly welcome. It
will now devolve upon him to report with praiseworthy accuracy the
proceedings of that body, the most celebrated in the whole world. He
who has often pleaded before them the cause of the humble and weak,
will now have to introduce Consulars to their assembly. It is expected
that his eloquence will grow and his stammer will disappear, now that
he is clothed with a more dignified office. 'Freedom nourishes words,
but fear frequently interrupts their plenteous flow.'
23. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: Archery drill.]
'Tata the Sajo is ordered to proceed to the Illustrious Count Julian,
with the young archers whom he has drilled, that they may practise on
the field the lessons which they have learned in the gymnasium. Let
your Greatness provide them with rations and ships according to
custom.' [The place to which this expedition was directed does not
seem to be stated.]
24. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATOR EPIPHANIUS, CONSULARIS OF DALMATIA.
[Sidenote: Property of a widow dying intestate and without heirs to be
claimed for the State.]
'We are informed that Joanna, the wife of Andreas, having succeeded to
her husband's estate, has died intestate without heirs. Her property
ought therefore to lapse to our Treasury[394], but it is being
appropriated, so we are informed, by divers persons who have no claim
to it.
[Footnote 394: 'Quia caduca bona fisco nostro competere legum cauta
decreverunt.']
'Enquire into this matter; and if it be as we are informed, reclaim
for our Treasury so legitimate a possession. We should consider
ourselves guilty of negligence if we omitted to take possession of
that which, without harming anyone, so obviously comes in to lighten
the public burdens.
'But if you find the facts different to these, by all means leave the
present owners in quiet possession. The secure enjoyment by our
subjects of that which is lawfully theirs we hold to be our truest
patrimony.'
25. KING THEODORIC TO BACAUDA[395], VIR SUBLIMIS.
[Footnote 395: The name is a peculiar one, reminding us of the
Bacaudae, who for more than a century waged a sort of servile war in
Gaul against the officers of the Empire. It is not probable, however,
that there is any real connection between them and the receiver of
this letter.]
[Sidenote: Bacauda receives the office of Tribunus Voluptatum for
life.]
'By way of support for your declining years we appoint you, for life,
_Tribunus Voluptatum_ [Minister of Public Amusement] at Milan.
'It is a new principle in the public service[396] to give any man a
life-tenure of his office; but you will now not have to fear the
interference of any successor, and your mind being at ease about your
own future, you will be able to minister to the pleasures of the
people with a smiling face.'
[Footnote 396: 'Quod est in Reipublicae _militiâ_ novum.' Observe the
use of militia for civil service.]
26. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE GOTHS SETTLED IN PICENUM AND SAMNIUM.
[Sidenote: The Goths summoned to the royal presence.]
'The presence of the Sovereign doubles the sweetness of his gifts, and
that man is like one dead whose face is not known to his lord[397].
Come therefore by God's assistance, come all into our presence on the
eighth day before the Ides of June (June 6th), there solemnly to
receive our royal largesse. But let there be no excesses by the way,
no plundering the harvest of the cultivators nor trampling down their
meadows, since for this cause do we gladly defray the expense of our
armies that _civilitas_ may be kept intact by armed men.'
[Footnote 397: 'Nam pene similis est mortuo qui a suo Dominante
nescitur.' A motto more suited to the presence-chamber of Byzantium
than the camp-fires of a Gothic King.]
27. KING THEODORIC TO GUDUIM, SAJO.
[Sidenote: The same.]
'Order all the captains of thousands[398] of Picenum and Samnium to
come to our Court, that we may bestow the wonted largesse on our
Goths. We enquire diligently into the deeds of each of our soldiers,
that none may lose the credit of any exploit which he has performed in
the field. On the other hand, let the coward tremble at the thought of
coming into our presence. Even this fear may hereafter make him brave
against the enemy.'
[Footnote 398: 'Millenarii.' Cf. the [Greek: chiliarchoi], who, as
Procopius tells us, were appointed by Gaiseric over the Vandals; also
the _thusundifaths_ of Ulfilas.]
28. KING THEODORIC TO CARINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS.
[Sidenote: Invitation to Court.]
'Granting your request, and also satisfying our own desire for your
companionship, we invite you to our Court.'
29. KING THEODORIC TO NEUDES, VIR ILLUSTRIS.
[Sidenote: A blind Gothic warrior enslaved.]
'Our pity is greatly moved by the petition of Ocer, a blind Goth, who
has come by the help of borrowed sight to _feel_ the sweetness of our
clemency, though he cannot see our presence.
'He asserts that he, a free Goth, who once followed our armies, has,
owing to his misfortune, been reduced to slavery by Gudila and Oppas.
Strange excess of impudence to make that man their servant, before
whose sword they had assuredly trembled had he possessed his eyesight!
He pleads that Count Pythias has already pronounced against the claims
of his pretended masters. If you find that this is so, restore him at
once to freedom, and warn those men not to dare to repeat their
oppression of the unfortunate.'
30. KING THEODORIC TO GUDUI[M], VIR SUBLIMIS [AND DUX].
[Sidenote: Servile tasks imposed on free Goths by a Duke.]
'We expect those whom we choose as Dukes to work righteousness.
Costula and Daila, men who by the blessing of God rejoice in the
freedom of our Goths, complain that servile tasks are imposed upon
them by you. We do not do this ourselves, nor will we allow anyone
else to do it. If you find that the grievance is correctly stated
rectify it at once, or our anger will turn against the Duke who thus
abuses his power.'
31. KING THEODORIC TO DECORATUS, VIR DEVOTUS (?).
[For the career of Decoratus see v. 3 and 4.]
[Sidenote: Arrears of Siliquaticum to be enforced.]
'Thomas, Vir Clarissimus, complains that he cannot collect the arrears
of Siliquaticum from certain persons in Apulia and Calabria.
'Do you therefore summon Mark the Presbyter, Andreas, Simeonius, and
the others whose names are set forth in the accompanying schedule, to
come into your presence, using no unnecessary force[399] in your
summons. If they cannot clear themselves of this debt to the public
Treasury, they must be forced to pay.'
[Footnote 399: 'Servata in omnibus civilitate.']
[The arrears are said to be for the 8th, 9th, 11th, 1st, 2nd, and 15th
Indictiones; i.e. probably for the years 500, 501, 503, 508, 509, 507.
I cannot account for this curious order in which the years are
arranged, which seems to suggest some corruption of the text. Probably
this letter was written about 509.]
32. KING THEODORIC TO BRANDILA (CIR. 508-9).
[See remarks on this letter in Dahn ('Könige der Germanen' iv.
149-152); he claims it as a proof that Gothic law still existed for
the Goths in Italy.]
[Sidenote: Assault of the wife of Brandila on the wife of Patzenes.]
'Times without number has Patzenes laid his complaint upon us, to wit
that while he was absent on the recent successful expedition[400] your
wife Procula fell upon his wife [Regina], inflicted upon her three
murderous blows, and finally left her for dead, the victim having only
escaped by the supposed impossibility of her living. Now therefore, if
you acknowledge the fact to be so, you are to consult your own honour
by inflicting summary punishment as a husband on your wife, that we
may not hear of this complaint again[401]. But if you deny the fact,
you are to bring your said wife to our Comitatus and there prove her
innocence.'
[Footnote 400: Into Gaul; see next letter.]
[Footnote 401: 'Atque ideo decretis te praesentibus admonemus, ut si
factum evidenter agnoscis, delatam querimoniam, pudori tuo consulens,
_maritali districtione redarguas_; quatenus ex eâdem causâ ad nos
querela justa non redeat.']
33. KING THEODORIC TO DUKE WILITANCH.
[Containing the explanation of Procula's violence to Regina].
[Sidenote: Adulterous connection between Brandila and the wife of
Patzenes.]
'Patzenes brings before us a most serious complaint: that during his
absence in the Gaulish campaign, Brandila dared to form an adulterous
connection with his wife Regina, and to go through the form of
marriage with her.
'Whose honour will be safe if advantage is thus to be taken with
impunity of the absense of a brave defender of his country? Alas for
the immodesty of women! They might learn virtue even from the chaste
example of the cooing turtle-dove, who when once deprived by
misfortune of her mate, never pairs again with another.
'Let your Sublimity compel the parties accused to come before you for
examination, and if the charge be true, if these shameless ones were
speculating on the soldier of the Republic not returning from the
wars, if they were hoping, as they must have hoped, for general
collapse and ruin in order to hide their shame, then proceed against
them as our laws against adulterers dictate[402], and thus vindicate
the rights of all husbands.'
[Footnote 402: 'Et rerum veritate discussâ _sicut jura nostra
praecipiunt_, in adulteros maritorum favore resecetur.']
[If these laws were, as is probable, those contained in the _Edictum
Theodorici_, the punishment for both the guilty parties was death, §
38, 39.]
34. KING THEODORIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: Endless evasions of Frontosus. The nature of the
chameleon.]
'Frontosus, acting worthily of his name [the shameless-browed one],
confessed to having embezzled a large sum of public money, but
promised that, if a sufficient interval were allowed him, he would
repay it. Times without number has this interval expired and been
renewed, and still he does not pay. When he is arrested he trembles
with fear, and will promise anything; as soon as he is liberated he
seems to forget every promise that he has made. He changes his words,
like the chameleon, that little creature which in the shape of a
serpent is distinguished by a gold-coloured head, and has all the rest
of its body of a pale green. This little beast when it meets the gaze
of men, not being gifted with speed of flight, confused with its
excess of timidity, changes its colours in marvellous variety, now
azure, now purple, now green, now dark blue. The chameleon, again, may
be compared to the Pandian gem [sapphire?], which flashes with all
sorts of lights and colours while you hold it still in your hand.
'Such then is the mind of Frontosus. He may be rightly compared to
Proteus, who when he was laid hold of, appeared in every shape but his
own, roared as a lion, hissed as a serpent, or foamed away in watery
waves, all in order to conceal his true shape of man.
'Since this is his character, when you arrest him, first stop his
mouth from promising, for his facile nature is ready with all sorts of
promises which he has no chance of performing. Then ascertain what he
can really pay at once, and keep him bound till he does it. He must
not be allowed to think that he can get the better of us with his
tricks.'
35. KING THEODORIC TO COUNT LUVIRIT, AND AMPELIUS.
[Sidenote: Fraudulent ship-owners to be punished.]
'When we were in doubt about the food supply of Rome, we judged it
proper that Spain should send her cargoes of wheat hither, and the Vir
Spectabilis Marcian collected supplies there for this purpose. His
industry, however, was frustrated by the greed of the shipowners, who,
disliking the necessary delay, slipped off and disposed of the grain
for their own profit. Little as we like harshness, this offence must
be punished. We have therefore directed Catellus and Servandus (Viri
Strenui) to collect from these shipmasters the sum of 1,038 solidi
(£622 16s.), inasmuch as they appear to have received:
'From the sale of the corn 280 solidi.
'And from the fares of passengers 758 "
------
'1,038 "
'Let your Sublimity assist in the execution of this order.'
36. KING THEODORIC TO STARCEDIUS, VIR SUBLIMIS.
[Sidenote: Honourable discharge.]
'You tell us that your body, wearied out with continual labour, is no
longer equal to the fatigues of our glorious campaigns, and you
therefore ask to be released from the necessity of further military
service. We grant your request, but stop your donative; because it is
not right that you should consume the labourer's bread in idleness. We
shall extend to you our protection from the snares of your
adversaries, and allow no one to call you a deserter, since you are
not one[403].'
[Footnote 403: This is perhaps a specimen of the 'honesta missio' of
which we read in the Theodosian Code xii. 1. 43, 45.]
37. KING THEODORIC TO THE JEWS OF MILAN.
[Sidenote: Rights of the Jewish Synagogue not to be invaded by
Christians.]
'For the preservation of _civilitas_ the benefits of justice are not
to be denied even to those who are recognised as wandering from the
right way in matters of faith.
'You complain that you are often wantonly attacked, and that the
rights pertaining to your synagogue are disregarded[404]. We therefore
give you the needed protection of our Mildness, and ordain that no
ecclesiastic shall trench on the privileges of your synagogue, nor mix
himself up in your affairs. But let the two communities keep apart, as
their faiths are different: you on your part not attempting to do
anything _incivile_ against the rights of the said Church.
[Footnote 404: 'Nonnullorum vos frequenter causamini praesumptione
laceratos et quae ad synagogam vestram pertinent perhibetis jura
rescindi.']
'The law of thirty years' prescription, which is a world-wide
custom[405], shall enure for your benefit also.
[Footnote 405: 'Tricennalis humano generi patrona praescriptio vobis
jure servabitur; nec conventionalia vos irrationabiliter praecipimus
sustinere dispendia.' I do not know what is meant by 'conventionalia
dispendia.']
'But why, oh Jew, dost thou petition for peace and quietness on earth
when thou canst not find that rest which is eternal[406]?'
[Footnote 406: 'Sed quid, Judaeo, supplicans temporalem quietem
quaeris si aeternam requiem invenire non possis.']
38. KING THEODORIC TO ALL CULTIVATORS[407].
[Footnote 407: 'Universis Possessoribus.']
[Sidenote: Shrubs obstructing the aqueduct of Ravenna to be rooted
up.]
'The aqueducts are an object of our special care. We desire you at
once to root up the shrubs growing in the Signine Channel[408], which
will before long become big trees scarcely to be hewn down with the
axe, and which interfere with the purity of the water in the aqueduct
of Ravenna. Vegetation is the peaceable overturner of buildings, the
battering-ram which brings them to the ground, though the trumpets
never sound for siege.
[Footnote 408: Where was this? Signia in Latium is, of course, not to
be thought of.]
'We shall now again have baths that we may look upon with pleasure;
water which will cleanse, not stain; water after using which we shall
not require to wash ourselves again; drinking-water such that the mere
sight of it will not take away all our appetite for food[409].'
[Footnote 409: The scarcity of water at Ravenna was proverbial.]
39. KING THEODORIC TO AMPELIUS AND LIVERIA[410].
[Footnote 410: Cf. the somewhat similar letter to Severinus, Special
Commissioner for Suavia (v. 14).]
[Sidenote: Sundry abuses in the administration of the Spanish
government to be rectified.]
'That alone is the true life of men which is controlled by the reign
of law.
'We regret to hear that through the capricious extortions of our
revenue-officers anarchy is practically prevailing in Spain. The
public registers (polyptycha), not the whim of the collector, ought to
measure the liability of the Provincial.
'We therefore send your Sublimity to Spain in order to remedy these
disorders.
'(1) Murder must be put down with a strong hand; but the sharper the
punishment is made the more rigid we ought to be in requiring proof of
the crime[411].
[Footnote 411: 'Homicidii scelus legum jubemus auctoritate resecari:
sed quantum vehementior poena est tanto ejus rei debet inquisitio plus
haberi: ne amore vindictae innocentes videantur vitae pericula
sustinere.']
'(2) The collectors of the land-tax (assis publicus) are accused of
using false weights [in collecting the quotas of produce from the
Provincials]. This must cease, and they must use none but the standard
weights kept by our Chamberlain[412].
[Footnote 412: 'Libra cubiculi nostri.']
'(3) The farmers[413] of our Royal domain must pay the rent imposed on
them, otherwise they will get to look on the farms as their own
property; but certain salaries may be paid them for their trouble, as
you shall think fit[414]. [Dahn suggests that the salary was to
reimburse them for their labours as a kind of local police, but is
not himself satisfied with this explanation.]
[Footnote 413: 'Conductores domus Regiae.']
[Footnote 414: 'Et ne cuiquam labor suus videatur ingratus, salaria
eis pro qualitate locatae rei, vestrâ volumus aequitate constitui.']
'(4) Import duties[415] are to be regularly collected and honestly
paid over.
[Footnote 415: 'Transmarinorum canon.']
'(5) The officers of the mint are not to make their private gains out
of the coinage.'
(6) An obscure sentence as to the 'Canon telonei' [from the Greek
[Greek: telônês], a tax-gatherer. Garet reads 'Tolonei,' which is
probably an error].
(7) The same as to the _Actus Laeti_, whose conscience is assailed by
the grossest imputations. [Laetus is perhaps the name of an official.]
'(8) Those concerned in _furtivae actiones_, and their accomplices,
are to disgorge the property thus acquired.
'(9) Those who have received _praebendae_ [apparently official
allowances charged on the Province] are, with detestable injustice,
claiming them _both_ in money and in kind. This must be put a stop to:
of course the one mode of payment is meant to be alternative to the
other.
'(10) The Exactores (Collectors) are said to be extorting from the
Provincials more than they pay into our chamber (_cubiculum_). Let
this be carefully examined into, and let the payment exacted be the
same that was fixed in the times of Alaric and Euric.
'(11) The abuse of claiming extortions (_paraveredi_) by those who
have a right to use the public posts must be repressed.
'(12) The defence of the Provincials by the _Villici_ is so costly,
and seems to be so unpopular, that we remove it altogether.' [For this
_tuitio villici_, see Dahn iii. 131; but he is not able to throw much
light on the nature of the office of the _Villicus_.]
'(13) Degrading services (servitia famulatus) are not to be claimed of
our free-born Goths, although they may be residents in cities[416].'
[Footnote 416: Cf. the 30th letter of this book.]
[This very long letter is one of great importance, but also of great
difficulty.]
40. KING THEODORIC TO CYPRIAN, COUNT OF THE SACRED LARGESSES.
[This Cyprian is the accuser of Albinus and Boethius.]
41. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[On Cyprian's appointment to the above office, 524.]
[Sidenote: Promotion of Cyprian to the Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum.]
The usual pair of letters setting forth the merits of the new
official. The Senate is congratulated on the fact that the King never
presents to a place in that body a mere tyro in official life, but
always himself first tests the servants of the State, and rewards with
a place in the Senate only those who have shown themselves worthy of
it.
Cyprian is the son of a man of merit, Opilio, who in the times of the
State's ill-fortune was chosen to a place in the royal household[417].
He was not able, owing to the wretchedness of the times, to do much
for his son. The difference between the fortunes of father and son is
the measure of the happy change introduced by the rule of Theodoric.
[Footnote 417: 'Vir quidem abjectis temporibus ad excubias tamen
Palatinas electus.' The time of Odovacar's government is here alluded
to (see viii. 17). An Opilio, probably father of the one here
mentioned, was Consul under Valentinian III in 453.]
In some subordinate capacity in the King's final Court of Appeal
(probably as _Referendarius_[418]) Cyprian has hitherto had the duty
of stating the cases of the hostile litigants. He has shown wonderful
dexterity in suddenly stating the same case from the two opposite
points of view[419], and this so as to satisfy even the requirements
of the litigants themselves.
[Footnote 418: Anonymus Valesii says: 'Cyprianus, qui tunc
Referendarius erat postea Comes Sacrarum et Magister,' § 85.]
[Footnote 419: 'Nam cum oratoribus sit propositum diu tractata unius
partis vota dicere, tibi semper necesse fuit repentinum negotium
utroque latere declarare.']
Often the King has transacted business in his rides which used of old
to be brought before a formal Consistory. He has mounted his horse,
when weary with the cares of the Republic, to renew his vigour by
exercise and change of scene. In these rides he has been accompanied
by Cyprian, who has in such a lively manner stated the cases which had
come up on appeal, that an otherwise tedious business was turned into
a pleasure. Even when the King was most moved to wrath by what seemed
to him a thoroughly bad cause, he still appreciated the charm of the
Advocate's style in setting it before him. Thus has Cyprian had that
most useful of all trainings, action, not books.
Thus prepared he was sent on an embassy to the East, a commission
which he discharged with conspicuous ability. Versed in three
languages (Greek, Roman, Gothic?), he found that Greece had nothing to
show him that was new; and as for subtlety, he was a match for the
keenest of the Greeks. The Emperor's presence had nothing in it to
make him hesitating or confused. Why should it, since he had seen and
pleaded before Theodoric[420]?
[Footnote 420: 'Talibus igitur institutis edoctus, Eoae sumpsisti
legationis officium, missus ad summae quidem peritiae viros: sed nulla
inter eos confusus es trepidatione _quia nihil tibi post nos potuit
esse mirabile_. Instructus enim trifariis linguis, non tibi Graecia
quod novum ostentaret invenit; nec ipsâ quâ nimium praevalet, te
transcendit argutiâ.']
In addition to all these other gifts he possesses _faith_, that anchor
of the soul amidst the waves of a stormy world.
He is therefore called upon to assume at the third Indiction [524-525]
the office of Count of the Sacred Largesses, and exhorted to bear
himself therein worthily of his parentage and his past career, that
the King may afterwards promote him to yet higher honour.
[For further remarks on this letter--a very important one, as bearing
on the trial of Boethius--see viii. 16. The third Indiction might mean
either 509-510 or 524-525; but the statement of 'Anomymus Valesii,'
that Cyprian was still only Referendarius at the time of his
accusation of Albinus, warrants us in fixing on the later date. This
makes the encomiums conferred in this letter more significant, since
they must have been bestowed _after_ the delation against Albinus and
Boethius. Probably it was during Cyprian's embassy to Constantinople
(described in this letter) that he discovered these intrigues of the
Senators with the Byzantine Court, which he denounced on his return.]
42. KING THEODORIC TO MAXIMUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, CONSUL.
[Flavius Anicius Maximus was Consul A.D. 523.]
[Sidenote: Rewards to performers in the Amphitheatre.]
'If singers and dancers are to be rewarded by the generosity of the
Consul, _à fortiori_ should the _Venator_, the fighter with wild
beasts in the amphitheatre, be rewarded for _his_ endeavours to please
the people, who after all are secretly hoping to see him killed. And
what a horrible death he dies--denied even the rites of burial,
disappearing before he has yet become a corpse into the maw of the
hungry animal which he has failed to kill. These spectacles were first
introduced as part of the worship of the Scythian Diana, who was
feigned to gloat on human gore. The ancients called her the triple
deity, Proserpina-Luna-Diana. They were right in one point; the
goddess who invented these games certainly reigned _in hell_.'
The Colosseum (the Amphitheatre of Titus) is described.
The combats with wild beasts are pourtrayed in a style of pompous
obscurity. We may dimly discern the form of the _bestiarius_, who is
armed with a wooden spear; of another who leaps into the air to escape
the beast's onset; of one who protects himself with a portable wall of
reeds, 'like a sea-urchin;' of others who are fastened to a revolving
wheel, and alternately brought within the range of the animal's claws
and borne aloft beyond his grasp. 'There are as many perilous forms of
encounter as Virgil described varieties of crime and punishment in
Tartarus. Alas for the pitiable error of mankind! If they had any true
intuition of Justice, they would sacrifice as much wealth for the
preservation of human life as they now lavish on its destruction.' ['A
noble regret,' says Gregorovius ('Geschichte der Stadt Rom.' i. 286),
'in which in our own day every well-disposed Minister of a military
state will feel bound to concur with Cassiodorus.']
43. KING THEODORIC TO TRANSMUND [THRASAMUND], KING OF THE VANDALS
(CIR. 511).
[Sidenote: Complains of the protection given by Thrasamund to
Gesalic.]
'Having given you our sister, that singular ornament of the Amal race,
in marriage, in order to knit the bonds of friendship between us, we
are amazed that you should have given protection and support to our
enemy Gesalic [natural son of Alaric II]. If it was out of mere pity
and as an outcast that you received him into your realm, you ought to
have kept him there; whereas you have sent him forth furnished with
large supplies of money to disturb the peace of our Gaulish Provinces.
This is not the conduct of a friend, much less of a relative. We are
sure that you cannot have taken counsel in this matter with your wife,
who would neither have liked to see her brother injured, nor the fair
fame of her husband tarnished by such doubtful intrigues. We send you
A and B as our ambassadors, who will speak to you further on this
matter.'
44. KING THEODORIC TO TRANSMUND [THRASAMUND], KING OF THE VANDALS.
[Sidenote: Reconciliation between Theodoric and Thrasamund.]
'You have shown, most prudent of Kings, that wise men know how to
amend their faults, instead of persisting in them with that obstinacy
which is the characteristic of brutes. In the noblest and most truly
kinglike manner you have humbled yourself to confess your fault in
reference to the reception of Gesalic, and to lay bare to us the very
secrets of your heart in this matter. We thank you and praise you, and
accept your purgation of yourself from this offence with all our
heart. As for the presents sent us by your ambassadors, we accept them
with our minds, but not with our hands. Let them return to your
Treasury (cubiculum), that it may be seen that it was simply love of
justice, not desire of gain, which prompted our complaints. We have
both acted in a truly royal manner[421]. Let your frankness and our
contempt of gold be celebrated through the nations. It is sweeter to
us to return these presents to you, than to receive much larger ones
from anyone else. Your ambassadors carry back with them the fullest
salutation of love from your friend and ally.'
[Footnote 421: 'Fecimus utrique regalia.']
BOOK VI.
CONTAINING TWENTY-FIVE FORMULAE[422].
[Footnote 422: For the reasons which induced Cassiodorus to compile
the two books of Formulae, see his Preface (translated, p. 133).]
1. FORMULA OF THE CONSULSHIP.
[Sidenote: Consulship.]
'In old days the supreme reward of the Consulship was given to him
who, by his strong right hand, had delivered the Republic. The mantle
embroidered with palms of victory[423], the privilege of giving his
name to the year and of enfranchising the slave, even power over the
lives of his fellow-citizens, were rightly given to a man to whom the
Republic owed so much. He received the axe--the power of life and
death--but bound up in the bundle of rods, in order that the necessary
delay in undoing these might prevent him from striking the irrevocable
stroke without due consideration. Whence also he received the name of
Consul, because it was his duty to _consult_ for the good of his
country. He was bound to spend money freely; and thus he who had shed
the blood of the enemies of Rome made the lives of her children happy
by his generosity.
[Footnote 423: 'Palmata vestis.']
'But now take this office under happier circumstances, since we have
the labours of the Consul, you the joys of his dignity. Your
palm-embroidered robes therefore are justified by our victories, and
you, in the prosperous hour of peace, confer freedom on the slave,
because we by our wars are giving security to the Romans. Therefore,
for this Indiction, we decorate you with the ensigns of the
Consulship.
'Adorn your broad shoulders[424] with the variegated colours of the
palm-robe; ennoble your strong hand with the sceptre of victory[425].
Enter your private dwelling having even your sandals gilded; ascend
the curule chair by the many steps which its dignity requires: that
thus you, a subject and at your ease, may enjoy the dignity which we,
the Ruler, assumed only after mightiest labours. You enjoy the fruit
of victory who are ignorant of war; we, God helping us, will reign; we
will consult for the safety of the State, while your name marks the
year. You overtop Sovereigns in your good fortune, since you wear the
highest honours, and yet have not the annoyances of ruling. Wherefore
pluck up spirit and confidence. It becometh Consuls to be generous. Do
not be anxious about your private fortune, you who have elected to win
the public favour by your gifts. It is for this cause [because the
Consul has to spend lavishly during his year of office] that we make a
difference between your dignity and all others. Other magistrates we
appoint, even though they do not ask for the office. To the Consulship
we promote only those who are candidates for the dignity, those who
know that their fortunes are equal to its demands; otherwise we might
be imposing a burden rather than a favour. Enjoy therefore, in a
becoming manner, the honour which you wished for. This mode of
spending money is a legitimate form of canvassing[426]. Be illustrious
in the world, be prosperous in your own life, leave an example for the
happy imitation of your posterity.'
[Footnote 424: 'Pinge vastos humeros vario colore palmatae.']
[Footnote 425: 'Validam manum victoriali scipione nobilita.']
[Footnote 426: 'Hic est ambitus qui probatur;' or, 'allowable
bribery.']
2. FORMULA OF THE PATRICIATE.
[Sidenote: Patriciate.]
'In olden times the Patricians were said to derive their origin from
Jupiter, whose priests they were. Mythology apart, they derived their
name from _Patres_, the dignity of priest having blended itself with
that of Senator.
'The great distinction of the Patriciate is that it is a rank held
_for life_, like that of the priesthood, from which it sprang. The
Patrician takes precedence of Praefects and all other dignities save
one (the Consulship), and that is one which we ourselves sometimes
assume.
'Ascend then the pinnacle of the Patriciate. You may have yet further
honours to receive from us, if you bear yourself worthily in this
station.'
3. FORMULA OF THE PRAETORIAN PRAEFECTURE.
[On account of the importance of the office a translation of the whole
formula is here attempted, though with some hesitation on account of
its obscure allusions.]
[Sidenote: Praetorian Praefecture.]
'If the origin of any dignity can confer upon it special renown and
promise of future usefulness, the Praetorian Praefecture may claim
this distinction, illustrated as its establishment was by the wisdom
of this world, and also stamped by the Divine approval. For when
Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was oppressed by strange visions of future
famine, there was found a blessed man, even Joseph, able to foretell
the future with truth, and to suggest the wisest precautions for the
people's danger. He first consecrated the insignia of this dignity; he
in majesty entered the official chariot[427], raised to this height of
honour, in order that his wisdom might confer blessings on the people
which they could not receive from the mere power of the Ruler.
[Footnote 427: 'Ipse carpentum reverendus ascendit.' The _carpentum_
was one great mark of the dignity of the Praetorian Praefect, as of
his inferior, the Praefectus Urbis.]
'From that Patriarch is this officer now called _Father of the
Empire_; his name is even to-day celebrated by the voice of the crier,
who calls upon the Judge to show himself not unworthy of his example.
Rightly was it felt that he to whom such power was committed should
always be thus delicately reminded of his duty.
'For some prerogatives are shared in common between ourselves and the
holder of this dignity. [The next sentence[428] I leave untranslated,
as I am not sure of the meaning. Manso (p. 343) translates it, 'He
forces fugitives from justice, without regard to the lapse of time, to
come before his tribunal.'] He inflicts heavy fines on offenders, he
distributes the public revenue as he thinks fit, he has a like power
in bestowing rights of free conveyance[429], he appropriates unclaimed
property, he punishes the offences of Provincial Judges, he pronounces
sentence by word of mouth [whereas all other Judges had to read their
decisions from their tablets].
[Footnote 428: 'Exhibet enim sine prescriptione longinquos.']
[Footnote 429: 'Evectiones,' free passes by the _Cursus Publicus_.]
'What is there that he has not entrusted to him whose very speech is
Judgment? He may almost be said to have the power of making laws,
since the reverence due to him enables him to finish law-suits without
appeal.
'On his entrance into the palace he, like ourselves, is adored by the
assembled throng[430], and an office of such high rank appears to
excuse a practice which in other cases would be considered matter for
accusation[431].
[Footnote 430: 'Ingressus palatium nostra consuetudine frequenter
adoratur.' We know from Lydus (De Mag. ii. 9) that the highest
officers of the army _knelt_ at the entrance of the Praetorian
Praefect. Perhaps we need not infer from this passage that Oriental
_prostration_ was used either towards Theodoric or his Praefect.]
[Footnote 431: 'Et tale officium morem videtur solvere, quod alios
potuit accusare.']
'In power, no dignity is his equal. He judges everywhere as the
representative of the Sovereign[432]. No soldier marks out to him the
limits of his jurisdiction, except the official of the Master of the
Soldiery. I suppose that the ancients wished [even the Praefect] to
yield something to those who were to engage in war on behalf of the
Republic.
[Footnote 432: 'Vice sacrâ ubique judicat.']
'He punishes with stripes even the Curials, who are called in the laws
a Lesser Senate.
'In his own official staff (officium) he is invested with peculiar
privileges; since all men can see that he lays his commands on men of
such high quality that not even the Judges of Provinces may presume to
look down upon them. The staff is therefore composed of men of the
highest education, energetic, strong-minded[433], intent on prompt
obedience to the orders of their head, and not tolerating obstruction
from others. To those who have served their time in his office, he
grants the rank of Tribunes and Notaries, thus making his attendants
equal to those who, mingled with the chiefs of the State, wait upon
our own presence.
[Footnote 433: 'Officium plane geniatum, efficax, instructum et totâ
animi firmitate praevalidum.']
'We joyfully accomplish that which he arranges, since our reverence
for his office constrains us to give immediate effect to his decrees.
He deserves this at our hands, since his forethought nourishes the
Palace, procures the daily rations of our servants, provides the
salaries even of the Judges themselves[434]. By his arrangements he
satiates the hungry appetites of the ambassadors of the [barbarous]
nations[435]. And though other dignities have their specially defined
prerogatives, by him everything that comes within the scope of our
wisely-tempered sway is governed.
[Footnote 434: 'Humanitates quoque judicibus ipsis facit.']
[Footnote 435: 'Legatos gentium voraces explet ordinationibus suis.'
_Voraces_ seems to give a better sense than the other reading,
_veraces_.]
'Take therefore, from this Indiction, on your shoulders the noble
burden of all these cares. Administer it with vigour and with utmost
loyalty, that your rule may be prosperous to us and useful to the
Republic. The more various the anxieties, the greater your glory. Let
that glory beam forth, not in our Palace only, but be reflected in far
distant Provinces. Let your prudence be equal to your power; yea, let
the fourfold virtue [of the Platonic philosophy] be seated in your
conscience. Remember that your tribunal is placed so high that, when
seated there, you should think of nothing sordid, nothing mean. Weigh
well what you ought to say, seeing that it is listened to by so many.
Let the public records contain nothing [of your saying] which any need
blush to read. The good governor not only has no part nor lot in
injustice; unless he is ever diligently doing some noble work he
incurs blame even for his inactivity. For if that most holy author
[Moses?] be consulted, it will be seen that it is a kind of priesthood
to fill the office of the Praetorian Praefecture in a becoming
manner.'
4. FORMULA OF THE PRAEFECTURE OF THE CITY.
[Sidenote: Praefecture of the City.]
'You, to whose care Rome is committed, are exalted by that charge to a
position of the highest dignity. The Senate also is presided over by
you; and the Senators, who wield full power in that assembly, tremble
when they have to plead their own cause at your tribunal. But this is
because they, who are the makers of laws, are subject to the laws; and
so are we too, though not to a Judge.
'Behave in a manner worthy of your high office. Treat the Consulars
with deference. Put away every base thought when you cross the
threshold of every virtue. If you wish to avoid unpopularity, avoid
receiving bribes. It is a grand thing when it can be said that Judges
will not accept that which thousands are eager to offer them.
'To your care is committed not only Rome herself (though Rome
includes the world[436]), but, by ancient law, all within the
hundredth milestone.
[Footnote 436: 'Quamvis in illa contineantur universa.']
'You judge, on appeal, causes brought from certain Provinces defined
by law. Your staff is composed of learned men; eloquent they can
hardly help being, since they are always hearing the masters of
eloquence. You ride in your _Carpentum_ through a populace of
nobles[437]; oh, act so as to deserve their shouts of welcome! How
will you deserve their favour? By seeing that merchandise is sold
without venality[438]; that the fires kindled to heat the wholesome
baths are not chilled by corruption; that the games, which are meant
for the pleasure of the people, are not by partisanship made a cause
of strife. For so great is the power of glorious truth, that even in
the affairs of the stage justice is desired[439]. Take then the robe
of Romulus, and administer the laws of Rome. Other honours await you
if you behave worthily in this office, and above all, if you win the
applause of the Senate.'
[Footnote 437: 'Carpento veheris per nobilem plebem.']
[Footnote 438: i.e. probably, 'that you are not bribed by
monopolists.' Perhaps there is a reference to the _Annona Publica_.]
[Footnote 439: 'Tanta est enim vis gloriosae veritatis, ut etiam in
rebus scenicis aequitas desideretur.']
5. FORMULA OF THE QUAESTORSHIP.
[This letter is particularly interesting, from the fact that it
describes Cassiodorus' own office, that which he filled during many
years of the reign of Theodoric, and in virtue of which he wrote the
greater part of his 'Various Letters.']
[Sidenote: Quaestorship.]
'No Minister has more reason to glory in his office than the Quaestor,
since it brings him into constant and intimate communication with
Ourselves. The Quaestor has to learn our inmost thoughts, that he may
utter them to our subjects. Whenever we are in doubt as to any matter
we ask our Quaestor, who is the treasure-house of public fame, the
cupboard of laws; who has to be always ready for a sudden call, and
must exercise the wonderful powers which, as Cicero has pointed out,
are inherent in the art of an orator. He should so paint the delights
of virtue and the terrors of vice, that his eloquence should almost
make the sword of the magistrate needless.
'What manner of man ought the Quaestor to be, who reflects the very
image of his Sovereign? If, as is often our custom, we chance to
listen to a suit, what authority must there be in his tongue who has
to speak the King's words in the King's own presence? He must have
knowledge of the law, wariness in speech, firmness of purpose, that
neither gifts nor threats may cause him to swerve from justice. For in
the interests of Equity we suffer even ourselves to be contradicted,
since we too are bound to obey her. Let your learning be such that you
may set forth every subject on which you have to treat, with suitable
embellishments.
'Moved therefore by the fame of your wisdom and eloquence, we bestow
upon you, by God's grace, the dignity of the Quaestorship, which is
the glory of letters, the temple of _civilitas_, the mother of all the
dignities, the home of continence, the seat of all the virtues.
'To you the Provinces transmit their prayers. From you the Senate
seeks the aid of law. You are expected to suffice for the needs of all
who seek from us the remedies of the law. But when you have done all
this, be not elated with your success, be not gnawed with envy,
rejoice not at the calamities of others; for what is hateful in the
Sovereign cannot be becoming in the Quaestor.
'Exercise the power of the Prince in the condition of a subject; and
may you render a good account to the Judges at the end of your term of
office.'
6. FORMULA OF THE MAGISTERIAL DIGNITY, AND ITS EXCELLENCY (MAGISTER
OFFICIORUM).
[The dignity and powers of the Master of the Offices were continually
rising throughout the Fourth and Fifth Centuries at the cost of the
Praetorian Praefect, many of whose functions were transferred to the
Master.]
[Sidenote: Mastership of the Offices.]
'The Master's is a name of dignity. To him belongs the discipline of
the Palace; he calms the stormy ranks of the insolent Scholares [the
household troops, 10,000 in number, in the palace of the Eastern
Emperor, according to Lydus (ii. 24)]. He introduces the Senators to
our presence, cheers them when they tremble, calms them when they are
speaking, sometimes inserts a word or two of his own, that all may be
laid in an orderly manner before us. It rests with him to fix a day
for the admission of a suitor to our _Aulicum Consistorium_, and to
fulfil his promise. The opportune velocity of the post-horses [the
care of the _Cursus Publicus_] is diligently watched over by him[440].
[Footnote 440: According to Lydus (ii. 10), the Cursus Publicus was
transferred from the Praefect to the Master, and afterwards, in part,
retransferred to the Praefect.]
'The ambassadors of foreign powers are introduced by him, and their
_evectiones_ [free passes by the postal-service] are received from his
hands[441].
[Footnote 441: 'Per eum nominis nostri destinatur evectio.' The above
is a conjectural translation.]
'To an officer with these great functions Antiquity gave great
prerogatives: that no Provincial Governor should assume office without
his consent, and that appeals should come to him from their decisions.
He has no charge of collecting money, only of spending it. It is his
to appoint _peraequatores_[442] of provisions in the capital, and a
Judge to attend to this matter. He also superintends the pleasures of
the people, and is bound to keep them from sedition by a generous
exhibition of shows. The members of his staff, when they have served
their full time, are adorned with the title of _Princeps_, and take
their places at the head of the Praetorian cohorts and those of the
Urban Praefecture [the officials serving in the bureaux of those two
Praefects]--a mark of favour which almost amounts to injustice, since
he who serves in one office (the Master's) is thereby put at the head
of all those who have been serving in another (the Praefect's)[443].'
[Footnote 442: Are these Superintendents of the Markets, charged with
the regulation of prices?]
[Footnote 443: 'Miroque modo inter Praetorianas cohortes et Urbanae
Praefecturae milites videantur invenisse primatum, a quibus tibi
humile solvebatur obsequium. Sic in favore magni honoris injustitia
quaedam a legibus venit, dum alienis excubiis praeponitur, qui alibi
militasse declaratur.']
[We learn from Lydus how intense was the jealousy of the grasping and
aspiring _Magistriani_ felt by the Praefect's subordinates; and we may
infer from this passage that Cassiodorus thought that there was some
justification for this feeling.]
'The assistant (Adjutor) of the Magister is also present at our
audiences, a distinguished honour for his chief.
'Take therefore this illustrious office and discharge it worthily,
that, in all which you do, you may show yourself a true Magister. If
_you_ should in anywise go astray (which God forbid), where should
morality be found upon earth?'
7. FORMULA OF THE OFFICE OF COMES SACRARUM LARGITIONUM.
[Sidenote: Office of Count of Sacred Largesses.]
'Yours is the high and pleasing office of administering the bounty of
your Sovereign[444]. Through you we dispense our favours and relieve
needy suppliants on New Year's Day. It is your business to see that
our face is imprinted on our coins, a reminder to our subjects of our
ceaseless care on their behalf, and a memorial of our reign to future
ages.
[Footnote 444: 'Regalibus magna profecti felicitas _militare_
donis.... Laetitia publica _militia_ tua est.' Observe the continued
use of military terms for what we call the Civil Service.]
'To this your regular office we also add the place of _Primicerius_
[_Primicerius Notariorum_?], so that you are the channel through which
honours as well as largesses flow. Not only the Judges of the
Provinces are subject to you, even the _Proceres Chartarum_ (?) have
not their offices assured to them till you have confirmed the
instrument. You have also the care of the royal robes. The sea-coasts
and their products, and therefore merchants, are under your sway. The
commerce of salt, that precious mineral, rightly classed with silken
robes and pearls, is placed under your superintendence.
'Take therefore these two dignities, the Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum
and the Primiceriatus. If some of the ancient privileges of your
office have been retrenched [some functions, probably, taken from the
Comes Sacrarum Largitionum and assigned to the Comes Patrimonii],
comfort yourself with the thought that you have two dignities instead
of one.'
8. FORMULA OF THE OFFICE OF COMES PRIVATARUM, AND ITS EXCELLENCY.
[Sidenote: Office of Count of Private Domains.]
'Your chief business, as the name of your office implies, is to govern
the royal estates by the instrumentality of the _Rationales_ under
you.
'This work alone, however, would have given you a jurisdiction only
over slaves [those employed on the royal domains]; and as a slave is
not a person in the eye of the law, it seemed unworthy of the dignity
of Latium to confine your jurisdiction to these men. Some urban
authority has therefore been given you in addition to that which you
exercise over these boors: cases of incest, and of pollution or
spoliation of graves, come before you. Thus the chastity of the
living and the security of the dead are equally your care. In the
Provinces you superintend the tribute-collectors (Canonicarios), you
admonish the cultivators of the soil (Possessores), and you claim for
the Royal Exchequer property to which no heirs are forthcoming[445].
Deposited monies also, the owners of which are lost by lapse of time,
are searched out by you and brought into our Exchequer, since those
who by our permission enjoy all their own property ought willingly and
without sense of loss to offer us that which belongs to other men.
[Footnote 445: 'Caduca bona non sinis esse vacantia.']
'Take then the honour of _Comes Privatarum_: it also is a courtly
dignity, and you will augment it by your worthy fulfilment of its
functions.'
9. FORMULA OF THE OFFICE OF COUNT OF THE PATRIMONY, AND ITS
EXCELLENCY.
[Sidenote: Office of Count of the Patrimony.]
'To our distant servants we send long papers with instructions as to
their conduct; but you, admitted to our daily converse, do not need
these. You are to undertake the care of our royal patrimony.
'Do not give in to all the suggestions of our servants on these
domains, who are apt to think that everything is permitted them
because they represent the King; but rather incline the scale against
them. You will have to act much in our sight; and as the rising sun
discloses the true colours of objects, so the King's constant presence
reveals the Minister's character in its true light. Avoid loud and
harsh tones in pronouncing your decisions: when we hear you using
these, we shall know that you are in the wrong. External acts and
bodily qualities show the habit of the mind. We know a proud man by
his swaggering gait, an angry one by his flashing eyes, a crafty one
by his downcast look, a fickle one by his wandering gaze, at
avaricious one by his hooked nails.
'Take then the office of Count of the Patrimony, and discharge it
uprightly. Be expeditious in your decisions on the complaints of the
tillers of the soil. Justice speedily granted is thereby greatly
enhanced in value, and though it is really the suitor's right it
charms him as if it were a favour.
'Attend also to the provision of suitable delicacies for our royal
table. It is a great thing that ambassadors coming from all parts of
the world should see rare dainties at our board, and such an
inexhaustible supply of provisions brought in by the crowds of our
servants that they are almost ready to think the food grows again in
the kitchen, whither they see the dishes carried with the broken
victuals. These banqueting times are, and quite deservedly, your times
for approaching us with business, when no one else is allowed to do
so.'
10. FORMULA BY WHICH MEN ARE MADE PROCERES PER CODICILLOS VACANTES.
[Bestowal of Brevet-rank on persons outside the Civil Service.]
[Sidenote: Codicilli Vacantes.]
'There are cases in which men whom it is desirable for the Sovereign
to honour are unable, from delicate health or slender fortunes, to
enter upon an official career. For instance, a poor nobleman may dread
the expenses of the Consulship; a man illustrious by his wisdom may be
unable to bear the worries of a Praefecture; an eloquent tongue may
shun the weight of a Quaestorship. In these cases the laws have wisely
ordained that we may give such persons the rank which they merit by
_Codicilli Vacantes_. It must always be understood, however, that in
each dignity those who thus obtain it rank behind those who have
earned it by actual service. Otherwise we should have all men
flocking into these quiet posts, if the workers were not preferred to
men of leisure[446].
[Footnote 446: 'Alioqui omnes ad quietas possunt currere dignitates,
si laborantes minime praeferantur ociosis.']
'Take therefore, by these present codicils, the rank which you
deserve, though you have not earned it by your official career.'
11. FORMULA BY WHICH THE RANK OF AN ILLUSTRIS AND THE TITLE OF A COMES
DOMESTICORUM ARE CONFERRED, WITHOUT OFFICE.
[Sidenote: Illustratus Vacans.]
'The bestowal of honour, though it does not change the nature of a
man, induces him to consider his own reputation more closely, and to
abstain from that which may stain it[447].
[Footnote 447: 'Noblesse oblige.']
'Take therefore the rank (without office) of an Illustrious Count of
the Domestics[448], and enjoy that greatest luxury of worthy
minds--power to attend to your own pursuits.
[Footnote 448: 'Cape igitur ... Comitivae Domesticorum Illustratum
Vacantem.']
'For what can be sweeter than to find yourself honoured when you enter
the City, and yet to be able to cultivate your own fields; to abstain
from fraudful gains, and yet see your barns overflowing with the fruit
of your own sweet toil?
'But even as the seed and the soil must co-operate to produce the
harvest, so do we sow in you the seed of this dignity, trusting that
your own goodness of heart will give the increase.'
12. FORMULA FOR THE BESTOWAL OF A COUNTSHIP OF THE FIRST ORDER,
WITHOUT OFFICE.
[A similar honour to that which is conferred on an English statesman
who, without receiving any place in the Ministry, is 'sworn of the
Privy Council.']
[Sidenote: Comitiva Primi Ordinis.]
'It is a delightful thing to enjoy the pleasures of high rank without
having to undergo the toils and annoyances of office, which often make
a man loathe the very dignity which he eagerly desired.
'The rank of _Comes_ is one which is reached by Governors (Rectores)
of Provinces after a year's tenure of office, and by the Counsellors
of the Praefect, whose functions are so important that we look upon
them as almost Quaestors.
'Their rank[449] gives the holder of it, though only a _Spectabilis_,
admission to our Consistory, where he sits side by side with all the
Illustres.
[Footnote 449: Betokened by the expression 'Ociosum cingulum.']
'We bestow it upon you, and name you a _Comes Primi Ordinis_, thereby
indicating that you are to take your place at the head of all the
other Spectabiles and next after the Illustres. See that you imitate
the latter, and that you are not surpassed in excellence of character
by any of those below you.'
13. FORMULA FOR BESTOWING THE [HONORARY] RANK OF MASTER OF THE BUREAU
[MAGISTER SCRINII] AND COUNT OF THE FIRST ORDER, ON AN OFFICER OF THE
COURTS (COMITIACUS) IN ACTIVE SERVICE.
[Sidenote: Honorary promotion for a Comitiacus.]
'Great toils and great perils are the portion of an officer of the
Courts in giving effect to their sentences. It is easy for the Judge
to say, "Let so and so be done;" but on the unhappy officer falls all
the difficulty and all the odium of doing it. He has to track out
offenders and hunt them to their very beds, to compel the contumacious
to obey the law, to make the proud learn their equality before it. If
he lingers over the business assigned to him, the plaintiff complains;
if he is energetic, the defendant calls out. The very honesty with
which he addresses himself to the work is sure to make him enemies,
enemies perhaps among powerful persons, who next year may be his
superiors in office, and thus subjects him to all sorts of accusations
which he may find it very hard to disprove. In short, if we may say it
without offence to the higher dignitaries, it is far easier to
discharge without censure the functions of a Judge than those of the
humble officer who gives effect to his decrees.
'Wherefore, in reward for your long and faithful service, and in
accordance with ancient usage, we bestow on you the rank of a Count of
the First Order, and ordain that if anyone shall molest you on account
of your acts done in the discharge of your duties, he shall pay a fine
of so many [perhaps ten = £400] pounds of gold.'
[This letter will be found well worth studying in the original, as
giving a picture of the kind of opposition met with by the men who
were charged with the execution of the orders of the Rectores
Provinciarum, and whose functions were themselves partly judicial,
varying between those of a Master in Chancery and those of a Sheriff's
officer. Throughout, the Civil Service is spoken of in military
language. The officer is called _miles_, and his duty is _excubiae_.]
14. FORMULA BESTOWING RANK AS A SENATOR.
[Sidenote: Senatorial rank.]