Bauer's 'History of the Popes' ii. 323-4, for remarks on this
important _privilegium_.
It is clear that it relates to civil, not criminal procedure, and that
it does leave a right of final appeal from the Papal Courts to the
dissatisfied secular litigant. At the same time, that such an appeal
would be prosecuted with immense difficulty is clear even from the
words of the decree. The appellant will have to satisfy the King's
Judges of a thing which it is almost impiety to believe, that the
occupant of the Roman See has spurned his petitions.]
25. KING ATHALARIC TO JOANNES, VIR SPECTABILIS, REFERENDARIUS.
[Sidenote: Confirmation of Tulum's gift of property in the
Lucullanum.]
'It is a very fitting thing to confirm the generosity of others
towards persons who might well have received gifts from oneself. We
therefore declare that in your case the gift is another's but the will
to give is our own, and the King has only been anticipated by the
rapid bounty of the subject[551].
[Footnote 551: 'Profitemur itaque alterius quidem donum, sed nostrum
esse judicium, et modernam principis mentem praevenisse tantum
velocissimam largitatem.' Observe again the use of Cassiodorus'
favourite word _modernam_.]
'Everyone knows that our grandfather wished to give you the house of
Agnellus in the Castrum Lucullanum, but could not do so having already
given it to the Patrician Tulum[552]. Tulum, however, with his usual
generosity, seconding the wishes of his master, formally conveyed the
property to you; and that conveyance we now confirm, guaranteeing the
quiet possession of it to you and your heirs for all time to come. If
any doubt exist as to your title, by any mischance, or by reason of
any enquiry, such doubt is exploded by the authority of this letter of
ours[553].
[Footnote 552: Tholuit, or Tholum, in some MSS., but no doubt the same
as the Tulum of Letters 9 and 10.]
[Footnote 553: 'Ubi et si quid esset quolibet casu, qualibet
inquisitione fortassis ambiguum, hujus auctoritatis nostrae judicio
constat explosum.']
'And should any envious person, in contempt of our royal will, dare to
raise any question in this matter hereafter, either on behalf of the
Fiscus or of any private individual, we declare that he shall pay to
you, or to the person to whom you may have assigned the said house,
100 lbs. of gold (£4,000) by way of penalty.'
[Why should there be the necessity of this royal confirmation of a
transaction between two private individuals, Tulum and Joannes, and
this tremendous penalty on all future impugners of it?
Evidently because the property had been impressed with the character
of State domain, and it was doubtful how far Tulum's alienation of it
might stand good against the claims of future Sovereigns.
This becomes quite clear when we reflect what is the property to which
this letter refers. It is either the whole or a part of the
Lucullanum, to which the deposed Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was
banished in 476. On his death, as we may conjecture, this property,
one of the most delightful places of residence in Italy, has been
given by Theodoric to Tulum, perhaps just after he had distinguished
himself in the Gaulish campaign of 508. For some reason or other,
Tulum has alienated it (ostensibly, given it) to the Reporter Joannes,
no doubt a Roman, who is apparently nervous lest his title to it
should hereafter be impugned on the ground that the palace of the last
Roman Emperor was national property. Hence this letter. There is some
difficulty and variation between the MSS. in the words describing the
property: 'Saepe dicta domus paternae recordationis Agnelli, in
Lucullano castro posita.' For _paternae_, Migne's editor reads
_patriciae_. The forthcoming critical edition of the 'Variae' will
show whether there is any support in the MSS. for a conjecture which I
cannot help entertaining that _Agnelli_ is an error for _Augustuli_.]
26. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE INHABITANTS OF REATE AND NURSIA.
[Sidenote: Gothic settlers in the Sabine territory exhorted to
obedience to their Prior, Quidila.]
'Our glorious grandfather had arranged that, in accordance with your
desire, Quidila, son of Sibia, should be your Captain (Prior). We
confirm this appointment, and desire you to obey him in all things.
You are so far moulded by the character of our grandfather that you
willingly obey both the laws and the Judges. Our enemies are best
vanquished, and the favour both of Heaven and of other nations is best
conciliated for us, by our obeying the principles of justice. If
anyone is in need of anything, let him seek to obtain it from the
generosity of his Sovereign rather than by the strength of his own
right hand, since it is for your advantage that the Romans be at
peace, who, in filling our Treasury, at the same time multiply your
donatives.'
[This letter is evidently addressed to Goths, and Quidila the _Prior_,
who is set over them, is also a Goth. We can only conjecture what the
office of Prior was: probably to some extent it involved civil as well
as military authority. The conjecture of Dahn ('Könige der Germanen'
iv. 173) that it corresponds to the Gothic _Hundafath_ (Centenarius),
seems to me extremely probable. The title of the letter is curious. It
is addressed 'Universis Reatinis et Nursinis.' Are we then to suppose
that strong military colonies of Goths had been settled in these
places, the Roman inhabitants having been extruded? The fact that St.
Benedict was born in Nursia, some fifty-seven years before the writing
of this letter, gives an additional interest to this question.]
27. KING ATHALARIC TO DUMERIT THE SAJO, AND TO FLORENTINUS, A ZEALOUS
OFFICER OF THE COURT[554].
[Footnote 554: 'Florentino viro devoto Comitiaco.']
[Sidenote: Robbery in the district of Faenza to be suppressed.]
'Justice must be shown upon the wicked. Different diseases require
different remedies.
'Let your Devotion speed instantly through the territory of Faventia,
and if you find any persons, either Goths or Romans, concerned in the
plunder of the possessors, punish them severely. How much better it
would be for those misguided persons to live according to our will,
and earn the reward of pleasing us.' [The last sentence is obscure,
and perhaps the text is corrupt.]
28. KING ATHALARIC TO CUNIGAST, VIR ILLUSTRIS.
[No doubt the same as the Conigast attacked by Boethius in the
'Philosophiae Consolatio' i. 4[555].]
[Footnote 555: 'Quoticus ego Conigastum in inbecillis cujusque
fortunas impetum facientem obvius excepi!']
[Sidenote: Possessores (or Coloni?) forced to become slaves.]
'Our Serenity has been moved by the grievous petition of Constantius
and Venerius, who complain that Tanca [probably a Goth] has wrested
from them the farm which is called Fabricula, which belonged to them
in their own right, together with the stock upon it[556], and has
compelled them, in order to prevent similar forcible demands upon
their property in future, to allow the worst lot of all--the condition
of slavery--to be imposed upon them, who are really free[557].
[Footnote 556: 'Cum suo peculio.' If they were not slaves they could
not have _peculium_ in the technical sense. I therefore understand
'peculio' to be simply equivalent to _cattle_, a sense which is
confirmed by 'Calabri peculiosi' in Letter 33.]
[Footnote 557: 'Adjicientes ne rerum suarum repetitionibus imminerent
[? imminuerent] liberis sibi conditionem ultimae servitutis imponi.'
Cf. Salvian, De Gubernatione Dei v. 8, 9, for a description of similar
occurrences in Gaul.]
'Let your Greatness therefore summon Tanca to your judgment-seat, and,
after hearing all parties, pronounce a just judgment and one accordant
to your character. For though it is a serious matter to oust a lord
from his right, it is contrary to the feelings of our age to press
down free necks under the yoke of slavery.
'Let Tanca therefore either establish his right to the slaves and
their property, or, if they are proved free, let him give them up,
whole and unharmed: in which case we will inflict upon him no further
penalty.'
29. KING ATHALARIC TO THE DIGNIFIED CULTIVATORS[558] AND CURIALS OF
THE CITY OF PARMA.
[Footnote 558: 'Honoratis Possessoribus.']
[Sidenote: Sanitary measures needed in Parma.]
'You ought willingly to co-operate in that which is being done for the
advantage of your town. When it was suffering from a long drought, our
grandfather, with God's help, watered it with the life-giving wave.
Cleanse out then the mouths of your sewers, lest otherwise, being
checked in its flow by the accumulated filth, it should surge back
into your houses, and bring into them the pollution which it was meant
to wash away.
'The Spectabilis Genesius is appointed to superintend this work, and
to quicken your zeal regarding it.'
30. KING ATHALARIC TO GENESIUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.
[Relating to the same subject as the preceding.]
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'Through love of your city our grandfather, with royal generosity,
constructed an aqueduct of the ancient type[559] for you. But it is of
no use to provide a good water-supply unless your sewers are in good
order. Therefore let your Sublimity set the citizens of Parma
diligently to work at this business, that all ancient channels,
whether underground or those which run by the sides of the streets, be
diligently repaired[560], in order that when the longed-for stream
flows into your town it be not hindered by any obstacle.
[Footnote 559: 'Antiqui operis formam.']
[Footnote 560: 'Quatenus antiquos cuniculos, sive subterraneos, sive
qui junguntur marginibus platearum diligenter emendent.']
'How fair is water in a running stream, but how ugly in puddles and
swamps; it is good then neither for man nor beast. Without water city
and country alike languish; and rightly did the ancients punish one
who was unfit for human society by forbidding all men to give him
water. Therefore you ought all heartily to combine for this most
useful work, since the man who is not touched by the comeliness of his
city has not yet the mind of a citizen.'
31. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.
[Is Severus _Vicarius Urbis_? His title Spectabilis seems to require
some such rank as this, otherwise he seems more like a _Corrector_
(Clarissimus) _Bruttiorum et Lucaniae_. Perhaps already the strict
gradation established by Diocletian and Constantine was somewhat
broken down, and governors received higher titles than strictly
belonged to them.]
[Sidenote: Dissuasions from a country life, and praises of
Cassiodorus' native land of Bruttii.]
'Since you, when on the staff of the Praefect, have learned the
principles of statesmanship, we are sure that you will agree with us
that cities are the chief ornament of human society. Let the wild
beasts live in fields and woods: men ought to draw together into
cities. Even among birds we see that those of gentle disposition--like
thrushes, storks, and doves--love to flock together, while the greedy
hawk, intent on its bloody pastime, seeks solitude.
'Now we say that the man who shuns human society becomes at once an
object of suspicion. Let therefore the Possessores and Curiales of
Bruttii return to their cities. The Coloni may cultivate the
soil--that is what their name denotes[561]; but the men whom we
decorate with civic honours ought to live in cities.
[Footnote 561: 'Coloni sunt qui agros jugiter colunt.']
'In truth it is a lovely land. Ceres and Pallas have crowned it with
their respective gifts (corn and oil); the plains are green with
pastures, the slopes are purple with vineyards. Above all is it rich
in its vast herds of horses[562], and no wonder, since the dense shade
of its forests protects them from the bites of flies, and provides
them with ever verdant pasture even in the height of summer. Cool
waters flow from its lofty heights; fair harbours on both its shores
woo the commerce of the world.
[Footnote 562: Cf. what is said (i. 4) as to the large present of
horses made by the father of Cassiodorus to Theodoric for the use of
the Gothic army.]
'There the countryman enjoys the good food of the citizen, the poor
man the abundance of the wealthy[563]. If such then be the charms even
of the country in your Province, why should you shirk living in its
cities[564]?
[Footnote 563: 'Vivunt illic rustici epulis urbanorum, mediocres autem
abundantia praepotentium.' 'Mediocres' and 'tenues' are technical
words with Cassiodorus for the poor.]
[Footnote 564: Cassiodorus must have felt the weakness of his logic
here. He patriotically praises the rural beauty of Bruttii, yet the
conclusion which by main force he arrives at is, 'Leave the country
and live in towns.']
'Why should so many men refined by literature skulk in obscurity? The
boy goes to a good school, becomes imbued with the love of letters,
and then, when he is come to man's estate and should be seeking the
Forum in order to display his talents, he suddenly changes into a
boor, unlearns all that he has learned, and in his love for the fields
forgets what is due to a reasonable love for himself. And yet even
birds love human fellowship, and the nightingale boldly rears her
brood close to the haunts of men.
'Let the cities then return to their old splendour; let none prefer
the charms of the country to the walls reared by the men of old. Why
should not everyone be attracted by the concourse of noble persons, by
the pleasures of converse with his equals? To stroll through the
Forum, to look in at some skilful craftsman at his work, to push one's
own cause through the law courts, then between whiles to play with the
counters of Palamedes (draughts), to go to the baths with one's
acquaintances, to indulge in the friendly emulation of the
banquet--these are the proper employments of a Roman noble; yet not
one of them is tasted by the man who chooses to live always in the
country with his farm-servants[565].
[Footnote 565: 'Cui enim minus grata nobilium videatur occursio. Cui
non affectuosum sit cum paribus miscere sermonem, forum petere,
honestas artes invisere, causas proprias legibus expedire, interdum
Palamediacis calculis occupari, ad balneas ire cum sociis, prandia
mutuis apparatibus exhibere? Caret profecto omnibus his, qui vitam
suam vult semper habere cum famulis.']
'We order therefore that all Possessores and Curiales shall, according
to their relative means, find bail and give bonds, promising that they
will for the larger part of the year reside in some city, such as they
may choose[566]. And thus, while not wholly debarred from the
pleasures of the country, they will furnish to the cities their proper
adornment of citizens.'
[Footnote 566: 'Datis fidejussoribus jam Possessores quam Curiales,
sub aestimatione virium, poenâ interpositâ, promittant anni parte
majore se in civitatibus manere, quas habitare delegerint.']
32. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.
[Sidenote: The Fountain of Arethusa.]
'Nimfadius (Vir Sublimis) was journeying to the King's Comitatus on
some affair of his own, when, wearied with his journey, he lay down to
rest, and let his beasts of burden graze round the fountain of
Arethusa.
'This fountain, situated in the territory of Squillace[567], at the
foot of the hills and above the sand of the sea, makes a green and
pleasant place all round it, fringed with rustling reeds as with a
crown. It has certain marvellous properties: for let a man go to it in
silence and he sees it calmly flowing, more like a pond than a
fountain. But let him cough or speak with a loud voice, and it becomes
violently agitated, heaving to and fro like a pot boiling. Strange
power this of a fountain to answer a man. I have read that some
fountains can change the colours of the animals that drink at them;
that others can turn wood dropped into them to stone. The human reason
is altogether unable to understand such things as these.
[Footnote 567: 'In Scyllatino territoris.' Transcribers, thinking of
the Arethusa at Syracuse, have tried to alter this into _Siciliano_;
but there can be little doubt that the above reading is right. As to
the situation of the Fountain of Arethusa, see Introduction, p. 72.]
'But let us return to the complaint of our suppliant. Nimfadius
asserts that, while he was resting, the country people artfully drove
off his beasts of burden.
'This kind of crime brings our times into disgrace, and turns the
charm of that quiet resting-place into disgust. Diligently enquire
into it, for the credit of our Comitatus is involved in our subjects
being able to journey to it in safety. At first, no doubt, the
offenders will lie close, and seem as silent as the unmoved Arethusa.
But begin your investigations, and they will soon break forth, like
that fountain, with angry exclamations, in the midst of which you will
discover the truth. Punish the offenders severely; for we should
regret that owing to the excesses of robbers that wonderful and
joy-bringing fountain should be deserted.'
33. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.
[Sidenote: The Feast of St. Cyprian.]
'We hear that the rustics are indulging in disorderly practices, and
robbing the market-people who come from all quarters to the chief fair
of Lucania on the day of St. Cyprian. This must by all means be
suppressed, and your Respectability should quietly collect a
sufficient number of the owners and tenants of the adjoining
farms[568] to overpower these freebooters and bring them to justice.
Any rustic or other person found guilty of disturbing the fair should
be at once punished with the stick[569], and then exhibited with some
mark of infamy upon him[570].
[Footnote 568: 'Spectabilitas vestra praedicto tempore, unâ cum
Possessoribus atque Conductoribus diversarum massarum ad quietem
convenientium ... reos inveniat,' &c.]
[Footnote 569: 'Inter ipsa initia comprehensus fustuariae subdatur
ultioni.']
[Footnote 570: 'Pompatus mala nota.']
'This fair, which according to the old superstition was named
Leucothea [after the nymph], from the extreme purity of the fountain
at which it is held, is the greatest fair in all the surrounding
country. Everything that industrious Campania, or opulent Bruttii, or
cattle-breeding Calabria[571], or strong Apulia produces, is there to
be found exposed for sale, on such reasonable terms that no buyer goes
away dissatisfied. It is a charming sight to see the broad plains
filled with suddenly-reared houses formed of leafy branches
intertwined: all the beauty of the most leisurely-built city, and yet
not a wall to be seen. There stand ready boys and girls, with the
attractions which belong to their respective sexes and ages, whom not
captivity but freedom sets a price upon. These are with good reason
sold by their parents, since they themselves gain by their very
servitude. For one cannot doubt that they are benefited even as slaves
[or servants?], by being transferred from the toil of the fields to
the service of cities[572].
[Footnote 571: 'Calabri peculiosi.']
[Footnote 572: 'Praesto sunt pueri ac puellae, diverso sexu atque
aetate conspicuo, quos non facit captivitas esse sub pretio sed
libertas: hos merito parentes vendunt, quoniam de ipsa famulatione
proficiunt. Dubium quippe non est servos posse meliorari qui de labore
agrorum ad urbana servitia transferuntur.' With almost any writer but
Cassiodorus this would prove that in the Sixth Century free Italians
were selling their children into actual slavery. But I doubt whether
he really means more than that the children of the country people were
for hire as domestic servants in the cities. If so, the scene is not
unlike our own 'statute fairs' or 'hirings' in the north of England.
It appears from § 94 of the Edictum Theodorici that parents could sell
their children, but that the latter did not lose their _status
ingenuus_. Must they then claim it on coming of age? 'Parentes qui
cogente necessitate filios suos alimentorum gratia vendiderint
ingenuitati eorum non praejudicant. _Homo enim liber pretio nullo
aestimatur._' Cf. also § 95: 'Operas enim tantum parentes filiorum
quos in potestate habuerint, locare possunt.']
'What can I say of the bright and many-coloured garments? what of the
sleek and well-fed cattle offered at such a price as to tempt any
purchaser?
'The place itself is situated in a wide and pleasant plain, a suburb
of the ancient city of Cosilinum, and has received the name of
Marcilianum from the founder of these sacred springs[573].
[Footnote 573: Marcilianum is now Sala, in the valley of the Calore
(Tanager). Padula is thought by some to mark the site of Cosilinum.
The Island of Leucosia, now Licosa, a few miles from Paestum,
evidently does not represent the Leucothea of this letter.]
'And this is in truth a marvellous fountain, full and fresh, and of
such transparent clearness that when you look through it you think you
are looking through air alone. Choice fishes swim about in the pool,
perfectly tame, because if anyone presumes to capture them he soon
feels the Divine vengeance. On the morning which precedes the holy
night [of St. Cyprian], as soon as the Priest begins to utter the
baptismal prayer, the water begins to rise above its accustomed
height. Generally it covers but five steps of the well, but the brute
element, as if preparing itself for miracles, begins to swell, and at
last covers two steps more, never reached at any other time of the
year. Truly a stupendous miracle, that streams of water should thus
stand still or increase at the sound of the human voice, as if the
fountain itself desired to listen to the sermon.
'Thus hath Lucania a river Jordan of her own. Wherefore, both for
religion's sake and for the profit of the people, it behoves that good
order should be kept among the frequenters of the fair, since in the
judgment of all, that man must be deemed a villain who would sully the
joys of such happy days.'
BOOK IX.
CONTAINING TWENTY-FIVE LETTERS, ALL WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF ATHALARIC
THE KING.
1. KING ATHALARIC TO HILDERIC, KING OF THE VANDALS (A.D. 527).
[Sidenote: Murder of Amalafrida, widow of King Thrasamund and sister
of Theodoric.]
'Friendship and relationship are turned to bitterness by the tidings
that Amalafrida, of divine memory, the distinguished ornament of our
race, has been put to death by you[574]. If you had any cause of
offence against her, you ought to have sent her to us for judgment.
What you have done is a species of parricide. If the succession, on
the death of her husband, passed to another [yourself], that was no
reason why a woman should be embroiled in the contest. It was really
an addition to your nobility to have the purple dignity of the Amal
blood allied to the lineage of the Hasdingi.
[Footnote 574: With reference to this event Victor Tunnunensis writes:
'Cujus (Trasamundi) uxor Amalafrida fugiens ad barbaros congressione
facta Capsae juxta Heremum capitur, et in custodia privata moritur.'
Procopius (De B. Vandalico i. 9) says: [Greek: Kai sphisi (tois
Bandilois) xynênechthê Theuderichô te kai Gotthois en Italia ek te
symmachôn kai philôn polemioi genesthai tên te gar Amalaphridan en
phylakê eschon kai tous Gotthous diephtheiran hapantas epenenkontes
autois neôterizein es te Bandilous kai Hilderichon]. Both Victor and
Procopius seem to place the conflict before the death of Theodoric;
Victor says A.D. 523. Probably therefore the fighting, the capture of
Amalafrida, and the death of her countrymen, took place in that year,
the year of her husband's death and Hilderic's accession. Three or
four years later (526 or 527), when her brother Theodoric was dead,
the imprisoned princess was murdered--a grievous insult to the young
Sovereign of the Goths, her great-nephew.]
'Our Goths keenly feel the insults conveyed in this deed, since to
slay the royal lady of another race is to despise the valour of that
race and doubt its willingness to avenge her.
'We send you two ambassadors to hear what your excuses are. We hear
that you pretend that her death was natural. And you also must send
ambassadors in return to us to explain the matter, without war or
bloodshed, and either pacify us or acknowledge your guilt. If you do
not do this, all ties of alliance between us are broken, and we must
leave you to the judgment of the Divine Majesty, which heard the blood
of Abel crying from the ground.'
2. EDICT OF KING ATHALARIC.
[Sidenote: Oppression of the Curiales.]
'The body of the Republic is so tempered together that if one member
suffers all the members suffer with it. The Curiales, whose name is
derived from their care (cura) and forethought, are, we are told,
molested by hostile proceedings, so that what was bestowed upon them
as an honour turns out rather to their injury. What scandalous
injustice! What an insupportable evil! that he who ought to have
benefited the Republic by his services, should often lose both fortune
and liberty.
'Wherefore by this edict we decree that if any Curialis suffer
oppression, if anyone, without the express warrant of ourselves or the
high officers of State whose business it is, inflict upon a Curialis
any injury or loss of property, he shall pay a fine of 10 lbs. of gold
(£400), to go to the benefit of the person thus oppressed; or, if his
property be insufficient to pay this fine, he shall be beaten with
clubs. The Curialis must then give additional diligence to the
discharge of his public duties, since his debt to the State is, as it
were, increased by the protection which we are thus affording him. As
for the farms of Curiales, in connection with which the greatest
frauds are practised on poor men, let no one seek to obtain them by an
unlawful purchase; for a contract cannot be called a contract when it
is in violation of the law[575]. The Judges must help the Curiales
against the molestations of Sajones and other officials. It is a
grievous offence, when the very person to whom is entrusted the duty
of defending the weak, himself turns oppressor.
[Footnote 575: 'Praedia Curialium, unde maximae mediocribus parantur
insidiae, nullus illicita emptione pervadat. Quia contractus dici non
potest nisi qui de legibus venit.']
'Raise your heads in hope, oh ye oppressed ones! lift up your hearts,
ye who are weighed down with a load of evils! To each citizen his own
city is his Republic. Administer justice in your cities in conformity
with the general will. Let your various ranks live on a footing of
justice. Do not oppress the weak, lest you in your turn be deservedly
oppressed by the strong. This is the penalty of wrong-doing, that each
one suffers in his own person what he has wantonly inflicted on
another.
'Live then in justice and moderation. Follow the example of the
cranes, who change the order of their flight, making foremost
hindmost, and hindmost foremost, without difficulty, each willingly
obeying its fellow--a commonwealth of birds.
'You have, according to the laws, power over your citizens. Not in
vain has Antiquity conceded to you the title of Curia: not vainly did
it call you the Lesser Senate, the nerves and vital organs of the
State[576]. What is not contained of honour and power in that title!
For that which is compared to the Senate is excluded from no kind of
glory.'
[Footnote 576: 'Non enim incassum vobis Curiam concessit Antiquitas,
non inaniter appellavit Minorem Senatum, nervos quoque vocitans ac
viscera civitatum.']
3. KING ATHALARIC TO BERGANTINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, COMES [PATRIMONII],
AND PATRICIAN[577].
[Footnote 577: Cf. viii. 23.]
[Sidenote: Gold-mining in Italy.]
'Gold, as well as many other fair fruits of Nature which gold can buy,
is said to be produced by our generous Italy. Theodorus, who is an
expert in such matters, asserts that gold will be found on the farm
Rusticiana in Bruttii[578]. Let your Greatness therefore send a
_Cartarius_ to commence mining operations on that spot. The work of a
miner resembles that of a mole. He burrows underground, far from the
light of day. Sometimes the sides of his passages fall in and his way
is closed up behind him; but if he emerge safely with his treasure,
how happy is he! Then the gold-miner proceeds to immerse his ore in
water, that the heavy metal may be separated from the lighter earth;
then to submit it to a fervent heat, that it may thence derive its
beautiful colour[579].
[Footnote 578: Have we any clue to the geographical position of this
farm? The only Rusticiana known to the Itineraries is in Spain.]
[Footnote 579: 'Origo quidem nobilis, sed de flamma suscipit vim
coloris, ut magis credas inde nasci, cujus similitudine videtur
ornari. Sed cum auro tribuat splendidum ruborem, argento confert
albissimam lucem. Ut mirum sit, unam substantiam tradere, quod rebus
dissimilibus possit aptari.' Have we here a hint of 'the transmutation
of metals?' Cassiodorus seems to think that it is only the furnace
that makes the difference between the colours of gold and of silver.]
'Let then the land of Bruttii pay her tribute in gold, the most
desired of all treasure. To seek gold by war is wicked, by voyages
dangerous, by swindling shameful; but to seek it from Nature in its
own home is righteous. No one is hurt by this honest gain. Griffins
are said to dig for gold and to delight in the contemplation of this
metal; but no one blames them, because their proceedings are not
dictated by criminal covetousness. For it is not the act itself, but
the motive for the act, that gives it its moral quality.'
4. KING ATHALARIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: A family of Curiales permitted to step down into the ranks
of the Possessores.]
'The _pietas_ of the King is happily shown in moderating the sentence
of the law, where for certain reasons it bears with especial hardness
on anyone. The Curiales have peculiar advantages in their opportunity
of being thus liberated by the Sovereign from the performance of their
duties[580]. It is reasonable to release a Curialis whose health
prevents him from fulfilling his appointed task; and a numerous Curia
will never miss a few names out of so large a number.
[Footnote 580: 'Neque enim ob aliud Curiales leges sacratissimae
ligaverunt, nisi ut cum illos soli principes absolverent, indulgentiae
praeconia reperirent.']
'Therefore let your Illustrious Magnificence remove Agenantia, wife
[or widow?] of the most eloquent man Campanianus, dwelling in Lucania,
from the album of her Curia, and her sons also, so that posterity may
never know that they were formerly liable to Curial duties.
'Remitted to the ranks of [mere] Possessores they will now be liable
to the same demands which formerly [as members of the Curia] they made
upon others. They will now dread the face of the tax-collector
(compulsor), and will begin to fear the mandates by which formerly
they made themselves feared[581]. Still this is a sign of their past
good life, that they are willing to live without office _among_ a
population whose dislike they are not conscious of having incurred,
and _under_ old colleagues whom they know that they have not incited
to an abuse of their powers.'
[Footnote 581: 'Formidare delegata incipient, per quae antea
timebantur.' To translate by an analogy, 'And will tremble at the
rate-summonses, their signatures to which used to make other men
tremble.']
5. KING ATHALARIC TO THE BISHOPS AND FUNCTIONARIES OF ----[582].
[Footnote 582: 'Episcopis et Honoratis.' Perhaps it is from motives of
delicacy that Cassiodorus has not added the name of the Province.]
[Sidenote: Forestalling and regrating of corn prohibited.]
'We learn with regret by the complaint of the Possessores of your
district that the severity of famine is being increased by the conduct
of certain persons who have bought up corn and are holding it for
higher prices. In a time of absolute famine there can be no "higgling
of the market;" the hungry man will submit to be cheated rather than
let another get the food before him[583].
[Footnote 583: 'In necessitate siquidem penuriae pretii nulla
contentio est: dum patitur quis induci ne possit aliquâ tarditate
percelli.']
'To stop this practice we send to you the present messengers, whose
business it is to examine all the stores of corn collected for public
distribution[584] or otherwise, to leave to each family sufficient for
its needs, and to purchase the remainder from the owners at a fair
market price. Co-operate with these orders of ours cheerfully, and do
not grumble at them. Complain not that your freedom is interfered
with. There is no free-trade in crime[585]. If you work with us you
will earn good renown for yourselves; if against us, the King's
reputation will gain by your loss. It is the sign of a good ruler to
make men act righteously, even against their wills.'
[Footnote 584: 'Sive in gradu [panis gradilis?] sive in aliis locis.']
[Footnote 585: A paraphrase, confessedly anachronistic, of 'Ne quis
ergo venditionem sibi impositam conqueratur, sciat libertatem in
crimine non requiri.']
6. KING ATHALARIC TO ----, PRIMISCRINIUS.
[Sidenote: A furlough granted for a visit to Baiae.]
'You complain that your health is failing under the long pressure of
your work, and that you fear, if you absent yourself, you may lose the
emoluments of your office. At the same time you ask leave to visit
the Baths of Baiae. Go then with a mind perfectly at rest as to your
emoluments, which we will keep safe for you. Seek the Sun, seek the
pure air and smiling shore of that lovely bay, thickly set with
harbours and dotted with noble islands--that bay in which Nature
displays all her marvels and invites man to explore her secrets. There
is the Lake of Avernus, with its splendid supply of oysters. There are
long piers jutting out into the sea; and the most delightful fishing
in the world is to be had in the fish-ponds--open to the sky--on
either side of them. There are warm baths, heated not by brick-work
flues and smoky balls of fire, but by Nature herself. The pure air
supplies the steam and softly stimulates perspiration, and the
health-giving work is so much the better done as Nature is above Art.
Let the Coralli [in Moesia, on the shore of the Euxine] boast their
wonderful sea, let the pearl fisheries of India vaunt themselves. In
our judgment Baiae, for its powers of bestowing pleasure and health,
surpasses them all. Go then to Baiae to bathe, and have no fear about
the emoluments.'
7. KING ATHALARIC TO REPARATUS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.
[We learn from Procopius ('De Bello Gotthico' i. 26) that Reparatus
was brother of Pope Vigilius; that in 537 he escaped from the
captivity in which the other Senators were kept at Ravenna by Witigis,
and fled to Milan. In 539 Reparatus, who was then Praefectus
Praetorio, was captured at Milan by the Goths, hewn in pieces, and his
flesh given to the dogs (Ibid. ii. 21).]
[Sidenote: Reparatus appointed Praefectus Urbis.]
'The son of a high official naturally aspires to emulate his father's
dignities. Your father had a distinguished career, first as Comes
Largitionum, then as Praefectus Praetorio. While holding the latter
office, he repaired the Senate-house, restored to the poor the gifts
(?) of which they had been deprived[586], and though not himself a man
of liberal education, pleased all by the natural charm of his manner.
[Footnote 586: 'Curiam reparans, pauperibus ablata restituens.']
'You have those advantages of mental training which were denied to
your father. Education lifts an obscure man on to a level with nobles,
but also adorns him who is of noble birth. You have moreover been
chosen as son-in-law by a man of elevated character, whose choice is
in itself a mark of your high merit. You are coming young to
office[587]; but, with such a man's approbation, you cannot be said to
be untried.
[Footnote 587: 'Licet primaevus venias ad honorem.']
'We therefore confer upon you for this Indiction the dignity of
Praefect of the City. The eyes of the world are upon you. The Senate,
that illustrious and critical body, the youngest members of which are
called _Patres_, will listen to your words. See that you say nothing
which can displease those wise men, whose praise, though hard to win,
will be most sweet to your ears. Diligently help the oppressed. Hand
on to your posterity the renown which you have received from your
ancestors.'
8. KING ATHALARIC TO COUNT OSUIN (OR OSUM), VIR ILLUSTRIS[588].
[Footnote 588: Cf. iii. 26 and iv. 9. In the former letter he is
called Osun.]
[Sidenote: Osuin made Governor of Dalmatia and Savia.]
'We reward our faithful servants with high honours, hoping thereby to
quicken the slothful into emulation, when they ask themselves why,
under such an impartial rule, they too do not receive promotion.
'We therefore again entrust to your Illustrious Greatness the
Provinces of Dalmatia and S(u)avia. We need not hold up to you the
examples of others. You have only to imitate yourself, and to confer
now again in your old age the same blessings on those Provinces which,
as a younger man, you bestowed on them under our grandfather.'
9. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE GOTHS AND ROMANS (IN DALMATIA AND SAVIA).
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'We send back to you the Illustrious Count Osuin, whose valour and
justice you already know, to ward off from you the fear of foreign
nations, and to keep you from unjust demands. With him comes the
Illustrious Severinus[589], that with one heart and one mind, like the
various reeds of an organ, they may utter their praiseworthy precepts.
[Footnote 589: We are not told in what capacity Severinus came.
Probably it was on account of Osuin's age that Severinus was
associated with him.]
[Sidenote: Remission of Augmentum.]
'As an act of grace on the commencement of our reign, we direct the
Count of the Patrimony to remit to you all the super-assessment
(augmentum) which was fixed for your Province at the fourth
Indiction[590].
[Footnote 590: 'Per quartam Indictionem quod a nobis augmenti nomine
quaerebatur illustrem virum Comitem Patrimonii nostri nunc jussimus
removere.' As the fourth Indiction began Sept. 525, in the lifetime of
Theodoric, it is clear that that date belongs to the imposition, not
to the removal of the 'augmentum.']
'We also grant that when the aforesaid person [Severinus] returns to
our presence, you may send suitable men with him to inform us of your
financial position, that we may, by readjustment of the taxes, lighten
your load if it be still too heavy. Nothing consolidates the Republic
so much as the uninjured powers of the taxpayer.'
10. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE PROVINCIALS OF THE CITY OF SYRACUSE.
[Sidenote: Remission of Augmentum to Syracusans.]
'Lately we announced to you our accession: now we wish to confer upon
you a benefit in the matter of taxes. For we look on that only as our
revenue which the cultivator pays cheerfully. Our grandfather,
considering the great increase in wealth and population which his long
and peaceful reign had brought with it, thought it prudent to increase
the taxes to be paid by the Province of Sicily[591]. He was quite
right in doing this, but he thereby prepared for us, his young
successor, an opportunity of conferring an unexpected favour, for we
hereby remit to you all the augmentum which was assessed upon you at
the fourth Indiction. And not only so, but all that you have already
paid under this head for the fifth Indiction (526-7) we direct the
tax-collectors to carry to your credit on account[592].
[Footnote 591: 'Avus noster de suis beneficiis magna praesumens (quia
longa quies et culturam agris praestitit et populos ampliavit) intra
Siciliam provinciam sub consueta prudentiae suae moderatione censum
statuit subflagitari ut vobis cresceret devotio, quibus se facultas
extenderat.']
[Footnote 592: This most be the meaning of 'quicquid a discursoribus
novi census per quintam Indictionem probatur affixum, ad vestram eos
fecimus deferre notitiam.']
'Besides this, if anyone have to complain of oppression on the part of
the Governors of the Province, let him seek at once a remedy from our
Piety. Often did our grandfather of glorious memory grieve over the
slowness of the Governors to obey their letters of recall, feeling
sure that they were lingering in the Provinces neither for his good
nor yours.
'We however, with God's help, shall go on in the good work which we
have begun. You have a Prince who, the older he grows, the more will
love you. We send to you our Sajo Quidila, who will convey to you our
orders on this matter.'
11. KING ATHALARIC TO GILDIAS, VIR SPECTABILIS, COUNT OF SYRACUSE.
12. KING ATHALARIC TO VICTOR AND WITIGISCLUS (OR WIGISICLA), VIRI
SPECTABILES, CENSITORES[593] OF SICILY.
[Footnote 593: Tax-collectors. The word is unknown to the Notitia, but
Censuales occurs once in it (Not. Occ. iv.).]
[Sidenote: Oppressions exercised by the King's officers in Sicily
rebuked.]
Victor and Witigisclus are sharply rebuked for their delay in
desisting from the oppression of the Provincials and coming to the
Court of Theodoric when called for[594], a delay which is made more
suspicious by their not having presented themselves to welcome
Athalaric on his accession. Both they and Count Gildias are informed
of the King's decision to remit the increased tax imposed at the
fourth Indiction (Sept. 525); and the two Censitores are recommended,
if they are conscious of having oppressed or injured any of the
Provincials, to remedy the matter themselves, as the King has given
all the Sicilians leave to appeal to himself against their
oppressions: and the complaints of the Sicilians, though distant, will
certainly reach his ears.
[Footnote 594: 'Quos etiam seris praeceptionibus credidit esse
admonendos, ut _relicto tandem provincialium gravamine_ ad ejus
deberetis justitiam festinare.']
13. KING ATHALARIC TO WILLIAS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, COMES PATRIMONII.
[Sidenote: Increase of emoluments of Domestici.]
'Your Greatness informs us of cases that have come to your knowledge,
in which the Guards (Domestici) attending the Counts who are appointed
[to the government of various Provinces] have oppressed the
Provincials by their exactions. As we believe that there is some
excuse for this in the smallness of their _emolumenta_, which at
present consist of only 200 solidi (£120) and ten rations (Annonae),
we direct that you henceforth pay them, as from the fifth Indiction
(Sept. 526), 50 solidi (£30) annually, in addition to the above,
charging this further payment to our account. By taking away
Necessity, the mother of crimes, we hope that the practice of sinning
will also be removed. If, after this, anyone is found oppressing the
Provincials, let him lose his _emolumenta_ altogether. Our gifts
ennoble the receiver, and are given in order to take away from him any
pretext for begging from others.'
[The Domestici were a very select corps of Life-guardsmen; probably
only a very small number of them would accompany a Provincial Governor
to his charge. This may explain what seems an extraordinarily high
rate of pay. Perhaps it is the Comes himself, not his Domestici, who
is to receive the emolumenta here specified; but, if so, the letter is
very obscurely expressed.]
14. KING ATHALARIC TO GILDIAS, VIE SPECTABILIS, COUNT OF SYRACUSE.
[Sidenote: Oppressive acts charged against Gildias, Comes of
Syracuse.]
'We hear great complaints of you from the Sicilians; but, as they are
willing to let bye-gones be bye-gones, we accede to their request, but
give you the following warning:
'(1) You are said to have extorted large sums from them on pretence of
rebuilding the walls, which you have not done. Either repay them the
money or build up their walls. It is too absurd, to promise
fortifications and give instead to the citizens hideous
desolation[595].
[Footnote 595: 'Nimis enim absurdum est, spondere munitiones et dare
civibus excecrabiles vastitates.']
'(2) You are said to be claiming for the Exchequer (under the name of
"Fiscus Caducus") the estates of deceased persons, without any sort of
regard for justice, whereas that title was only intended to apply to
the case of strangers dying without heirs, natural or testamentary.
'(3) You are said to be oppressing the suitors in the Courts with
grievous charges[596], so that you make litigation utterly ruinous to
those who undertake it.
[Footnote 596: 'Conventiones.' I think the complaint here is of the
expenses of 'executing process.' It is not as Judge but as the
functionary who carries the Judge's orders into effect that Gildias is
here blamed.]
'We order therefore that when _our_[597] decrees are being enforced
against a beaten litigant, the gratuity claimed by the officer shall
be the same which our glorious grandfather declared to be
payable--according to the respective ranks of the litigants--to the
Sajo who was charged with the enforcement of the decree; for
gratuities ought not to be excessive[598].
[Footnote 597: 'Nostra' (the reading of Nivellius) seems evidently a
better reading than 'vestra' (which Migne has adopted).]
[Footnote 598: 'Commodum debet esse _cum modo_.' A derivation or a
pun.]
'But if _your_ decrees are being enforced--and that must be only in
cases against persons with whom the edicts allow you to
interfere[599]--then your officer must receive half the gratuity
allowed to him who carries our decrees into execution. It is obviously
improper that the man who only performs _your_ orders should receive
as much as is paid out of reverence for _our_ command. Anyone
infringing this constitution is to restore fourfold.
[Footnote 599: 'Duntaxat in illis causis atque personis, ubi te
misceri edicta voluerunt.']
'(4) The edicts of our glorious grandfather, and all the precepts
which he made for the government of Sicily, are to be so obediently
observed that he shall be held guilty of sacrilege who, spurred on by
his own beastly disposition, shall try to break down the bulwark of
our commands[600].
[Footnote 600: 'Quisquis belluinis moribus excitatus munimen
tentaverit irrumpere jussionum.']
'(5) It is said that you cite causes between two Romans, even against
their will, before your tribunal. If you are conscious that this has
been done by you, do not so presume in future, lest while seeking the
office of Judge, for which you are incompetent, you wake up to find
yourself a culprit. You, of all men, ought to be mindful of the
Edictum, since you insist on its being followed by others. If not, if
this rule is not observed by you, your whole power of decreeing shall
be taken from you. Let the administration of the laws be preserved
intact to the _Judices Ordinarii_. Let the litigants throng, as they
ought to do, to the Courts of their _Cognitores_. Do not be gnawed by
envy of their pomp. The true praise of the Goths is
_law-abidingness_[601]. The more seldom the litigant is seen in your
presence the greater is your renown. Do you defend the State with your
arms; let the Romans plead before their own law courts in peace.
[Footnote 601: 'Gothorum laus est civilitas custodita.']
'(6) You are also accused of insisting on buying the cargoes of
vessels that come to the port at your own price [and selling again at
a higher]--a practice the very suspicion of which is injurious to an
official, even if it cannot be proved against him in fact[602].
Wherefore, if you wish to avoid the rumour of this deed, let the
Bishop and people of the city come forward as witnesses on behalf of
your conscience[603]. Prices ought to be fixed by the common
deliberation [of buyer and seller]; since no one likes a commercial
transaction which is forced upon the unwilling.
[Footnote 602: This seems a possible interpretation of a dark
sentence: 'Navigiis vecta commercia te suggerunt occupare, et ambitu
cupiditatis exosae solum antiqua pretia definire, quod non creditur a
suspicione longinquum etiam si non sit actione vicinum.']
[Footnote 603: Is this a kind of compurgation which is here proposed?]
'Wherefore we have thought it proper to warn your Sublimity by these
presents, since we do not like those whom we love to be guilty of
excess, nor to hear evil reports of those who are charged with
reforming the morals of others.'
[This is an important letter, especially when taken in connection with
the words of Totila (Procopius, 'De Bello Gotthico' iii. 16), as to
the exceptional indulgence with which the Gothic Kings had treated
Sicily, 'leaving, at the request of the inhabitants, very few soldiers
in the island, that there might be no distaste to their freedom or to
their general prosperity.'
Gildias is evidently a Goth, and though a _Vir Spectabilis_ and
holding a Roman office--the Comitiva Syracusanae Civitatis--still it
is essentially a military office, and he has no business to divert
causes from the Judices Ordinarii to his tribunal, though probably a
Roman Comes might often do this without serious blame. But by his
doing so, the general principle, that in purely Roman causes a Goth is
not to interfere, seems to be infringed, and therefore he receives
this sharp reprimand to prevent his doing it again.]
15. KING ATHALARIC TO POPE JOHN II (532).
[Sidenote: Against Simony at Papal elections.]
'The Defensor of the Roman Church hath informed us in his tearful
petition that lately, when a President was sought for the Papal chair,
so much were the usual largesses to the poor augmented by the promises
which had been extorted from the candidate, that, shameful to say,
even the sacred vessels were exposed to sale in order to provide the
necessary money[604].
[Footnote 604: 'Quosdam nefariâ machinatione necessitatem temporis
aucupatos, ita facultates pauperum extortis promissionibus ingravasse,
ut quod dictu nefas est, etiam sacra vasa emptioni publicae viderentur
exposita.']
'Therefore let your Holiness know that by this present decree, which
relates also to all the Patriarchs and Metropolitan Churches [the five
Metropolitan Churches in Rome, and such Sees as Milan, Aquileia,
Ravenna], we confirm the wise law passed by the Senate in the time of
the most holy Pope Boniface [predecessor of John II]. By it any
contract or promise made by any person in order to obtain a Bishopric
is declared void.
'Anyone refusing to refund money so received is to be declared guilty
of sacrilege, and restitution is to be enforced by the Judge.'
'Should a contention arise as to an election to the Apostolic See, and
the matter be brought to our Palace for decision, we direct that the
maximum fee to be paid, on the completion of the necessary documents
(?), shall be 3,000 solidi [£1,800][605]; but this is only to be
exacted from persons of sufficient ability to pay it.
[Footnote 605: 'Et quia omnia decet sub ratione moderari, nec possunt
dici justa quae nimia sunt, cum de Apostolici consecratione Pontificis
intentio fortasse pervenerit, et ad Palatium nostrum producta fuerit
altercatio populorum, suggerentes (?) nobis intra tria millia
solidorum, cum collectione cartarum censemus accipere.']
'Patriarchs [Archbishops of the other great Italian Sees] under
similar circumstances are to pay not more than 2,000 solidi [£1,200].
'No one is to give [on his consecration] more than 500 solidi [£300]
to the poor.
'Anyone professing to obtain for money the suffrage of any one of our
servants on behalf of a candidate for Papacy or Patriarchate, shall be
forced to refund the money. If it cannot be recovered from him, it may
be from his heirs. He himself shall be branded with infamy.
'Should the giver of the money have been bound by such oaths, that,
without imperilling his soul, he cannot disclose the transaction,
anyone else may inform, and on establishing the truth of his
accusation, receive a third part of the money so corruptly paid, the
rest to go to the churches themselves, for the repair of the fabric or
for the daily ministry. Remember the fate of Simon Magus. We have
ordered that this decree be made known to the Senate and people by the
Praefect of the City.'
[I think the early part of this letter gives us the clue to the
pretext under which these simoniacal practices were introduced. It was
usual for the Pope on his election to give a certain sum of money to
the poor. Then at a vehemently contested election certain of the
voters--perhaps especially the priests of the different _tituli_ of
Rome--claimed to be distributors of the Papal bounty, a large part of
which they no doubt kept for themselves.]
16. KING ATHALARIC TO SALVANTIUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
Rehearses the motives of the previous edict, and directs that both it
and the Senatus Consulta having reference to the same subject [and
framed two years previously], be engraved on marble tablets, and fixed
up in a conspicuous place, before the Atrium of St. Peter the Apostle.
17. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SAME (BETWEEN 532 AND 534).
[Sidenote: Release of two Roman citizens accused of sedition.]
'We cannot bear that there should be sadness in Rome, the head of the
world. We hear with regret from the Apostolic Pope John, and other
nobles, that A and B, who are Romans, on a mere suspicion of sedition
are being macerated by so long imprisonment that the whole city mourns
for them; no gladness of a holyday and no respect for the Papal
name[606] (which is most dear to us) availing to mitigate their
confinement. This treatment of persons against whom no crime has been
proved distresses us much, and we admonish your Greatness, wherever
you may succeed in finding them, to set them free. If, confident in
their innocence, they think that they have been unjustly tormented, we
give them liberty to make their appeal to the laws. Judges were
raised to their high estate, not to oppress but to defend the
innocent.
[Footnote 606: 'Nec ulla--quae apud nos est gratissima--nominis sui
dignitas subveniret.' I think _sui_ must refer to the
recently-mentioned _Papa Johannes_.]
'Now let the Romans return to their ancient gladness; nor let them
think that any [rulers] please us but those who seek to act with
fairness and moderation. Let them understand that our forefathers
underwent labours and dangers that _they_ might have rest; and that we
are expending large sums in order that they may rejoice with garrulous
exultation. For even if they have before now suffered some rough and
unjust treatment, let them not believe that that is a thing to be
neglected by our Mildness. No; for we give ourselves no rest, that
they may enjoy secure peace and calm gladness. Let them understand at
once that _we_ cannot love the men whose excesses have made them
terrible to our subjects. Whose favour do those men expect to win who
have earned the dislike of their fellow-citizens? They might have
reaped a harvest of the public love, and instead thereof they have so
acted that their names are justly held in execration.'
18. THE EDICT OF ATHALARIC.
[This edict is minutely examined by Dahn ('Könige der Germanen' iv.
123-135). I have adopted his division of paragraphs, though rather
disposed to think that the 'De Donationibus' should be broken up into
two, to prevent counting the Epilogue as a section. See also Manso
('Geschichte der Ostrogothen' 405-415).]
[Sidenote: Edict of Athalaric.]
'_Prologue._ This edict is a general one. No names are mentioned in
it, and those who are conscious of innocence need take no offence at
anything contained therein.
'For long an ominous whisper has reached our ears that certain
persons, despising _civilitas_, affect a life of beastly
barbarism[607], returning to the wild beginnings of society, and
looking with a fierce hatred on all human laws. The present seems to
us a fitting time for repressing these men, in order that we may be
hunting down vice and immorality within the Republic at the same time
that, with God's help, we are resisting her external foes. Both are
hurtful, both have to be repelled; but the internal enemy is even more
dangerous than the external. One, however, rests upon the other; and
we shall more easily sweep down the armies of our enemies if we subdue
under us the vices of the age. [This allusion to foreign enemies is
perhaps explained by the hint in Jordanes ('De Reb. Get.' 59) of
threatened war with the Franks. But he gives us no sufficient
indication of time to enable us to fix the date of the Edictum.]
[Footnote 607: 'Affectare vivere belluinâ saevitiâ.']
'I. _Forcible Appropriation of Landed Property_[608] (Pervasio). This
is a crime which is quite inconsistent with _civilitas_, and we remit
those who are guilty of it to the punishment[609] provided by a law of
Divus Valentinianus [Valentinian III. Novell. xix. 'De Invasoribus'],
adding that if anyone is unable to pay the penalty therein provided he
shall suffer banishment (deportatio). He ought to have been more chary
of disobeying the laws if he had no means to pay the penalty. Judges
who shrink from obeying this law, and allow the _Pervasor_ to remain
in possession of what he has forcibly annexed, shall lose their
offices and be held liable to pay to our Treasury the same fine which
might have been exacted from him. If the _Pervasor_ sets the Judge's
official staff (officium) at defiance, on the report of the Judge our
Sajones will make _him_ feel the weight of the royal vengeance who
refused to obey the [humbler] _Cognitor_.
[Footnote 608: 'Praedia urbana vel rustica.']
[Footnote 609: The punishment consisted in loss of all claim to the
property--which was generally seized by someone who had some kind of
ostensible claim to it--and a penalty of equal value with that of the
property wrongfully seized.]
'II. _Affixing Titles to Property._ [When land had from any cause
become public property, the Emperor's officers used to affix _tituli_,
to denote the fact and to warn off all other claimants. Powerful men
who had dispossessed weaker claimants used to imitate this practice,
and are here forbidden to do so.]
'This offence shall subject the perpetrator to the same penalties as
_pervasio_. It is really a kind of sacrilege to try to add the majesty
of the royal name to the weight of his own oppression. Costs are to be
borne by the defeated claimant.
'III. _Suppression of Words in a Decree._ Anyone obtaining a decree
against an adversary is to be careful to suppress nothing in the copy
which he serves upon him. If he does so, he shall lose all the
benefits that he obtained. We wish to help honest men, not rogues.
'IV. _Seduction of a Married Woman._ He who tries to interfere with
the married rights of another, shall be punished by inability to
contract a valid marriage himself. [This punishment of compulsory
celibacy is, according to Dahn, derived neither from Roman nor German
law, but is possibly due to Church influence.] The offender who has no
hope of present or future matrimony[610] shall be punished by
confiscation of half his property; or, if a poor man, by banishment.
[Footnote 610: 'Illis quos spes non habet praesentis conjugii vel
futuri.' It is not easy to see how the Judge could ascertain whether a
man belonged to this claim or not.]
'V. _Adultery_. All the statutes of the late King (divalis commonitio)
in this matter are to be strictly observed. [Edict. Theodorici, § 38,
inflicted the penalty of death on both offenders and on the abettors
of the crime.]
'VI. _Bigamy_ is to be punished with loss of all the offender's
property.
'VII. _Concubinage._ If a married man forms a connection of this kind
with a free woman, she and all her children shall become the slaves
of the injured wife. If with a woman who is a slave already, she shall
be subjected to any revenge that the lawful wife likes to inflict upon
her, short of blood-shedding[611].
[Footnote 611: 'Quod si ad tale flagitium ancilla pervenerit, excepta
poena sanguinis, matronali subjaceat ultioni: ut illam patiatur
judicem, quam formidare debuisset absentem.' These provisions are
probably of Germanic origin.]
'VIII. _Donations_ are not to be extorted by terror, nor acquired by
fraud, or as the price of immorality. Where a gift is _bonâ fide_, the
document conveying it is to be drawn up with the strictness prescribed
by Antiquity, in order to remove occasions of fraud.
'IX. Magicians and other persons practising nefarious arts are to be
punished by the severity of the laws. What madness to leave the Giver
of life and seek to the Author of death! Let the Judges be especially
careful to avoid the contagion of these foul practices.
'X. _Violence Exercised towards the Weak._ Let the condition of
mediocrity be safe from the arrogance of the rich. Let the madness of
bloodshed be avoided. To take the law into your own hands is to wage
private war, especially in the case of those who are fortified by the
authority of our _tuitio_. If anyone attempts with foul presumption to
act contrary to these principles, let him be considered a violator of
our orders.
'XI. _Appeals_ are not to be made twice in the same cause.
'XII. _Epilogue._ But lest, while touching on a few points, we should
be thought not to wish the laws to be observed in other matters, we
declare that all the edicts of ourself and of our lord and
grandfather, which were confirmed by venerable deliberation[612], and
the whole body of decided law[613], be adhered to with the utmost
rigour.
[Footnote 612: 'Quae sunt venerabili deliberatione firmata.' Is it
possible that we have here a reference to a theoretical right of the
_Senate_ to concur in legislation?]
[Footnote 613: 'Et usualia jura publica.' Dahn expands: 'All other
juristic material, all sources of law--Roman _leges_ and _jus_, and
Gothic customary law--the whole inheritance of the State in public and
private law.']
'And these laws are so scrupulously guarded that our own oath is
interposed for their defence. Why enlarge further? Let the usual rule
of law and the honest intent of our precepts be everywhere observed.'
19. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Promulgation of the Edict.]
'Good laws are called forth by evil manners. If no complaints were
ever heard, the Prince might take holiday. Stirred up by many and
frequent complaints of our people, we have drawn up certain
regulations necessary for the Roman peace, in our edict which is
divided into twelve chapters, after the manner of the civil law[614].
We do not thereby abrogate, but rather confirm, the previously
existing body of law.
[Footnote 614: 'Necessaria quaedam Romanae quieti edictali programmate
duodecim capitibus sicut jus civile legitur institutum in aevum
servanda conscripsimus, quae custodita residuum jus non debilitare,
sed potius corroborare videantur.']
'Let this edict be read in your splendid assembly, and exhibited for
thirty days by the Praefect of the City in the most conspicuous
places. Thus shall our _civilitas_ be recognised, and truculent men
lose their confidence. What insolent subjects[615] can indulge in
violence when the Sovereign condemns it? Our armies fight that there
may be peace at home. Let the Judges do their duty fearlessly, and
avoid foul corruption.'
[Footnote 615: Evidently aimed at the Goths.]
20. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE JUDGES OF THE PROVINCES.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'It is vexatious that, though we appoint you year by year to your
duties, and leave no district without its Judge, there is yet such
tardiness in administering justice that suitors come by preference to
our distant Court.
'To take away all excuse from you, and relieve the necessity of our
subjects, we have drawn up an edict which we desire you to exhibit for
thirty days in the wonted manner at all places of public meeting.'
21. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Increase of salaries of grammarians.]
'You who are called Fathers should be interested in all that concerns
the education of your sons. We hear by certain whisperings that the
teachers of eloquence at Rome are not receiving their proper reward,
and that the sums appointed to be paid to the masters of schools are
lessened by the haggling of some persons.
'Grammar is the noble foundation of all literature, the glorious
mother of eloquence. As a virtuous man is offended by any act of vice,
as a musician is pained by a discordant note, so does the grammarian
in a moment perceive a false concord.
'The grammatical art is not used by barbarous kings: it abides
peculiarly with legitimate sovereigns[616]. Other nations have arms:
the lords of the Romans alone have eloquence. Hence sounds the trumpet
for the legal fray in the Forum. Hence comes the eloquence of so many
chiefs of the State. Hence, to say nothing more, even this discourse
which is now addressed to you[617].
[Footnote 616: 'Hac non utuntur barbari reges: apud legales dominos
manere cognoscitur singularis.']
[Footnote 617: 'Et, ut reliqua taceamus, hoc quod loquimur inde est.']
'Wherefore let the teacher of grammar and of rhetoric, if he be found
suitable for his work and obey the decrees of the Praefect of the
City, be supported by your authority, and suffer no diminution of his
salary[618].
[Footnote 618: 'Et semel Primi Ordinis vestri ac reliqui Senatus
amplissimi auctoritate firmatus.' What is the meaning of 'Primi
Ordinis vestri?']
'To prevent his being dependent in any way on the caprice of his
employer, let him receive half his salary at the end of half a year,
and his _annonae_ at the customary times. If the person whose
business it is to pay him neglects this order, he shall be charged
interest on the arrears.
'The Grammarian is a man to whom every hour unemployed is misery, and
it is a shame that such a man should have to wait the caprice of a
public functionary before he gets his pay. We provide for the salaries
of the play-actors, who minister only to the amusement of the public;
and how much more for these men, the moulders of the style and
character of our youth! Therefore let them henceforward not have to
try the philosophical problem of thinking about two things at once,
but, with their minds at ease about their subsistence, devote
themselves with all their vigour to the teaching of liberal arts.'
22. KING ATHALARIC TO PAULINUS, VIR CLARISSIMUS AND CONSUL (533).
[Flavius Theodoras Paulinus Junior was Consul with the Emperor
Justinian in 534. This letter was written in Sept. 533, about thirteen
months before the death of Athalaric. Paulinus was son of Venantius
and grandson of Liberius.]
[Sidenote: Paulinus chosen as Consul.]
'The absent from our Court need not fear that they will be disregarded
in the distribution of honours, especially when they are sprung from
an illustrious stock, the offspring of the Senate.
'In your family Rome recognises the descendants of her ancient heroes
the Decii, who, in a great crisis, alone saved their country.
'Take then for the twelfth Indiction the ensigns of the
Consulship[619]. It is an arduous honour, but one which your family is
well used to. The Fasti are studded with its names, and nearly all
the Senate is of kin to you. Still, presume not too much on the merits
of your ancestors, but rather seek to emulate their noble deeds.'
[Footnote 619: The twelfth Indiction began Sept. 1, 533. The Consul
would enter office Jan. 1, 534. Was he _designated_ when the great
Imperial officers were _appointed_ at the beginning of the Indiction?]
23. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: On the Consulship of Paulinus.]
'Judge of our esteem for your honourable body, Conscript Fathers,
when, without any hesitation, we appoint your sons whom we have never
seen to high office, because they are your sons.
'We admire the Patrician Venantius, blessed as he has been with such
an abundant progeny, and found equal to the weight of so many
Consulships. His sons have been all temperate and lively; worthy
members of the same distinguished family. They have been trained in
arms, their minds have been formed by letters, their bodies by the
exercises of the gymnasium. They have learned to show constancy to
their friends, loyalty to their lords; and they have succeeded to the
virtues of their ancestors, as they will to their patrimony. Wisely
husbanding his own fortune, Venantius has been able to support the
honour--gratifying, but burdensome--of seeing so many of his sons made
Consuls. But this is an honour not strange to his family, sprung from
the ancient Decii. His hall is full of laurelled Fasces, and in his
line one might almost say that each one is born a Consular.
'Favour our candidate then, Conscript Fathers, and cherish him with
that care which the name of your body[620] signifies.'
[Footnote 620: _Curia_, from _cura_.]
24. KING ATHALARIC TO SENATOR [CASSIODORUS HIMSELF], PRAETORIAN
PRAEFECT (SEPT. 1, 533).
[Sidenote: Cassiodorus appointed Praetorian Praefect.]
'If you had been hitherto an obscure person we might feel some doubt
how you would bear yourself in your new office, but your long and
glorious career under our grandfather relieves us from any such
anxieties. _His_ choice of you is a thing to be not discussed but
reverently accepted. It was by him that we ourselves were chosen; and
the Divine favour so conspicuously followed him that no General whom
he selected was other than victorious, no Judge whom he appointed was
other than just. In short, one might almost deem him to have been
endowed with the gift of prophecy.
[Sidenote: His Quaestorship.]
'In your early manhood he received you into the office of Quaestor,
and soon found you to be a conscientious man, learned in the law
beyond your years[621]. You were the chief ornament of your times,
inasmuch as you, by your blameless service sustaining the weight of
that royal intellect by all the force of your eloquence, enabled him,
with his keen interest in all public affairs, to await the result with
confidence. In you he possessed a counsellor pleasant in the
transaction of business, rigid in his sense of justice, free from all
taint of avarice. You never fixed a scandalous tariff for the sale of
his benefits; and thus you reaped your reward in a wealth of public
opinion, not in gold. It was because that just Prince proved you to be
averse from all these vices that he selected you for his glorious
friendship. A wise judge, he threw upon you the weight of listening to
the arguments of contending parties; and so high was his opinion of
your tried sagacity that he at once uttered your decision as the
greatest benefit that he could confer on the litigants. How often did
he rank you among the oldest chiefs of his Council! How often was it
seen that your young beginnings were more than a match for them, who
had the experience of long years behind them! What he found to praise
in you was your excellent disposition, wide open for useful work,
tight closed against the vices of avarice. Whereas, for some reason,
it is rare to find amongst men, the hand closed and justice open.
[Footnote 621: 'Primaevum recipiens ad Quaestoris Officium, mox
reperit conscientia praeditum, et legum eruditione maturum.']
[Sidenote: His career as Master of the Offices.]
'Let us pass on to the dignity of _Magister Officiorum_, which all men
knew that you obtained, not from the reputation of wealth, but as a
testimony to your character. In this place you were always ready to
help the [successive] Quaestors; for, when pure eloquence was
required, the case was always put in your hands. The benignant
Sovereign claimed from you the fulfilment of duties which he knew that
he had not formally laid upon you; and such was the favour that he had
for you, while others laboured you received the reward of his abundant
praises[622]. For under your administration no dignity kept its exact
limits; anything that was to be honestly done by all the chiefs of the
State together, you considered to be entrusted to _your_ conscience
for its performance.
[Footnote 622: 'Et quadam gratia praejudiciali vacabat alios laborare,
ut te sententiae suae copiosa laude compleret.' One would have
expected Cassiodorus to say, 'You had the special privilege of doing
other people's work and being praised for it, while they enjoyed their
leisure;' but I hardly see how we can get this meaning out of 'vacabat
alios laborare.']
'No one found occasion to murmur anything to your disadvantage, though
you had to bear all the weight of unpopularity which comes from the
Sovereign's favour. The integrity of your life conquered those who
longed to detract from your reputation, and your enemies were obliged
to utter the praises which their hearts abhorred; for even malice
leaves manifest goodness unattacked, lest it be itself exposed to
general hatred.
[Sidenote: His friendship for Theodoric.]
'To the Monarch you showed yourself a friendly Minister and an
intimate Noble[623]. For when he had laid aside the cares of State, he
would seek in your conversation the opinions of wise men of old, that
by his own deeds he might make himself equal to the ancients[624].
Into the courses of the stars, into the gulfs of the sea, into the
marvels of springing fountains, this most acute questioner enquired,
so that by his diligent investigations into the nature of things he
seemed to be a Philosopher wearing the purple.
[Footnote 623: 'Egisti rerum domino judicem familiarem et internum
procerem.']
[Footnote 624: 'Nam cum esset publica cura vacuatus, sententias
prudentum a tuis fabulis exigebat; ut factis propriis se aequaret
antiquis.']
'It were long to narrate all your merits in the past. Let us rather
turn to the future, and show how the heir of Theodoric's Empire
proposes to pay the debts of Theodoric.
'Therefore, with the Divine help, we bestow on you from the twelfth
Indiction [Sept. 1, 533] the authority and insignia of Praetorian
Praefect. Let the Provinces, which we know to have been hitherto
wearied by the administration of dishonest men, fearlessly receive a
Judge of tried integrity.
'Though you have before you the example of your father's
Praefecture[625], renowned throughout the Italian world, we do not so
much set before you either that or any other example, as your own past
character, exhorting you to rule consistently with that. You have
always been averse from bribery; now earnestly help the victims of
injustice. We have purposely delayed your accession to this high
office that you might be the more heartily welcomed by the people, who
expected to see you clothed with it long ago. Diligently seek out
anything belonging to the titles of the Praetorian Praefecture, of
which it has been defrauded by the cupidity of others. We send you as
a light into a dark chamber, and expect that your sagacity and loyalty
will discover many hidden things.
[Footnote 625: 'Quamvis habeas paternam Praefecturam, Italico orbe
praedicatam.' This is one of the many proofs that Senator (now first
advanced to the office of Praefectus Praetorio) is the _son_ of the
Cassiodorus to whom the letter (i. 3) is addressed on his retirement
from that office.]
'We know that you will work not so much for the sake of honour as in
order to satisfy your conscience; and work so done knows no limit to
its excellence.'
25. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME (ON THE PROMOTION
OF CASSIODORUS SENATOR TO THE PRAETORIAN PRAEFECTURE).
[Sidenote: Eulogy of Cassiodorus on his appointment as Praetorian
Praefect.]
'We have loaded Senator with our benefits, Conscript Fathers, because
he abounds in virtue, is rich in excellence of character, and is
already full of the highest honours. But, in fact, we are his debtors.
How shall we repay that eloquent tongue of his, with which he set
forth the deeds of the Prince, till he himself who had wrought them
wondered at his story? In praising the reign of the wearer of the
purple, he made it acceptable to your nation. For taxes may be paid to
a tyrant; praise, such as this, is given only to a good Prince.
[Sidenote: His Gothic History.]
'Not satisfied with extolling living Kings, from whom he might hope
for a reward, he drew forth the Kings of the Goths from the dust of
ages, showing that the Amal family had been royal for seventeen
generations, and proved that the origin of the Gothic people belonged
to Roman history[626], adorning the whole subject with the flowers of
his learning gathered from wide fields of literature.
[Footnote 626: 'Tetendit se etiam in antiquam prosapiem nostram,
lectione discens, quod vix majorum notitia cana retinebat. Iste Reges
Gothorum longa oblivione celatos, latibulo vetustatis eduxit. Iste
Amalos cum generis sui claritate restituit, evidenter ostendens in
decimam septimam progeniem stirpem nos habere regalem. Originem
Gothicam historiam fecit esse Romanam, colligens quasi in unam coronam
germen floridum quod per librorum campos passim fuerat ante
dispersum.']
'In the early days of our reign what labour he gave to the settling of
our affairs! He was alone sufficient for all. The duty of making
public harangues, our own private counsels, required him. He laboured
that the Empire might rest.
[Sidenote: His official career.]
'We found him Magister; but he discharged the duties of Quaestor, and
willingly bestowed on us, the heir, the experience which he had gained
in the counsels of our grandfather.
[Sidenote: His military services.]
'And not only so, he helped the beginning of our reign both with his
arms and his pen. For when the care of our shores[627] occupied our
royal meditation, he suddenly emerged from the seclusion of his
cabinet, boldly, like his ancestors, assumed the office of
General[628], and triumphed by his character when there was no enemy
to overcome. For he maintained the Gothic warriors[629] at his own
charges, so that there should be no robbery of the Provincials on the
one hand, no too heavy burden on the exchequer on the other. Thus was
the soldier what he ought to be, the true defender, not the ravager of
his country. Then when the time for victualling the ships was over,
and the war was laid aside, he shone as an administrator rather than a
warrior, healing, without injury to the litigants, the various suits
which arose out of the sudden cessation of the contracts[630].
[Footnote 627: Probably from some expected descent of the Vandals, in
connection with the affair of Amalafrida.]
[Footnote 628: 'Par suis majoribus ducatum sumpsit intrepidus.']
[Footnote 629: 'Deputatos.']
[Footnote 630: A conjectural translation of a difficult sentence: 'Mox
autem ut tempus clausit navium commeatum, bellique cura resoluta est,
ingenium suum legum potius ductor exercuit: sanans sine damno
litigantium quod ante sub pretio comstabat esse laceratum.' I
conjecture that by the sudden stoppage of the warlike preparations
several of the contractors were in danger of being ruined, and there
was a general disposition to repudiate all purchases.]
'Such was the glory of the military command of a Metellus in Asia, of
a Cato in Spain--a glory far more durable than any that can be derived
from the varying shock of war.
[Sidenote: His religious character.]
'Yet with all these merits, how humble he has been, how modest, how
benevolent, how slow to wrath, how generous in the distribution of
that which is his own, how slow to covet the property of others! All
these virtues have been consolidated by his reading of the Divine
Book, the fear of God helping him to triumph over baser, human
motives. Thus has he been rendered humble towards all, as one imbued
with heavenly teaching.
'Him therefore, Conscript Fathers, we make, under God's blessing,
Praetorian Praefect from the twelfth Indiction [Sept. 1, 533], that he
may repress by his own loyalty the trafficking of knaves, and may use
his power for the good of the Republic, bequeathing eternal renown to
his posterity.'
BOOK X.
CONTAINING THIRTY-FIVE LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS:
FOUR IN THE NAME OF QUEEN AMALASUENTHA.
TWENTY-TWO IN THAT OF KING THEODAHAD.
FOUR IN THAT OF HIS WIFE GUDELINA.
FIVE IN THAT OF KING WITIGIS.
1. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO JUSTINIAN THE EMPEROR (A.D. 534).
[Sidenote: Association of Theodahad in the Sovereignty.]
'I have hitherto forborne to distress you with the sad tidings of the
death of my son of glorious memory, but now am able to mingle a joyful
announcement with this mournful message. We have promoted to the
sceptre a man allied to us by a fraternal tie, that he may wear the
purple robes of his ancestors, and may cheer our own soul by his
prudent counsels. We are persuaded that you will give us your good
wishes on this event, as we hope that every kind of prosperity may
befall the kingdom of your Piety. The friendship of princes is always
comely, but your friendship absolutely ennobles me, since that person
is exalted in dignity who is united by friendship to your glory[631].
[Footnote 631: 'Nam licet concordia Principum semper deceat, vestra
tamen absolute me nobilitat; quoniam ille redditur amplius excelsus,
qui vestrae gloriae fuerit unanimiter conjunctus.']
'As we cannot in the short space of a letter express all that we
desire to say on such an occasion, we have entrusted certain verbal
messages to the ambassadors who bear this epistle.'
2. THEODAHAD THE KING TO JUSTINIAN THE EMPEROR.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'It is usual for newly-crowned Kings to signify their accession to the
different nations round them. I, in making this communication to you,
am greatly favoured by Providence, feeling secure of your favour,
because I know that my most excellent Lady and Sister has already
attained it. I feel confident that I shall justify the choice of one
who shines in such a light of wisdom that she both governs her own
kingdom with admirable forethought and keeps firmly the vows of
friendship which she has plighted to her neighbours. Partner of her
cares, I desire also to be a partner of her wisely-formed friendships,
those especially which she has contracted with you, who have nothing
like unto you in the whole world. This alliance is no new thing: if
you will look back upon the deeds of our ancestors you will find that
there is a custom which has obtained the force of a law, that the
Amals should be friendly with the Empire. So old a friendship is
likely to endure; and if, in obedience to it and to my Sister's
choice, I have your love, I shall feel that I am indeed a King.
'The ambassadors who have charge of this letter will further express
my sentiments.'
3. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'After the death of our son of blessed memory[632] our love for the
common weal overcame the yearnings of a mother's heart and caused us
to seek your prosperity rather than an opportunity to indulge in our
own sorrow. We have considered by what solace we should strengthen
ourselves for the cares of royalty. The same Providence which has
deprived us of a son in the dawn of manhood, has reserved for us the
affection of a brother in mature age. Under the Divine auspices we
have chosen Theodahad[633] as the fortunate partner of our throne. We
two, with conjoined counsels, shall now labour for the common welfare,
_two_ in our meditations, _one_ in the action which results from them.
The stars give one another mutual help in ruling the heavens, and God
has bestowed on man two hands, two ears, two eyes, that each one of
these members should assist the other.
[Footnote 632: 'Divae recordationis.']
[Footnote 633: Is there any authority for the reading of Nivellius,
'Theo_baldum_?']
[Sidenote: Praises of Theodahad.]
'Therefore exult, Conscript Fathers, and commend our deed to the
blessing of the Almighty. Our sharing our power with another is a
pledge of its being wisely and gently exercised. By God's help we have
opened our palace to a man of our own race, conspicuous by his
illustrious position, who, born of the Amal stock, has a kingly
dignity in all his actions, being patient in adversity, moderate in
prosperity, and, most difficult of all kinds of government, long used
to the government of himself. Moreover, he possesses that desirable
quality, literary erudition, lending a grace to a nature originally
praiseworthy. It is in books that the sage counsellor finds deeper
wisdom, in books that the warrior learns how he may be strengthened by
the courage of the soul, in books that the Sovereign discovers how he
may weld nations together under his equal rule. In short, there is no
condition in life the credit whereof is not augmented by the glorious
knowledge of literature.
'Your new Sovereign is moreover learned in ecclesiastical lore, by
which we are ever reminded of the things which make for our own true
honour, right judgment, wise discretion, reverence for God, thought
of the future judgment. For the remembrance that we shall one day
stand at the bar to answer for ourselves compels us to follow the
footprints of Justice. Thus does religious reading not only sharpen
the intellect but ever tend to make men scrupulous in the performance
of their duties.
'Let me pass on to that most generous frugality of his private
household[634] which procured the means of such abundance in his
gifts, of such plenty at his banquets, that even the kingdom will not
call for any new expenditure in this respect greater than the old.
Generous in his hospitality, most pitiful in his compassions, while he
was thus spending much, his fortune, by a heavenly reward, was ever on
the increase.
[Footnote 634: 'Veniamus ad illam privatae Ecclesiae (?) largissimam
frugalitatem.' 'Ecclesiae,' if it means here 'the Church,' seems to
spoil the sense. Can Cassiodorus mean to compare the household of
Theodahad to a 'private Ecclesia?']
'The wish of the people should coincide with our choice of such a man,
who, reasonably spending his own goods, does not desire the goods of
others[635]. For moderation in his own expenditure takes away from the
Sovereign the temptation to transgress the precepts of justice and to
abandon the golden mean.
[Footnote 635: 'Talem universitas debuit optare, qualem nos probamur
elegisse, qui rationabiliter disponens propria, non appetat aliena.'
And this of Theodahad!]
'Rejoice then, Conscript Fathers, and give thanks to the Most High,
that I have chosen such a ruler, who will supplement my justice by the
good deeds which spring from his own piety. For this man is both
admonished by the virtue of his ancestors and powerfully stimulated by
the example of his uncle Theodoric.'
4. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'We announce to you, Conscript Fathers, the Divine favour which has
been manifested unto us, in that our sovereign Lady[636], who is
renowned throughout the whole world, has with generous affection made
me partaker of her throne, so that she may not lack loyal support and
I may be fittingly clothed with the purple of my ancestors.
[Footnote 636: 'Dominam rerum.']
'I know that this elevation of mine was the object of the wishes of
the community. Your whispers in my favour might have been a source of
danger, but now your openly expressed acclamations are my proudest
boast. You wished that God should bestow upon me this honour, to which
I for my part should not have ventured to aspire. But if I have, as I
trust I have, any influence with you, let me prevail upon you to join
with me in perpetually hymning the glorious praises of our Lady and
Sister. She has wished to strengthen the greatness of our Empire by
associating me therein, even as the two eyes of a man harmoniously
co-operate towards a single act of vision. Divine grace joins us
together: our near relationship cements our friendship. Persons of
diverse character may find it an arduous matter thus to work in
common; but, to those who resemble one another in the goodness of
their intentions, the difficulty would rather be _not_ to work in
harmony. The man devoid of forethought may fear the changing of his
purposes; but he who is really great in wisdom eagerly seeks wisdom in
another.
'But of all the gifts which with this regal dignity the Divine favour
has bestowed upon me, none pleases me more than the fact that I should
have been thus chosen by that wisest Lady who is herself a moral
balance of the utmost delicacy, and who made me first feel her justice
before advancing me to this high dignity. For, as you know, she
ordained that I should plead my cause against private persons in the
common judgment-hall[637]. Oh wonderful nobility of her mind! Oh
admirable justice, which the world may well tell of! She hesitated
not first to subject her own relation to the course of public justice,
even him whom, a little after, she would raise above the laws
themselves. She thoroughly searched the conscience of him to whom she
was about to hand over the dignity of kingship, that she might be
recognised as sovereign Lady of all, and that I, when tested, might be
advanced by her to the throne.
[Footnote 637: 'Cujus prius ideo justitiam pertuli ut prius
[posterius?] ad ejus provectionis gratiam pervenirem. Causas enim, ut
scitis, jure communi nos fecit dicere cum privatis.' We have here, no
doubt, an allusion to the punishment which, as we learn from
Procopius, Amalasuentha inflicted on her cousin for his various acts
of injustice towards his Tuscan neighbours.]
[Sidenote: Praises of Amalasuentha.]
'When shall I be able to repay her for all these favours: her who,
having reigned alone during the minority of her son, now chooses me as
the partner of her realm? In her is the glory of all kingdoms, the
flower of all our family. All our splendour is derived from her, and
she reflects a lustre not only on our ancestors, but on the whole
human race. Her dutiful affection, her weight of character, who can
set forth? The philosophers would learn new lessons if they knew her,
and would acknowledge that their books fail to describe all her
attributes. Acute she is in her powers of reasoning; but with royal
taciturnity she knows how to veil her conclusions in secrecy. She is
mistress of many languages; and her intellect, if suddenly tested, is
found so ready for the trial that it scarcely seems like that of a
mortal. In the Books of Kings the Queen of the South is said to have
come to learn the wisdom of Solomon: but here a woman speaks, and
Sovereigns listen to her with admiration. Infinite depths of meaning
are fathomed by her in few words, and she, with utmost ease, expresses
what others can only after long deliberation embody in language[638].
[Footnote 638: 'Et summâ felicitate componitur quod ab aliis sub longâ
deliberatione componitur.' 'Ab aliis' probably refers to Cassiodorus
himself. The contrast between his elaborate and diffuse rhetoric, and
the few, terse, soon-moulded sentences of his mistress is very fairly
drawn.]
'Happy the commonwealth which boasts the guidance of such a mistress.
It was not enough that already liberty and convenience were combined
for the multitude[639]: her merits have secured the fitting reverence
for the person of the Sovereign. In obeying _her_ we obey all the
virtues. I, too, with such a counsellor, fear not the weight of the
crown; and I know that whatever is strange to me in my new duties I
shall learn from her as the safest of teachers.
[Footnote 639: 'Minus fuit ut generalitas sub libertate serviret.']
'Acknowledge, noble Sirs, that all my power of increased usefulness to
the State comes from this our most wise Lady, from whom I may either
gain wisdom by asking questions, or virtue by following her example.
'Live happily: live in harmony by God's help, and emulate that grace
of concord which you see prevailing between your Sovereigns.'
5. KING THEODAHAD TO HIS MAN THEODOSIUS[640].
[Footnote 640: 'Theodosio homini suo Theodahadus rex.' Does 'homo
suus' mean a member of his Comitatus? We seem to have here an
anticipation of the 'homagium' of later times.]
[Sidenote: The followers of the new King must live justly.]
'By my accession to the throne I have become lord of the whole nation
and guardian of the general welfare. I therefore command that all who
belong to my private household shall vindicate their rights only in
the courts of law, and shall abstain from all high-handed modes of
obtaining redress. Only that man must henceforward be called mine who
can live quietly subject to the laws. My new dignity has changed my
purpose; and if before I have defended my rights with pertinacity, I
shall now temper all my acts with clemency[641]; since there is
nothing exceptional about a Sovereign's household, but wheresoever,
by the grace of God, our rule extends, there, as we fully confess, is
something which it is our duty to defend. Augment therefore my renown
by your patience, and let me hear praises rather than complaints of
the actions of my servants.'
[Footnote 641: 'Mutavimus cum dignitate propositum, et si ante justa
districte defendimus, nunc clementer omnia mitigamus.' A pretty plain
confession of Theodahad's past wrong-doing, and one which was probably
insisted upon by Amalasuentha in admitting him to a share in the
kingship.]
6. KING THEODAHAD TO PATRICIUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND QUAESTOR.
[Sidenote: Patricius appointed Quaestor.]
'In conferring upon you the office of Quaestor we look first to
character, and we find in you that love of justice which is all
important in a representative of the Prince. Then we look at the
qualities of your intellect, and we find in you that flow of eloquence
which among all mental accomplishments we value most highly. What does
it profit to be a philosopher, if one cannot worthily set forth the
results of one's investigations? To discover is natural to man; but to
set forth one's discoveries in noble language, that is indeed a
desirable gift. Therefore we bestow on you for this thirteenth
Indiction[642] the fasces of the Quaestorship, desiring you to
consecrate your time to the study of the laws and the _responsa
prudentum_, and to spread abroad our fame by the eloquent manner in
which you shall communicate our decrees to the Cities and Provinces
under our sway, and speak in our name to the representatives of
foreign nations.'
[Footnote 642: 534-535. As Athalaric died Oct. 2, 534, the appointment
of Patricius cannot have taken place on the usual day, Sept. 1.]
7. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'After announcing to you our own accession, one of our first cares was
to choose a Judge whose style of speaking might dignify the State.
Such a Judge have we found in Patricius (Patrician by his name
already), whom we hereby appoint to the office of Quaestor. He
studied eloquence at Rome. Where could he have studied better? For
while other parts of the world have their wine, their balm, their
frankincense, which they can export, the peculiar product of Rome is
eloquence.
'Having thus learned his art, he practised it at the bar with singular
moderation. No heat of strife hurried him into abuse of his
competitors. Seeking only to win his client's cause, he calmly and
courteously set forth that client's rights without sacrificing his own
dignity of demeanour.
'Thinking that this man has pleaded long enough, we now appoint that
he shall sit as Judge, having made diligent enquiry as to his
character. In this, and in all other matters, we wish to follow the
example of the Emperors who have gone before us, in so far as they
followed the paths of justice[643].'
[Footnote 643: 'Velle nostrum antiquorum principum est voluntas, quos
in tantum desideramus imitari quantum illi justitiam sunt secuti.']
8. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO JUSTINIAN, AUGUSTUS.
[Sidenote: Present of marbles from Justinian to Amalasuentha.]
'Delighting to receive from your Piety some of those treasures of
which the heavenly bounty has made you partaker, we send the bearer of
the present letter to receive those marbles and other necessaries
which we formerly ordered Calogenitus to collect on our behalf. All
our adornments, furnished by you, redound to your glory. For it is
fitting that by your assistance should shine resplendent that Roman
world which the love of your Serenity renders illustrious.'
9. KING THEODAHAD TO JUSTINIAN, AUGUSTUS.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
[On the same subject as the previous letter, and in nearly the same
words. Calogenitus apparently is dead.]
'We have directed the bearer of this letter to exhibit (?) those
things for which Calogenitus was previously destined; so that,
although that person is withdrawn from this life, your benefits, by
God's help, may still be brought unto us.'
10. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO THEODORA, AUGUSTA[644].
[Footnote 644: There is something in the tone of this letter which
suggests that Theodora was known to be pregnant when it was written.]
[Sidenote: Salutation to Theodora.]
'We approach you with the language of veneration, because it is agreed
on all hands that your virtues increase more and more. Friendship
exists not for those only who are in one another's presence, but also
for the absent. Rendering you therefore the salutation of august
reverence, I hope that our ambassadors, whom we have directed to the
most clement and most glorious Emperor, will bring me news of your
welfare. Your prosperity is as dear to me as my own; and as I
constantly pray for your safety, I cannot hear without pleasure that
my prayers have been answered.'
11. KING THEODAHAD TO MAXIMUS[645], VIR ILLUSTRIS AND DOMESTICUS.
[Footnote 645: This Maximus does not appear to be mentioned by
Procopius. He may be the same Maximus who took refuge in one of the
churches after Totila's capture of Rome in 546 (De Bello Gotthico iii.
20), and who was slain by order of Teias in 552 (Ibid. iv. 34); but
that person was grandson of an Emperor, and it seems hardly probable
that Cassiodorus would have spared us such a detail in the pedigree of
Theodahad's kinsman. We seem also to be entirely without information
as to the Amal princess who was the bride of Maximus.]
[Sidenote: Maximus appointed to office of Primicerius (Domesticorum?)]
'It is the glory of a good Sovereign to confer office on the deserving
descendants of illustrious families. Such are the Anicii, an ancient
family, almost on an equality with princes[646], from whom you are
descended. Gladly would we decorate the descendants of the Marii and
Corvini if time had permitted their progeny to survive to our own day.
But it were inconsistent to regret the impossibility of enjoying this
privilege if we neglected the opportunity which we do possess in your
case.
[Footnote 646: 'Anicios quidem pene principibus pares aetas prisca
genuit.']
'Therefore we bestow upon you from this fourteenth Indiction[647] the
office of Primicerius, which is also called Domesticatus. This office
may appear somewhat less than you are entitled to by your pedigree,
but you have received an honour which is greater than all the _fasces_
in being permitted to marry a wife of our royal race, a distinction
which you could not have hoped for even when you sat in the curule
chair. Comport yourself now with mildness, patience, and moderation,
that you may show yourself worthy of your affinity with us. Your
ancestors have hitherto been praised, but they were never dignified
with such an alliance. Your nobility has now reached a point beyond
which it can climb no further. All that you do henceforward of a
praiseworthy kind will but have the effect of rendering you more
worthy of the matrimonial alliance which you have already
achieved[648].'
[Footnote 647: 535 to 536.]
[Footnote 648: 'Laudati sunt hactenus parentes tui, sed tantâ non sunt
conjunctione decorati. Nobilitas tua non est ultra quod crescat.
Quicquid praeconialiter egeris, proprio matrimonio dignissimus
aestimaris.']
12. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'We do not think that the fact of a man's having received the
Consulship early in life should shut him out from holding office of
lower rank in his maturer years[649]. As the Tiber receives the water
of smaller rivers which merge their names in his, so a man of Consular
rank can serve the State in less conspicuous ways, yet still be
Consular. Therefore we have thought fit to bestow on the Illustrious
and Magnificent Patrician Maximus, the Primiceriatus which is also
called Domesticatus, from this fourteenth Indiction, that the
lowliness of the honour may be raised by the merit of the wearer. He
is an Anicius, sprung from a family renowned throughout the whole
world. He is also honoured with the affinity of our own illustrious
race. Receive him, welcome him, rejoice at these nuptials, which bind
me closer to you, now that you have in your ranks one whom I can truly
call a relation.'
[Footnote 649: Flavius Anicius Maximus was Consul in 523.]
13. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[This letter may probably be referred to the Spring or Summer of 535.
Theodahad, soon after the deposition or death of Amalasuentha, has
apparently invited the Senate to Ravenna, an invitation which they
have respectfully declined. He chides their suspicions of him.]
[Sidenote: Summons to Ravenna. Suspicions of the Senators.]
'After we had dismissed the venerable Bishops who brought your
message, without taking exception to your requests, though there were
some things blameworthy among them, we received tidings that the City
of Rome was agitated by certain foolish anxieties, from which real
evil would grow unless the suspicion which caused them could be laid
to rest.
'I fear that I cannot complain of "popular levity" if your illustrious
body, which should set an example to all others, should give way to
such fond imaginings. If Rome, which should govern the Provinces, be
so foolish, what can we expect of _them_?
'Divine grace, however, prompts us both to pardon your faults and to
grant your requests. We owe you nothing, and yet we pay you[650]; but
we trust to be rewarded by hearing not our own praises but yours. Put
away these unworthy, these childish suspicions, and behave as becomes
the fathers of the people.
[Footnote 650: 'Nihil debemus et solvimus.' Have we here an echo of
St. Augustine's thought, 'Reddis debita nulli debens?']
'In desiring your presence at our Court, we sought not your vexation
but your advantage. It is certainly a great privilege to see the face
of the Sovereign, and we thought to bestow on you, for the advantage
of the State, that which used to be counted as a reward. However, not
to deal harshly with you, we shall be satisfied with the attendance of
certain individuals from your body, as occasion may require, so that
on the one hand Rome may not be denuded of her citizens, and on the
other that we may not lack prudent counsellors in our chamber. Now
return to your old devotion, and serve us, not as a matter of fear,
but of love. The rest shall the bearer of this letter explain unto
you.'
14. KING THEODAHAD TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.
[The occasion of writing this letter, which we may perhaps refer to
the early part of 535, is apparently that some Gothic troops have been
sent to Rome, and the people have broken out into clamours against
them, or petitioned for their removal.]
[Sidenote: Dissensions between citizens of Rome and Gothic troops.]
'Your predecessors have always been distinguished by the loyal love
which they bore to the Chief of the State; and it is only right that
he [the Sovereign] who is defended with so much toil, he, for whom, as
the representative of public order, daily precautions are taken[651],
should in return love that people above all others whose loyalty gives
him a right to rule the world[652].
[Footnote 651: 'Qui maximo labore defenditur, cujus per dies singulos
civilitas custoditur.']
[Footnote 652: 'Ut illos diligat super omnia, per quos habere probatur
universa.']
'Oh! let there be nothing in you in our days which may justly move our
indignation. Still show forth your older loyalty. It is not fitting
that the Roman people should be fickle, or crafty, or full of
seditions.
'Let no fond suspicions, no shadow of fear sway you. You have a
Sovereign who only longs to find opportunities to love you. Meet with
hostile arms your enemies, not your own defenders.
'You ought to have invited, not to have shut out the succour which we
sent you. Evidently you have been misled by counsellors who care not
for the public weal. Return to your own better minds.
'Was it some new and strange nation whose faces forsooth thus
terrified you? No: the very men whom hitherto you have called your
kinsmen, the men who in their anxiety for your safety have left their
homes and families in order to defend you. Strange return on your part
for their devotion!
'As for you, you should know this, that night and day our one
ceaseless desire is to perfect, with God's help, the security which
was fostered in the times of our relations [Theodoric and
Amalasuentha]. Where, indeed, would our credit as a Sovereign be if
anything happened to your hurt? Dismiss all such thoughts from your
minds. If any have been unjustly cast down, we will raise him up
again. We have sent you some verbal messages by the bearer of this
letter, and hope that from henceforth we may rely on your constant
obedience.'
15. KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.
[Sidenote: Letter of introduction for an ecclesiastic.]
'It is always a delight to us to have an opportunity of directing our
letters of salutation[653] to your Piety, since he is filled with
happy joy who converses with you with sincere heart. I therefore
recommend to your Clemency the bearer of this letter, who comes on the
affairs of the Church of Ravenna. There can be no doubt that if you
grant his request you will earn a just reward.'
[Footnote 653: 'Salutiferos apices.']
16. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Assurances of good-will. Oath of concord.]
'It is worthy of a ruler to do good of his own freewill, not under
compulsion. By God's favour we _can_ do anything, but we choose to do
only things that are praiseworthy. Recognise now, oh prudent
counsellors, that clemency of mine which ye might always have reckoned
upon. Ye feared that I was your enemy; far from that, I cannot even
bear that ye should be racked by the fear of evil[654]. And therefore,
though I change no purpose of mine, since I never had thoughts of evil
towards you, I have ordained that A and B, the bearers of this letter,
should take unto you the oaths which you solicited[655]. I do this
thing for God's sake, not for man's; for how could I, who have run
through the story of ancient realms in Holy Writ, wish to do anything
else but that which is well-pleasing to God, who will assuredly
recompense me according to my works. Henceforward, then, serve me
loyally, and in the full security which you have thus acquired: yea,
your love will be now the repayment of a debt rather than a freewill
offering.'
[Footnote 654: 'Ecce nec sollicitos patimur, quibus infensi esse
putabamur.']
[Footnote 655: 'Postulata siquidem sacramenta vobis, ab Illo atque
Illo praestari nostra decrevit auctoritas.']
17. KING THEODAHAD TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.
[Sidenote: The same subject.]
'Since your security is our highest ornament, and since our love
wishes to remove every shade of anxiety from your minds, we have
ordered A and B to take oaths to you in our name, whereby you may know
the mind of your King towards you. Though this act might seem not to
consort with our dignity, we willingly perform it for your sakes, and
add the sanction of an oath, though we have learned from the Sacred
Scriptures that a mere promise ought to be kept. Now it is for you to
show your devotion, and with assiduous prayers to implore of the
Majesty on high that the tranquil times which we long that you may
enjoy may be granted by the gift of Heaven.'
18. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: A Gothic garrison for Rome.]
'Anxious that what we are devising for your safety should not be
misinterpreted by bitter suspicion, we do you to wit that the army
which is marching to Rome is intended for your defence, in order that
they who covet your possessions may by Divine help be resisted by the
arms of the Goths. If the shepherd is bound to watch over his flock,
the father of the family to see that no crafty deceiver enters
therein, with what anxious care ought not we to defend the City of
Rome, which by universal consent is unequalled in the world[656]. So
precious a possession must not be staked upon any throw. But that the
defence of the City may be in no wise burdensome to you, we have
ordered that the soldiers shall pay at the ordinary market rate for
the provisions which they require; and we have desired Vacco, the
steward of our house, to superintend these purchases. He is a man of
valour and integrity, whose character will secure him the obedience of
the troops, and enable him to prevent any excesses.
[Footnote 656: 'Quâ nos convenit cautelâ Romam defendere, quam constat
in mundo simile nihil habere?']
'As for the soldiers, we have told them to take up their quarters in
fitting places [outside the City?], that without there may be armed
defence, within for you, tranquil order[657].
[Footnote 657: 'Quos tamen locis aptis praecipimus immorari, ut foris
sit armata defensio, intus vobis tranquilla civilitas.']
'God forbid that in our days that City should seem to be protected by
walls, the very name of which hath been of old a terror to the
nations[658]. We hope for this from the aid of Heaven, that she who
hath always been free may never be stained by the insult of any
blockade[659].
[Footnote 658: 'Absit enim ut nostris temporibus Urbs illa muris
videatur protegi, quam constat gentibus vel sola opinione fuisse
terrori.']
[Footnote 659: 'Ut quae semper fuit libera, nullius inclusionis
decoloretur injuria.']
19. KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.
[Sidenote: Embassy of Peter.]
'We thank the Divine Being, who loves to see Kings at peace with one
another, that you expressed such joy at our elevation to the throne.
Continue to set to the world this example of benignity; continue to
show your interest in one who recommends himself by his pure affection
for you. For you do not seek to pick shabby quarrels with other
Sovereigns; you do not delight in unjust contests, which are contrary
to sound morality[660], since you seek for nothing but what may
increase the good opinion which men have of you. How could you throw
away that peace which it is the glory of your Piety to have imposed
even on angry nations[661]?
[Footnote 660: 'Non enim rixas viles per regna requiritis: non vos
injusta certamina quae sunt bonis moribus inimica, delectant.' No
doubt this was meant to be taken as a hint of the censure which it
professes to deny.]
[Footnote 661: 'Pacem quam et iracundis gentibus consuevistis
imponere.' An allusion, perhaps, to the peace concluded with Persia.]
'Even you, glorious Sovereigns! [Justinian and Theodora] gain somewhat
when all other realms revere you. It is a common thing for the ruler
to be praised in his own land, but to receive the unforced praise of
foreign lands, that is indeed desirable. You are loved, most pious
Emperor, in your own dominions; but how much grander a thing to be yet
more loved in the regions of Italy, from whence the glory of the Roman
name was diffused over the whole world! It behoves you therefore to
continue that peaceful disposition which you showed towards us at the
commencement of our reign.
'We have desired the most blessed Pope and the most honourable Senate
of the City of Rome to give their answers to the eloquent and worthy
Peter, your ambassador, with as little delay as possible; and we have
joined with him that venerable person our ambassador[662], that you
may know our mind from our own messenger.'
[Footnote 662: The name of 'virum illum venerabilem' is not given, but
we learn from Procopius (De Bello Gotthico i. 6) that it was Rusticus,
a priest, a Roman, and an intimate friend of Theodahad.]
20. QUEEN GUDELINA[663] TO THEODORA AUGUSTA.
[Footnote 663: Wife of Theodahad.]
[Sidenote: Embassy of Rusticus.]
'I have received with thanks the earnestly-desired letters of your
Piety, and reverently prize the report of your spoken words as better
than all gifts. You exhort us first of all to impart to your hearing
whatever requests we wish to make to your triumphant lord and
consort[664]. Backed by such patronage as yours, how can there be any
doubt as to the success of our petitions? It is an addition to our joy
that your Serenity has chosen such a man for your ambassador, one whom
it is equally fitting for your glory to send and for our obedience to
receive[665]. There can be no doubt that it is by constant observation
of your character that his own has become so excellent, since it is by
good maxims that the mind of man is cleansed from impurity[666].
According to the warning of your Reverence we have given orders that
both Pope and Senate shall give their answers to your messengers
quickly, so that there may be no delay.
[Footnote 664: 'Hortamini enim ut quidquid expetendum a triumphali
principe domino jugali nostro (?) credimus vestris ante sensibus
ingeramus.' It seems to me that the sense requires _vestro_ instead of
_nostro_, and I have translated accordingly. (Dahn also makes this
correction.)]
[Footnote 665: 'Et vestra decet obsequia retinere.' Here 'nostra'
seems to give a better sense than 'vestra.']
[Footnote 666: 'Dubium enim non est illam mores dare cui observatur
assidue, dum constat defaecari animum bonis praeceptionibus
institutum.' Rather hazardous praise to address to a Theodora.]
[Sidenote: Possible reference to death of Amalasuentha.]
'For moreover, concerning that person about whom something came to our
ears with tickling speech, know that that has been ordained which we
believed would suit your intentions[667]; for it is our desire that by
the interposition of our good offices your will should be law as much
in our kingdom as in your empire[668].
[Footnote 667: 'Nam et de illâ personâ, de quâ ad nos aliquid verbo
titillante pervenit, hoc ordinatum esse cognoscite, quod vestris
credidimus animis convenire.']
[Footnote 668: These mysterious sentences, according to Gibbon, cap.
xli. _n._ 56 (following Buat), refer to Amalasuentha, and thus lend
probability to the story in the Anecdote of Procopius that Theodora,
out of jealousy, intrigued with Theodahad to have Amalasuentha put to
death. But whatever may be the truth of that story, this sentence can
hardly by any possibility refer to it. For (1) it is clear that this
letter was written at the same time as Theodahad's, which precedes it,
therefore after the arrival of Peter in Italy. But Procopius is clear
that Amalasuentha was put to death before Peter had crossed the
Hadriatic, whereas this event, whatever it be, is evidently a piece of
news which Gudelina has to communicate to Theodora. (2) This letter,
though purporting to be from Gudelina, is confessedly written by
Cassiodorus, and published by him at the end of his official career.
It is hardly conceivable that he would deliberately publish to the
world his connection with the murder of Theodoric's daughter and his
own friend and benefactress. It is remarkable, on the contrary, how
complete (but for this passage) is the silence of the Variae as to
Amalasuentha's deposition and death: as if Cassiodorus had said, 'If
you do anything to harm _her_, you may get other apologists for your
deeds; I will be no champion of such wickedness.' It is scarcely
necessary to remark that there is nothing in the wording of the
sentence 'de illa persona,' &c. which makes it more applicable to a
woman than to a man. As Peter's embassy was ostensibly connected with
ecclesiastical affairs, there is perhaps an allusion in this sentence
to some scheme of Theodora's with reference to the Papacy. It is
possible that she may have been already working for the election of
Vigilius to the chair of St. Peter, and therefore that _he_ is meant
by 'illa persona.']
'We therefore inform you that we had caused our messenger [Rusticus
the priest] to be despatched by the Pope before your ambassador could
possibly have left Rome. So saluting you with all the veneration which
is your due, we assign the office of ambassador to a man eminent both
by his character and learning, and venerable by reason of his office;
since we believe that those persons are acceptable to you whom we have
thought suitable to be entrusted with the Divine ministry.'
21. QUEEN GUDELINA TO THEODORA, AUGUSTA.
[Sidenote: Soliciting Theodora's friendship.]
'Oh, wisest of Augustas, both I and my wedded lord earnestly desire
your friendship. The love of so great a lady seems to raise me higher
than royalty. Shed on us the lustre of your glory, for one light loses
nothing by imparting some of its brilliancy to another. With
affectionate presumption I commend myself to the favour of the Emperor
and yourself, desiring that, as is fitting, there should be no discord
between the two Roman realms[669].'
[Footnote 669: 'Nullam inter Romana regna decet esse discordiam.']
22. KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN[670].
[Footnote 670: This letter seems as if it was written on precisely the
same occasion as x. 19. Again Peter is sent back, and with him a
'venerable man' to represent Theodahad. We learn from Procopius (i. 6)
that Theodahad, in his fear of war, recalled Peter when he had already
got as far as Albano, and gave him another set of propositions for
Justinian. It seems possible that these fresh letters (22 and 23) from
Theodahad and his Queen were given him when he set out the _second_
time.]
[Sidenote: Entreaties for peace.]
'Our own ambassadors, and that most excellent person Peter, whom your
Piety despatched to us, will both have informed you how earnestly we
desire concord with your august Serenity. We now send two more
ambassadors charged with the same commission. We certainly with all
sincerity plead for peace who have no cause of quarrel with you.
Consider also, oh learned Sovereigns, and consult the archives of your
great grandfather[671], that you may see how large a part of their own
rights your predecessors were willing to relinquish for the sake of an
alliance with our ancestors[672]. Think how fortunate you are in
having that friendship willingly offered to you for which they had
humbly to sue. Yet, we may say it without arrogance, we know ourselves
to be better than those ancestors of ours with whom the treaty was
made[673]. We send you on this embassy a venerable man, made
illustrious by his priestly office, and conspicuous by the renown of
his learning. We pray the Divine goodness to bring our wishes to pass;
and as not even a series of letters can contain all that we have to
say, we have given some verbal messages to be conveyed to your sacred
ears, that you may not be wearied by the reading of too diffuse a
letter.'
[Footnote 671: Zeno (not of course an ancestor in natural
relationship, but predecessor in the third degree).]
[Footnote 672: 'Considerate etiam, principes docti, et abavi vestri
historica monumenta recolite, quantum decessores vestri studuerint de
suo jure relinquere ut eis parentum nostrorum foedera provenirent.']
[Footnote 673: 'Nunc illi vestram gratiam ultro quaerunt, qui suis
parentibus meliores se esse cognoscunt.' Dahn remarks that Theodahad's
asserted superiority to Theodoric probably consisted in his
philosophical culture.]
23. QUEEN GUDELINA TO THEODORA, AUGUSTA[674].
[Footnote 674: See note on the preceding letter.]
[Sidenote: The same subject.]