'We learn with satisfaction from that most eloquent man Peter, that

what has happened in this State is acceptable to you[675]. You show

your love of justice when, all suspicion by God's providence having

been wiped away, you desire that there should be lasting agreement

between us. Let there then be definite promises on both sides, and

lasting concord as the result. We therefore send that venerable man to

secure the peace of our most serene husband with yours in the sight of

all men. If there be anything in the Emperor's terms so hard that it

ought not to be imposed on us, we trust to your wise moderation to

mitigate the same, that the love which we have begun to feel towards

your kingdom be not chilled by harsh terms of peace.

[Footnote 675: 'Ut per eum disceremus acceptum vobis esse quod in hac

republicâ constat evenisse.' At first sight this seems to refer to the

death of Amalasuentha or to the accession of Theodahad. Dahn thinks

that those events have been disposed of in previous letters. Perhaps

it is a general expression for 'the whole course of recent events in

Italy.' Though upon the whole rejecting the story of Theodora's

complicity in the death of Amalasuentha, I am bound to admit that this

passage lends a certain amount of probability to the charge. At the

same time, the words in the next sentence, 'per divinam providentiam

omni suspicione detersâ,' are susceptible of an honourable meaning,

even if the death of Amalasuentha be alluded to. 'You and your husband

accused us of that crime. Now by God's providence we have been able to

show that we were guiltless of it [that it was done without our

privity by the relations of the three Gothic nobles whom she had put

to death]. Nothing therefore remains to hinder peace between us.']

'Claim this palm of concord between the two States as your own

especial crown, that as the Emperor is renowned for his successful

wars, so you may receive the praises of all men for this accomplished

peace. Let the bearer of these letters see you often and

confidentially. We hope for just, not onerous, conditions of peace,

although in truth nothing seems impossible to us if we know that it is

asked for by such a glorious person as yourself.'

24. QUEEN GUDELINA TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN[676].

[Footnote 676: Apparently sent at the same time as the two preceding

letters.]

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

A short letter of compliments to the Emperor, and earnest desire for

the preservation of peace. Peter and 'ille vir venerabilis' are still

the messengers.

25. KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'The august page written by your Serenity, and brought to us by the

venerable presbyter Heracleanus, has gleamed upon us, bringing us the

grace of your salutation. Oh, what a great benefit for us is this

sweet converse with so mighty a prince!

'May we ever hear of your safety, and of the increase of the happiness

of your kingdom. We have no other wish but this. According to your

desire we have addressed letters to the Pope of the City of Rome[677],

telling him to reply to the letter brought by the present messenger

with the least possible delay, since anyone who comes from you should

be attended to with utmost celerity. We hope for many future

opportunities of thus obeying your desires and earning your love in

return.'

[Footnote 677: Negotiations were evidently still going on between the

Emperor and the Pope, probably with reference to the election of

Anthimus, who, though accused of Monophysitism, had been made

Patriarch of Constantinople in 535 by Theodora's influence, and whom

the Pope apparently refused to recognise. He was afterwards deposed by

Pope Agapetus when he visited Constantinople.]

26. KING THEODAHAD TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.

[Sidenote: A monastery too heavily taxed.]

'Richer than all other gifts bestowed by your Serenity is this, when

you exhort us to do that which will profit for our own salvation and

recommend us to the Divine Power. We hear that it has been brought to

the knowledge of your Glory that a monastery of God's servants is too

heavily oppressed with tribute, and we point out that this is owing to

an inundation which has smitten their land with the curse of

barrenness. However, we have given orders to the most eminent

Senator[678] to appoint a careful inspector to visit the farm in

question, weigh the matter carefully, and make such reasonable

reduction as may leave a sufficient profit to the owners of the soil.

We consider that anything which we thus concede to the desire of your

Mildness will be to us the most precious of all gains.

[Footnote 678: Cassiodorus.]

[Sidenote: Alleged losses of a convert from Arianism.]

'In the matter of Veranilda, too, about which your Serenity has

deigned to admonish me, though it happened long ago under the reign of

my relations, I thought it right to make good her loss by my own

generosity, that she might not repent her change of religion[679]. For

seeing that the Deity suffers many religions, we should not seek to

impose one on all our subjects. He who tries to do otherwise flies in

the face of the Divine commands. Your Piety, therefore, fittingly

invites me to these acts of obedience to God.'

[Footnote 679: Apparently Veranilda had in the reign of Theodoric

become a convert from Arianism to Orthodoxy, and had suffered some

pecuniary losses in consequence, which Theodahad now proposes to make

up to her. See Dahn, Könige der Germanen iii. 199, _n._ 4.]

27. KING THEODAHAD TO SENATOR[680], PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO.

[Footnote 680: Cassiodorus.]

[Sidenote: Corn distributions in Liguria and Venetia.]

'In succouring his subjects, the payers of tribute, the King does not

seem to give, so much as to restore what he has received. The

cultivator of the soil is abandoned to future famine, unless he is

helped in the day of his necessity. Therefore let the corn which has

been received by the government from industrious Liguria and loyal

Venetia, though it has been taken from their fields, be born again to

them in our granaries, since it is too outrageous that the cultivator

should starve while our barns are full. Therefore let your Illustrious

Greatness (whose office is said to have been instituted for the

express purpose of feeding the people from the accumulated stores of

the State[681]) sell to the impoverished Ligurians the third part of

the grain warehoused at Ticinum and Dertona, at the rate of 25 modii

to the solidus[682]. Similarly distribute the third part of the stores

in the warehouses of Tarvisium and Tridentum to the Venetians, at the

same rate, that pitying Heaven, seeing men's bounty to one another,

may give us fruitful harvests. Take care that this distribution is so

managed that our indulgence shall reach those persons chiefly, who are

least able to depend on their own resources.'

[Footnote 681: 'Quorum dignitas ad hoc legitur instituta, ut de

repositis copiis populum saturare possetis.' Probably an allusion to

Joseph, whom Cassiodorus celebrates as the first Praefectus

Praetorio.]

[Footnote 682: Six bushels for twelve shillings, or sixteen shillings

a quarter.]

28. KING THEODAHAD TO SENATOR[683], PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO.

[Footnote 683: Cassiodorus.]

[Sidenote: Grant of monopolies.]

'The King ought to confirm whatever has been wisely ordered by the

Judges, especially those who are known to be above suspicion of

bribery.

'Therefore we confirm in their offices[684] the stewards[685],

purveyors[686] of wheat, wine, and cheese, the meat sellers, vintners,

farmers of the revenue derived from granaries and taverns[687], hay

merchants, and general provision dealers[688], who belong to the City

of Rome or the royal residence of Ravenna[689]; also those who hold

public charges of this description along the river banks of Ticinum or

Placentia[690], or in any other places, whom we know to have been

appointed by you, whose judgments we willingly embrace and desire to

hold fast exactly as if they were our own; nor will we allow the

malice of any to prevail against those persons who by your choice have

assumed these public functions. If therefore they acquit themselves to

your satisfaction, they shall hold their office for five years without

fear of disturbance during that period. On account of the present

barrenness of the land you should cause them to fix such prices for

the different kinds of grain as shall seem reasonable to your

Eminence[691].

[Footnote 684: The sentence is so long that Cassiodorus seems to have

forgotten its construction, and these important words are in fact

omitted.]

[Footnote 685: 'Arcarios.']

[Footnote 686: 'Prorogatores.']

[Footnote 687: 'Capitularios horreariorum et tabernariorum.']

[Footnote 688: 'Cellaritas.']

[Footnote 689: 'Mansionem Ravennatem.']

[Footnote 690: 'Ripam Ticinensem vel Placentinam.']

[Footnote 691: Here follows, 'Ut hi quibus commissum est exercere

singulos apparatus de injusto gravamine non querantur,' which I do not

venture to translate, as I am not sure whether it relates to buyers or

sellers.]

'As human ambition requires to be checked by fear of punishment,

anyone who by petitioning or canvassing seeks to obtain the place of

one of these lawfully appointed purveyors shall be visited with a fine

of 30 lbs. of gold[692], to be exacted from him by you. If unable to

pay this fine he shall suffer corporal punishment and be noted as

infamous. Nothing can be considered safe or stable if men are to be

perpetually exposed to the snares of envious competitors like these.

Your Greatness is to bring this law to the knowledge of all men.'

[Footnote 692: £1,200.]

[It is clear that this letter refers to an office greatly coveted, and

one in which there was a possibility of making great gains, but also

one in which, owing to the regulation of prices by the government,

there might be temporary losses; to guard against which it was

considered reasonable that the holder should be guaranteed in his

office for five years.

The office is the supply of the staple articles of food to the King's

household at Rome and Ravenna, and to the garrisons probably of Pavia

and Piacenza and the neighbouring country. Did this right carry with

it an absolute monopoly as far as the other inhabitants of those

places are concerned? This seems probable; but I do not know that we

can positively state it.

The term used, 'Arcarii,' is applied in the Theodosian Code (xii. 6,

14) to the bailiffs by whom the rents on the Imperial domain were

collected. Here it has manifestly altered its meaning.]

29. KING THEODAHAD TO COUNT WINUSIAD.

[Sidenote: An old soldier receives furlough for a visit to the baths

of Bormio.]

'Your noble birth and tried fidelity induced us to commit to you the

government of the City of Ticinum, which you had defended in war: but

now, being deluged with a sudden inundation of muddy gout[693], you

ask leave to resort to the waters of Bormio, which by their drying

influences are of healing power for this malady.

[Footnote 693: 'Limosae podagrae subitâ inundatione complutus.']

'We permit, nay earnestly encourage, you to undertake this journey;

for we cannot bear that one of our warriors should fall a victim to

the tyranny of this cruel disease, which, like the Barbarians, when it

has once claimed by force hospitality in the owner's body, ever after

defends its right thereto by cruelty. It seeks out all the hollow

places of the system, makes stones out of its moisture, and deposits

them there, destroying all the beautiful arrangements of Nature for

free and easy movement. It loosens what ought to be tight, it

contracts the nerves, and so shortens the limbs that a tall man finds

all the comeliness of his stature taken from him while he is still

unmutilated. It is in truth a living death; and when the excruciating

torment is gone, it leaves an almost worse legacy behind it--inability

to move. Even debtors in the torture chamber have the weights

sometimes removed from their feet; but this cruel malady, when it has

once taken hold of a man, seems never to relinquish possession. A

disease of this kind, bringing with it weakness and helplessness, is

especially terrible to a warrior, who after overcoming the foes that

came against him in battle, finds himself thus struck down by an enemy

within.

'Go then, in Heaven's name, to the healing springs. We cannot bear the

thought that you the warrior should be carried on men's shoulders,

instead of bestriding your war-horse. We have painted all these evils

in somewhat exaggerated style in order to stir you up to seek an early

cure.

'Use then these waters, soothing to the taste, and in the hot bath

able to dry up the gouty humours. God has given us this ally wherewith

to overcome that enemy of the human race; and under its double

influence, within and without, the malady, which ten years of regimen

and endless medicines cannot lessen, is put to flight by remedies

which are in themselves delightful.

'May God grant that this far-famed place may restore your body to

health[694].'

[Footnote 694: The nature-heated springs of Bormio are still resorted

to; and some pedestrian travellers, who have crossed the Stelvio from

Trafoi, have a grateful remembrance of their soothing waters.]

30. KING THEODAHAD TO HONORIUS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.

[Sidenote: The elephants in the Via Sacra.]

'We regret to learn from your report that the brazen elephants placed

in the Via Sacra[695] (so called from the many superstitions to which

it was consecrated of old) are falling into ruins.

[Footnote 695: I have not found any other mention of these brazen

elephants. Nardini (Roma Antica i. 295) cites this passage, and

illustrates it by quotations from Suetonius, Pliny, and the Historia

Augusta, showing that it was the custom to erect to Emperors and

Empresses statues of elephants drawing triumphal chariots.]

'This is to be much regretted, that whereas these animals live in the

flesh more than a thousand years, their brazen effigies should be so

soon crumbling away. See therefore that their gaping limbs be

strengthened by iron hooks, and that their drooping bellies be

fortified by masonry placed underneath them.

[Sidenote: Natural history of the elephant.]

'The living elephant, when it is prostrate on the ground, as it often

is when helping men to fell trees, cannot get up again unaided. This

is because it has no joints in its feet; and accordingly you see

numbers of them lying as if dead till men come to help them up again.

Thus this creature, so terrible by its size, is really not equally

endowed by Nature with the tiny ant.

'That the elephant surpasses all other animals in intelligence is

proved by the adoration which it renders to Him whom it understands to

be the Almighty Ruler of all. Moreover it pays to good princes a

homage which it refuses to tyrants.

'It uses its proboscis[696], that nosëd hand which Nature has given it

to compensate for its very short neck, for the benefit of its master,

accepting the presents which will be profitable to him. It always

walks cautiously, mindful of that fatal fall [into the hunter's pit]

which was the beginning of its captivity. At its master's bidding it

exhales its breath, which is said to be a remedy for the human

headache.

[Footnote 696: Cassiodorus calls it 'promuscis.']

'When it comes to water it sucks up in its trunk a vast quantity,

which at the word of command it squirts forth like a shower. If anyone

have treated it with contempt, it pours forth such a stream of dirty

water over him that one would think a river had entered his house. For

this beast has a wonderfully long memory, both of injury and of

kindness. Its eyes are small, but move solemnly. There is a sort of

kingly dignity in its appearance, and while it recognises with

pleasure all that is honourable, it seems to despise scurrilous jests.

Its skin is furrowed by deep channels, like that of the victims of the

foreign disease named after it[697], _elephantiasis_. It is on account

of the impenetrability of this hide that the Persian Kings used the

elephant in war.

[Footnote 697: 'A quâ transportaneorum (?) nefanda passio nomen

accepit.']

'It is most desirable that we should preserve the images of these

creatures, and that our citizens should thus be familiarised with the

sight of the denizens of foreign lands. Do not therefore permit them

to perish, since it is for the glory of Rome to collect all specimens

of the process by which the art of workmen hath imitated the

productions of wealthy Nature in all parts of the world.'

[This letter traverses the same ground as Pliny's 'Historia Naturalis'

viii. 1-11, but supplies some new facts. Pliny makes the elephant live

to the age of 200 or even 300 years. Cassiodorus boldly says 'more

than a thousand.' The curious story of the elephant's religion is

given with more detail by Pliny; but he knows nothing of the political

sagacity which enables it to discern between a good king and a tyrant.

Pliny mentions the fact that the elephant's breath is a cure for

headache, but adds, 'especially if he sneeze[698].'

[Footnote 698: Hist. Nat. xxviii. 8.]

Upon the whole, though Cassiodorus had probably read Pliny's

description, his own must be pronounced original.

This marvellous letter is the last that we have, written in the name

of Theodahad.]

31. KING WITIGIS[699] TO ALL THE GOTHS.

[Footnote 699: Spelt 'Vitigis' by Cassiodorus.]

[Sidenote: Elevation of Witigis.]

'Though every advance in station is to be accounted among the good

gifts of the Divinity, especially is the kingly dignity to be looked

upon as coming by His ordinance through Whom kings reign and subjects

obey. Wherefore, with liveliest satisfaction returning thanks to our

Maker Christ, we inform you that our kinsmen[700] the Goths, amid a

fence of circling swords, raising us in ancestral fashion upon a

shield, have by Divine guidance bestowed on us the kingly dignity,

thus making arms the emblem of honour to one who has earned all his

renown in war. For know that not in the corner of a presence-chamber,

but in wide-spreading plains I have been chosen King; and that not the

dainty discourse of flatterers, but the blare of trumpets announced my

elevation, that the Gothic people, roused by the sound to a kindling

of their inborn valour, might once more gaze upon a Soldier King.

[Footnote 700: 'Parentes nostros Gothos.']

'Too long indeed have these brave men, bred up amid the shock of

battle, borne with a Sovereign who was untried in war; too long have

they laboured to uphold his dubious fame, though they might presume

upon their own well-known valour[701]. For it is inevitable that the

character of the ruler should in some degree influence the reputation

of the whole people.

[Footnote 701: 'Ut de ejus fama laboraret quamvis de propria virtute

praesumeret.' I have translated as if 'laboraret' and 'praesumeret'

were in the plural, and even so, find it difficult to get a

satisfactory meaning out of these words.]

'But, as ye have heard, called forth by the dangers of my kindred, I

was ready to undergo with them one common fate; but they would not

suffer me to continue a mere General, feeling that they needed a

veteran King. Wherefore now accept first the Divine decree, and then

the judgment of the Goths, since it is your unanimous wish which makes

me King. Lay aside then the fear of disaster: cast off the suspicion

of further losses: fear no rude strokes of fate under our dominion. We

who have ridden so oft to war have learned to love valiant men.

Associated in all things with your labours, I have been myself a

witness to the brave deeds of each of you, and need no other evidence

of your worth. By no fraudulent variations between my public and

private negotiations shall the might of the Gothic arms be

broken[702]. Everything that we do shall have respect to the welfare

of our whole people: in private we will not even love. We promise to

follow those courses which shall adorn the royal name. Finally, we

undertake that our rule shall in all things be such as becomes a

Gothic King, the successor of the renowned Theodoric--that man who was

so rarely and so nobly qualified by Nature for the cares of royalty;

that man of whom it may be truly said that every other Sovereign is

illustrious in so far as he loves _his_ counsels. Therefore he who

succeeds in imitating the deeds of Theodoric ought to be considered as

belonging to his line. Thus then, manifest your anxious care for the

welfare of our kingdom, while your hearts are at ease, through God's

goodness, as to our internal security.'

[Footnote 702: 'Arma Gothorum nullâ promissionum mearum varietate

frangenda sunt.' An evident allusion to the treacherous and

unpatriotic diplomacy of Theodahad, as described by Procopius.]

32. KING WITIGIS TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.

[Sidenote: Overtures for peace with the Empire.]

'How much, oh most clement Emperor, we long for the sweetness of your

favour, may be understood from this fact alone, that after such

serious injuries and such grievous bloodshed as you have inflicted on

us, we still come forward to ask for peace with you, as if none of

your servants had ever wronged us. We have suffered such things as

might move the indignation even of our enemies, who must know that

they have attacked us without our guilt, have hated us without our

fault, have despoiled us without our owing them anything. Nor can it

be said that the blow has been so slight that no account need be taken

of it, since it has been struck not in the Provinces alone but in Rome

[or Italy] herself, the Capital of the World[703]. Think how great

must be our pain at this, which nevertheless we banish from memory in

order that we may obtain justice at your hands. Such disturbance has

been made as the whole world speaks of[704] [and condemns], and it

deserves to be so composed by you that all men may admire your spirit

of equity.

[Footnote 703: 'Non in provinciis tantum sed in ipso rerum capite

probatur inflictum.']

[Footnote 704: 'Talis res effecta est quam mundus loquatur.' The

commentator Fornerius absurdly understands this of Mundus, the general

of Justinian in Dalmatia, who had already fallen in battle before the

accession of Witigis.]

'If vengeance on King Theodahad be the thing required, I [who have put

him to death] merit your love. If you desire to honour the blessed

memory of Queen Amalasuentha, think of her daughter[705], who has

reached [by our means] that royal station to which your soldiers might

well have striven to exalt her, in order that all the nations might

see how faithful you remained to the old friendship.

[Footnote 705: Matasuentha, now wife of Witigis.]

'This fact too ought to influence you, that by the ordering of

Providence we were permitted to make your acquaintance before our

accession to the throne, that the remembrance of our favourable

reception at your Court, and the sight of your person in that splendid

position, might move us to love and reverence.

'Even now you can undo all that has been misdone, since the continual

expectation of favours to come, makes perseverance in affection

easy[706]. Therefore, soliciting your Clemency with all due respect,

we inform you that we have appointed A and B our ambassadors to the

Wisdom of your Serenity, that you may, according to your custom, duly

weigh all these considerations, that the two Republics may persevere

in restored harmony, and that all which hath been settled in past

times by Sovereigns of blessed memory may, by God's help, be increased

and made more prosperous under your dominion.

[Footnote 706: 'Quando non est difficile illum in affectu retinere,

qui gratiam constat desideranter expetere.' Very nearly, but not

quite, the modern proverb which says that gratitude is 'a lively sense

of favours to come.']

'The rest of their commission will be more fully explained to your

Serenity by the aforesaid ambassadors.'

33. KING WITIGIS TO THE MASTER OF THE OFFICES [AT CONSTANTINOPLE].

[Sidenote: Embassy to Constantinople.]

'In sending our two ambassadors to the most serene Emperor, it is

fitting also to send letters of salutation[707] to your Greatness. May

your prudence support our reasonable requests with the Emperor. You

can easily correct those things [the war against the Gothic people]

which you ought never to have allowed to take place; and all things

can now be arranged in the most friendly manner, since a

reconciliation between men who have fought out their quarrel is often

the surest ground of friendship. An unknown man might possibly have

been shunned by you; but I, who have seen the magnificence of your

Republic, who have known the hearts of so many of your noble

statesmen, have no desire to quarrel with your most pious Emperor, if

he will only cherish thoughts of justice towards me. If another

[Theodahad] deserved the anger of the Emperor, I ought to be looked

upon with the highest favour, who have executed vengeance on that

hateful predecessor. I have carried your intentions into effect, and

therefore I deserve reward, not punishment. Let all hatred be buried

in the grave of the sinner; and even if you think nothing of our

deservings, think of the liberty of the Romans, which is everywhere

suffering amid the clash of arms. A few words to a man of your wisdom

are sufficient.'

[Footnote 707: 'Salutiferos apices.' See x. 15.]

34. KING WITIGIS TO HIS BISHOPS.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'If we owe honour to Priests even when unknown to us, how much more so

to you whom we have seen and spoken to, and with whom we have had

frequent and familiar intercourse.

'By the ambassadors who are bearing our letters to the most serene

Emperor we send a message of reverence to your Holiness, hoping that

you will pray for us and set them forward on their journey with all

necessary assistance, since you are bound to wish well to those whom

you know to be united to you by the ties of religion.'

35. KING WITIGIS TO THE PRAEFECT OF THESSALONICA.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We are sending two ambassadors to the most serene Emperor, who will

salute your Greatness. We earnestly hope that your Excellency will

speed them on their journey.'

BOOK XI.

PREFACE.

'The necessity for a Preface often arises from some contrariety in an

Author's position which prevents him from writing as he would wish to

write. It is admitted that it is not fair to expect the same degree of

excellence from a busy man which we may reasonably look for in a man

of leisure. But a man in high official position cannot be a man of

leisure. It would be the highest disgrace to him if he were, since

even his so-called privy-chamber[708] resounds with the noise of

clamorous litigants.

[Footnote 708: 'Secretum.']

'I can well understand that a man of few occupations will object

against me, here that a word has been thrown out with ill-considered

haste, there that a commonplace sentiment has not been dressed up in

sufficiently ornamental language, or there that I have not complied

with the rules of the Ancients by making my persons speak "in

character." But the busy man, hurried from one cause to another, and

constantly under the necessity of dictating to one man and replying to

another, will not make these objections, because the consciousness of

his own literary perils will make him tender in his judgments. And yet

there is something even in the pressure of business which sometimes

promotes briskness of mind, since the art of speaking is one which is

placed very much in our own power[709].

[Footnote 709: Here follows a sentence which I do not understand:

'Remanet itaque ad excusandum brevitas insperata librorum, quam nemo

purgat diutius, nisi qui bene creditur esse dicturus.']

'If anyone objects that I, placed in the height of the Praetorian

dignity, should have dictated so few decisions of a legal kind, let

him know that this was the result of my associating with myself that

most prudent man Felix[710], whose advice I have followed in every

case. He is a man of absolute purity of character, of surpassing

knowledge of the law, of distinguished accuracy of speech; a young man

with the gravity of age, a sweet pleader, a measured orator; one who

by his graceful discharge of his official duties has earned the

favourable opinion of the public.

[Footnote 710: This can hardly be the Consul of A.D. 511, since he is

called in the next sentence 'senilis juvenis.']

'Had it not been for his help, overwhelmed by so great a multitude of

causes, I must either have been found unequal to the burden, or else

perchance have seemed arrogant [in my disregard of previously settled

decisions]. But, what was more important still, relieved by his

labours from this duty, I was able to give such attention to the

higher affairs of the State, that I could not fail to win approbation

even in those arduous duties.

'I have therefore subjoined two books, in which I myself speak in my

capacity as Praefect, to the ten in which I have spoken by the mouth

of the King; for it seemed absurd to me to be silent in my

newly-acquired dignity, who had so often spoken on behalf of others.

'Then, after these twelve books had been brought to their long-desired

end, my friends compelled me to discuss the substance and the powers

of the Soul, that I might say something _about_ that faculty

_through_ which I had already said so much[711].

[Footnote 711: 'De Animae substantiâ vel de virtutibus ejus amici me

disserere coëgerunt: ut per quam multa diximus, de ipsa quoque dicere

videremur.']

'Now then, learned men! view these letters with indulgence. If there

be no eloquence in them, attribute it to my many occupations, which

have prevented my reading as much as I would gladly have done. Cicero,

that fountain of eloquence, when he was one day asked to speak,

excused himself on the ground that he had read nothing the day before.

The barn must be constantly refilled if it is not to become empty. All

that is good in our minds is the fruit of study, and soon withers if

it be separated from reading, which is the parent stem. Great

indulgence therefore should be shown to us if we have often had to

write when we were busy, to be read by others when we had no leisure

to read, ourselves. And now enough of excuses, lest too elaborate a

defence should rather injure our cause.'

BOOK XI.

CONTAINING THIRTY-NINE LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN HIS OWN NAME

AS PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO, AND ONE ON BEHALF OF THE ROMAN SENATE.

1. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME

(A.D. 534)[712].

[Footnote 712: This letter, which was not composed immediately after

Cassiodorus' accession to office, most have been written after the

death of the Frankish King Theodoric, which occurred, according to

Clinton, early in 534, and before October 2 of the same year, the date

of the death of Athalaric. Notwithstanding the obscurity of many of

the allusions in it, this document is one of our best authorities for

the history of Amalasuentha's regency, and is therefore translated

almost verbatim.]

[Sidenote: Cassiodorus on his promotion to the Praefecture.]

'If I can only be sure that my advancement is acceptable to you,

Conscript Fathers, I shall not doubt of its being approved by God and

popular with all good men.

'It is in the nature of things to love a colleague, and you are in

fact exalting your own honour when you approve of a dignity given to a

_Senator_[713].

[Footnote 713: Partly a pun on his name, partly an allusion to his

rank.]

'After our Sovereigns there is none to whom I so much desire to

commend myself as you. To me honour will ever be the sole test of

advantage. Justice, like a handmaid, will wait upon my actions; and

the power, which I have not myself bought from our virtuous Sovereign,

I in my turn shall sell to no man. You have heard, noble Sirs, the

panegyrics[714] passed upon me at my entrance into office. These

praises I will not dare to call false, but I will say that they lay

upon me a heavy responsibility to show that they are not unmerited.

[Footnote 714: The letter written by Cassiodorus himself, in the name

of Athalaric, to announce his elevation to the Praefecture (Var. ix.

25).]

'Happy fortune of our time in which, while the Sovereign himself takes

holiday, the love of his mother rules and covers us all with the robe

of her universal charity! Happy for the young Ruler, who in this

difficult position learns first to triumph over his impetuous

impulses, and attains in the springtime of his life that self-control

which hoary age with difficulty acquires!

[Sidenote: Praises of Amalasuentha.]

'As for the Mother whom he so dutifully obeys, her most fittingly do

all kingdoms venerate, whom to behold is to adore, to listen to is to

witness a miracle. Of what language is she not a perfect mistress? She

is skilled in the niceties of Attic eloquence; she shines in the

majesty of Roman speech; she glories in the wealth of the language of

her fathers. She is equally marvellous in all these, and in each the

orator in his own especial tongue feels himself surpassed by her. A

great safeguard and a great excellence is this in the ruler of so many

nationalities. None needs an interpreter with his accomplished

mistress. No ambassador need wait, or hear his words slowly filtered

through the mind of a go-between. Everyone feels that his own words

are listened to, and receives his answer from her lips in the language

of his forefathers.

'To these accomplishments, as a splendid diadem, is added that

priceless knowledge of Literature, by which the treasures of ancient

learning are appropriated, and the dignity of the throne is ever

enhanced.

'Yet, while she rejoices in such perfect mastery of language, on

public occasions she is so taciturn that she might be supposed to be

indolent. With a few words she unties the knots of entangled

litigations, she calmly arranges hot disputes, she silently promotes

the public welfare. You do not hear her announce beforehand what will

be her course of action in public; but with marvellous skill she

attains, by feigning, those points which she knows require to be

rapidly gained[715].

[Footnote 715: 'Et temperamento mirabili dissimulando peragit quod

accelerandum esse cognoscit.']

[Sidenote: Comparison to Placidia.]

'What case like this can be produced from the annals of revered

Antiquity? Placidia's care for her purple-clad son has often been

celebrated; but by Placidia's lax administration of the Empire its

boundaries were unbecomingly retrenched. She gained for him a wife and

for herself a daughter-in-law[716] by the loss of Illyricum; and thus

the union of Sovereigns was bought by a lamentable division of the

Provinces[717]. The discipline of the soldiers was relaxed by too long

peace; and, in short, Valentinian, under the guardianship of his

mother, lost more than he could have done if he had been a helpless

orphan.

[Footnote 716: 'Eudoxia.']

[Footnote 717: 'Nurum denique sibi amissione Illyrici comparavit:

factaque est conjunctio Regnantis, divisio dolenda provinciis.' On

this alleged loss of Illyricum by the Western Empire, see Gibbon, cap.

xxxiii. note 6. One may doubt, however, whether Cassiodorus has been

correctly informed concerning it. Noricum and Pannonia at the time of

Valentinian's marriage must have been entirely in the possession of

the Huns; and on the dissolution of their monarchy Noricum at any rate

seems to be connected with the Western rather than the Eastern Empire.

As for Dalmatia, or the _Province_ (as distinct from the

_Praefecture_) of Illyricum, the retirement thither of the Emperor

Nepos in 475, and the previous history of his uncle Marcellinus, point

towards the conclusion that this Province was then considered as

belonging _de jure_ to the Caesar of Rome rather than to him of

Constantinople.]

[Sidenote: Relations with the East.]

'But under this Lady, who can count as many Kings as ancestors in her

pedigree, our army by Divine help is a terror to foreign nations.

Being kept in a prudent equipoise it is neither worn away by continual

fighting nor enervated by unbroken peace. In the very beginnings of

the reign, when a new ruler's precarious power is apt to be most

assailed, contrary to the wish of the Eastern Emperor she made the

Danube a Roman stream. Well known is all that the invaders suffered,

of which I therefore omit further mention, that the shame of defeat

may not be too closely associated with the thought of the Emperor, our

ally. Still, what he thought of your part of the Empire is clear from

this, that he conceded to our attack that peace which he has refused

to the abject entreaties of others. Add this fact, that though we have

rarely sought him he has honoured us with so many embassies, and that

thus his unique majesty has bowed down the stately head of the Orient

to exalt the lords of Italy[718].

[Footnote 718: 'Et singularis illa potentia, ut _Italicos Dominos_,

erigeret, reverentiam Eoi culminis ordinavit.' This somewhat favours

the notion that Theodoric and his successors called themselves Kings

of Italy.]

[Sidenote: Expedition against the Franks.]

'The Franks also, overmighty by their victories over so many barbarous

tribes--by what a great expedition were they harassed! Attacked, they

dreaded a contest with our soldiers; they who had leaped unawares upon

so many nations and forced them into battle. But though that haughty

race declined the offered conflict, they could not prevent the death

of their own King. For Theodoric[719], he who had so often availed

himself of the name of our glorious King as an occasion for triumph,

now fell vanquished in the struggle with disease--a stroke of Divine

Providence surely, to prevent us from staining ourselves with the

blood of our kindred, and yet to grant some revenge to the army which

had been justly called out to war. Hail! thou Gothic array, happy

above all other happiness, who strikest at the life of a Royal foe,

yet leavest us not the poorer by the life of one of the least of our

soldiers[720].

[Footnote 719: Theodoric I, son of Clovis, King of the Franks,

reigning at Metz, died, as before stated, in 534.]

[Footnote 720: 'Et nobis nec unius ultimi facta subducis (?).']

[Sidenote: League with the Burgundians.]

'The Burgundian too, in order to receive his own again, crouched in

devotion, giving up his whole self that he might receive a trifle. For

he chose to obey with unimpaired territories, rather than to resist

with these cut short; and thus, by laying aside his arms, he most

effectually defended his kingdom, recovering by his prayers what he

had lost by the sword[721].

[Footnote 721: 'Burgundio quinetiam, ut sua reciperet, devotus

effectus est: reddens se totum dum accepisset exiguum. Elegit quippe

integer obedire, quam imminutus obsistere: tutius tunc defendit regnum

quando arma deposuit. Recuperavit enim prece, quod amisit in acie.'

The meaning of these mysterious words, as interpreted by Binding

(268-270) and Jahn (ii. 252), is that Godomar, King of the

Burgundians, received back from Amalasuentha (probably about 530, or a

little later) the territory between the Durance and the Isere, which

Theodoric had wrested from his brother in 523. The occasion of this

cession was probably some league of mutual defence against the Franks,

which Cassiodorus could without dishonesty represent as a kind of

vassalage of Burgundy to Ostrogothia. If so, it availed Godomar

little, as his territories were overrun by the Frankish Kings in 532,

and the conquest of them was apparently completed by 534 (Jahn ii.

68-78).]

'Happy Princess, whose enemies either fall by the hand of God, or else

by your bounty are united with your Empire! Rejoice, Goths and Romans

alike, and hail this marvel, a being who unites the excellences of

both the sexes! As woman she has given birth to your illustrious King,

while with manly fortitude of mind she has maintained the bounds of

your Empire.

'And now, if leaving the realm of war we enter the inner courts of her

moral goodness, a hundred tongues will not suffice to sound forth all

her praises. Her justice is as great as her goodwill, but even greater

is her kindness than her power. You, Senators, know the heavenly

goodness which she has shown to your order, restoring those who had

met with affliction to a higher state than that from which they had

fallen[722], and exalting to honour those who were still uninjured.

[Footnote 722: 'Afflictos statu meliore restituit.' An allusion,

probably, to her kindness to the families of Boethius and Symmachus.]

'Look at the case of the Patrician Liberius[723], Praefect of the

Gauls--a man of charming manners, of distinguished merit, a soldier

with honourable scars--who even while absent in his Praefecture has

received the _fasces_ and a patrimony from her.

[Footnote 723: No doubt the same Liberius who nobly defended the

character of Amalasuentha at the Court of Justinian (Procopius, De

Bello Gotthico i. 4). Apparently he was made Consul, but his name does

not appear in the Fasti at this time.]

'What can I say of her strength of mind and tenacity of purpose, in

which she excels even philosophers? I speak of this from my own

experience. You know, oh Conscript Fathers, what influences were

arrayed against me[724]. Neither gold nor the prayers of great men

availed: all things were tried, and tried in vain, to prove the

glorious constancy of that wisest Lady.

[Footnote 724: Probably to prevent his obtaining the Praefecture.]

[Sidenote: Virtues of the Amal Kings.]

'And here the rules of rhetoric would require me to compare her with a

long line of Empresses in the past. But if men cannot vie with her

glory, what is the use of adducing female examples? If we look at the

Royal Cohort of her ancestors, we shall see that she, like a pure

mirror, reflects all their excellences. For Amal[725] was conspicuous

for his good fortune, Ostrogotha for his patience, Athal for mildness,

Munitarius [Winithar] for justice, Unimund for beauty, Thorismuth for

chastity, Unalamer [Walamir] for faith, Theudimer for warmth of

heart[726], and Theodoric, the renowned father of Amalasuentha, as ye

have all seen, for patience. Each of these would recognise in her his

own special attribute, but all would acknowledge that in these very

attributes they are excelled by her.

[Footnote 725: This and the following names belong to the ancestors of

Amalasuentha, and are found with slight variations in the treatise of

Jordanes on the History of the Goths, which was founded on a similar

treatise by Cassiodorus.]

[Footnote 726: 'Pietate Theudimer.']

'You will now perhaps expect me to praise our young King, but in

extolling the author of his being, I have abundantly extolled him, her

offspring. You will remember that excellent saying of the eloquent

Symmachus, "I hesitate to praise the beginning of his career because I

am confidently hoping for his advance in virtue[727]." Come to my

help, Conscript Fathers, and render to your Lords and mine your united

thanks for my promotion.'

[Footnote 727: 'Specto feliciter virtutis ejus augmenta, qui differo

laudare principia.' The annotator says that these words are not to be

found in the extant writings of Symmachus [the orator]. It was

probably the younger Symmachus, the father-in-law of Boethius, who

uttered them. At this time Athalaric was killing himself by his

debaucheries.]

2. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO POPE JOHN[728].

[Footnote 728: Pope John II (a Roman, son of Projectus, and originally

named Mercurius) succeeded Boniface II Jan. 1, 533. His pontificate

lasted till May 26, 535. His successor was Agapetus. This letter

appears to have been written at a time of scarcity in Rome.]

[Sidenote: Salutations to the Pope.]

'Your prayers are assuredly the cause of our promotion. Your fastings

have procured plenty for the citizens. Saluting you therefore with all

due reverence, we pray you to continue your prayers for long life to

our rulers, for peace and plenty to the State, and for an increase of

heavenly wisdom to me. Let the Judge in public life be such as the

Catholic Church has trained her son to be. I am indeed a Judge of the

Palace, but I shall not cease to be your disciple[729]. Cast not off

upon me the whole care of this City, which you watch over with a

father's love, but take thought both for its bodily and spiritual

wants, and admonish me whenever you think I am erring. Your See is an

object of admiration through all lands, and your charity is

world-wide; but yet you have also an especial, local love for the

sheep of your own flock.

[Footnote 729: 'Sum quidem Judex Palatinus, sed vester non desinam

esse discipulus.']

'Rome has in her own borders those shrines of martyrdom[730] of the

Apostles [Peter and Paul] which the whole world longs to behold. With

such patrons, if only your prayers ascend, we need fear no evil.'

[Footnote 730: 'Confessiones.']

3. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO DIVERS BISHOPS.

[Sidenote: Salutations to the Bishops.]

'Fathers after the flesh delight in the advancement of their sons.

Even so do ye, my spiritual fathers, diligently pray to the Holy

Trinity that He may make my candle to give light to all that are in

the house; yea, and that He may so purge and enlighten mine own

conscience that I may not, while an accurate Judge over other men, be

a deceiver of mine own self.

'I beg of you to declare a fast, and supplicate the Lord that He will

prolong the life of our Sovereigns[731], for the happiness of the

realm; that He will defend our State from the assaults of its enemies,

will give us all tranquillity in our time, and will deign to make me

worthy of your love.

[Footnote 731: This was written, no doubt, when Athalaric was on his

deathbed.]

'Watch narrowly the acts of the subordinates whom I send among you,

and inform me of anything which they do amiss. I cannot be held

responsible for deeds of which I know nothing. And if they take bribes

they at least cannot justify themselves by saying that they have first

had to pay money for their offices.

'Continue to afford your wonted solace to the widow and orphan; yet

beware that your pity does not lead you to seek to set aside the laws

even for these. Oh, most holy men, banish to the home of all other

unclean spirits violence, avarice, hatred, rapine; and root out from

among your people luxury, which is the depopulator of the human race.

Let the Bishop teach, that the Judge may have a maiden assize[732]. If

only your preaching he continued, the penal course of law must

necessarily come to an end.

[Footnote 732: 'Episcopus doceat, ne judex possit invenire quod

puniat.']

'I therefore commend my dignity to your prayers, and end my letter

with a salutation of love and honour to your Holinesses.'

4. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO HIS DEPUTY[733] AMBROSIUS, AN

ILLUSTRIS.

[Footnote 733: 'Agenti vices.' Bethmann Hollweg (Gerichtsverfassung

des sinkenden römischen Reichs, pp. 49-50) remarks: 'The relation of

the _Vices Magistratuum agentes_ does not belong to the _Jurisdictio

mandata_. They are lieutenants (Stellvertreter) who are substituted

provisionally in the room of an ordinary official of the Empire or of

a Province, on account of his being temporarily disqualified or

suspended from office by the Emperor or Praetorian Praefect. The

municipal magistrates were also represented by _vices agentes_. But

the extant authorities give us no very clear information as to their

position.' Unfortunately this letter, relating to a _vices agens_ of

the Praetorian Praefect himself, does not add much to our

information.]

[Sidenote: Functions of the Praefect's Deputy.]

'We have formed a high opinion of you from long observation of your

career as an Advocate, and feel sure that you will justify that

opinion by your conduct in the office to which we are now calling you.

The Forum has long resounded to your eloquence: now your turn is come

to sit upon the magistrate's bench. Hitherto you have assisted the

officers of the court: now you are yourself called upon to play the

part of a Judge. Even when you are absent from me, you will be deemed

to be sitting by my side; but whatever credit you may earn when

hearing a case by yourself will be reckoned to you alone.

'We therefore ordain that the official staff which waits upon our

orders shall be at your disposal, to carry your decisions into effect,

and to see that none treat them with contempt.

'If you shall think it necessary to hand over any [insolvent] persons

to those who have become security for them, assume that right with

confidence, because that will most effectually relieve my mind when I

shall learn that this matter has been finally disposed of by you[734].

For if I were present you might give me words only; but now in my

absence you owe me, rather, deeds.

[Footnote 734: I suggest this with hesitation as the translation of a

difficult sentence: 'Si quos etiam fidejussoribus committere

necessarium aestimaveris, confidenter assume: quia illud magis

relevare potest animum nostrum, si aliquid per vos cognoscimus

impletum.' Cassiodorus seems to be urging his deputy not to shrink

from the exercise of even the most stringent rights inherent in his

office, in order that causes may be terminated without reference to

him. But is there authority for such a translation of the words

'fidejussoribus committere?']

'Think, then, of all that is involved in your high office. Let your

toil procure me rest from all men. Avoid the rocks on either side of

you. These warnings come rather from my over-particularity[735] than

from any distrust of you, for I believe that with God's help you will

order all things as shall be best for our fame and for the Republic.'

[Footnote 735: 'Curiositas.']

5. THE SAME TO THE SAME.

[On the occasion of a scarcity in Rome, either existing or dreaded.

See the letter to Pope John II (xi. 2).]

[Sidenote: Grain distributions for Rome.]

'I am sure that you will rejoice with me if the needs of the Roman

people can be satisfied by our means, and thus we can testify our

gratitude for the hospitality which we have both received from that

City. To this end have we endured the discomforts of travel, for this

purpose have we racked our brains with anxious thought, that that

people, which tasted such delights of old in the happy days of its

former rulers, may now see its necessities relieved and again enjoy

its former prosperity.

'Their poverty and hunger we make our own. Therefore, with all speed,

let stores of grain in good condition be at once collected, so that

the bread cooked therefrom may be a delight and not a horror. Let just

weight be given. Flee all thought of unholy profit from this source.

My own soul is wounded if anyone dares to transgress in this matter of

the food-supply of the people. Not favour nor popular applause is my

aim; but to be permitted, by God's help, to accomplish my own heart's

desire.

'I love all my fellow-countrymen, but the Roman citizens deserve more

than ordinary love from me. Theirs is a City adorned with so many

illustrious Senators, blest with such a noble commonalty, a City so

well fitted to celebrate the victories of our glorious rulers. When

the question of my promotion hung in suspense, it was the good wishes

of these citizens which turned the scale in my favour with the lords

of the world[736], who complied with the universal desire of the Roman

people. Come, then; so act that this goodwill of theirs to me may

continue. Let us all beseech the mercy of the Most High to bless us

with an abundant harvest; and let us resolve that, if we are thus

favoured, no negligence of ours shall diminish, no venality divert

from its proper recipients, the bounty of Heaven[737].'

[Footnote 736: Athalaric and Amalasuentha.]

[Footnote 737: In the last sentence but one, 'Fidem meam promitto: sed

cum ipsis Divinitatis dona sustineo, cautelam offero,' I would suggest

_ipsius_ for 'ipsis,' making _cum_ = 'when,' not 'with.' There does

not seem to be any antecedent plural to which 'ipsis' can refer.]

6. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO JOANNES, CANCELLARIUS.

[An interesting letter, as showing the lowly original of the office

from whence have sprung the mediaeval and modern Chancellors.]

[Sidenote: Functions of the Cancellarius.]

'Your rare merit causes you to enjoy a position beyond that which of

right belongs to you in the official hierarchy[738]. Those who are

above you cheerfully manifest to you a deference which you might be

required to show to them; and thus you, while keeping your inferiors

in their proper place, take without presumption precedence of many of

your superiors.

[Footnote 738: 'Transgressio matriculae actio tua est.']

'This laudable prejudice has assigned to you, from the twelfth

Indiction[739], the dignity of Cancellarius[740].

[Footnote 739: September 1, 533.]

[Footnote 740: 'Hoc igitur laudabili praejudicium a duodecima

Indictione cancellorum tibi decus attribuit.']

'Guard then the secrets of our Consistory with incorruptible fidelity.

Through your intervention the petitioner for justice has to approach

me. On your acts depends in great measure the opinion which men shall

form of me; for as a house is judged by its front towards the street,

and men by the trimness or shabbiness of their raiment, so are we high

officials judged by the demeanour of our subordinates who represent us

to the crowd. Therefore, if such officials do anything which redounds

to their master's dishonour, they put themselves altogether outside

the pale of his clemency.

'Remember your title, _Cancellarius_. Ensconced behind the

lattice-work (cancelli) of your compartment, keeping guard behind

those windowed doors, however studiously you may conceal yourself, it

is inevitable that you be the observed of all observers[741]. If you

step forth, _my_ glances range all over you: if you return to your

shelter, the eyes of the litigants are upon you. This is where

Antiquity ruled that you should be placed, in order that your actions

should be visible to all.

[Footnote 741: 'Respice quo nomine nuncuperis. Latere non potest quod

inter cancellos egeris. Tenes quippe lucidas fores, claustra patentia,

fenestratas januas; et quamvis studiose claudas, necesse est ut te

cunctis aperias.']

'Attend now to this advice which I have given you, and let it not

merely filter through your mind, like water through a pipe, but let it

sink down into your heart, and, safely stored up there, let it

influence the actions of your life.'

7. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO ALL THE JUDGES OF THE PROVINCES.

[Sidenote: Duties of the Collectors of Taxes.]

'It is an excellent thing that the yearly taxes should be regularly

paid. What confidence does the consciousness of this give to the

taxpayer, who can march boldly through the Forum, feeling that he owes

nothing to anybody and need not fear the face of any official! One can

only enjoy an estate if one has no fear of the process-server making

his appearance upon it.

'Therefore, in the Diocese of your Excellency[742], we desire you and

your staff at the beginning of this twelfth Indiction[743], with all

proper gentleness, to impress upon the cultivator of the soil that he

must pay his land-tax[744] and end those long arrears, which were

introduced not for the assistance of the taxpayer, but for the corrupt

profit of the tax-collector. For the officials who in this way

professed to relieve the burdens of the people, really imposed upon

them a heavier and more hateful weight in the shape of douceurs[745]

to themselves.

[Footnote 742: 'Dicationis tuae.' A peculiar and untranslatable form

of respect.]

[Footnote 743: September 1, 533.]

[Footnote 744: 'Trina illatio' (See Var. ii. 24). So called because it

was collected three times in the year. See Dahn, Könige der Germanen

iii. 140; and Sartorius, Regierung der Ostg. 200. The latter seems

however to confuse it with the 'tertiae,' from which Dahn very

properly distinguishes it.]

[Footnote 745: 'Nundinationes.']

'Let then this hateful swindling be henceforth banished. Let the

cultivator pay nothing more than his lawful debt to the Treasury, and

let him pay it at the appointed time, thus removing the confusion in

which the slowness of collection has involved our accounts.

'Make up, therefore, the abstracts of accounts[746] at the stated

times, and forward them to the proper bureaux[747], according to old

law and the authority of this present edict; and if you neglect any of

these injunctions, know that you do so at your peril. To quicken your

diligence we have appointed A and B, persons of tried merit in the

past, to supervise the proceedings of yourself and your staff, that

this double check may prevent the possibility of negligence.

[Footnote 746: 'Breves.']

[Footnote 747: 'Scrinia.']

'Act then with justice if you wish to receive further promotion. Only

those gains are to be sought for which the cultivator gladly offers

and which the public servant can securely accept. If you take bribes

you will be miserable ever after, through fear of discovery; but if

you act uprightly, you will have in me a willing spectator and

rewarder of your merits. I am most anxious to be your friend; do not

force me against my will to become your enemy.'

8. EDICT PUBLISHED THROUGH THE PROVINCES BY SENATOR, PRAETORIAN

PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: Edict announcing Cassiodorus' principles of

administration.]

'The custom of the ancients was for a new ruler to promulgate a new

set of laws to his subjects, but now it is sufficient praise to a

conscientious ruler that he adheres to the legislation of Antiquity.

'Do you all study to perform good actions, and shrink from deeds of

lawlessness and sedition, and you will have nothing to fear from your

Governors. I know that some fear, however irrational, is felt in the

presence of the Judge; but as far as my purpose can avail, with the

help of God and the rulers of the State[748], I can promise you that

all things shall be done with justice and moderation.

[Footnote 748: 'Juvante Deo, rerumque Dominis regnantibus.']

'Venality, that greatest stain upon a Judge's character, will be

unknown in me; for I should think scorn to sell the words that go out

of my lips, like clothes in the market-place.

'In exercising the right of pre-emption we shall be solely guided by

the wants of the State, buying nothing at a forced price in order to

sell it again[749].

[Footnote 749: 'Sperari a vobis aliquid sola specierum indigentia

faciet, non malitiosa venalitas ... nec ad taxationem trahimus quae

necessaria non habentur.']

'Be cheerful and of good courage, therefore, with reference to the new

administration. No soldier or civil servant shall harass you for his

own pleasure. No tax-collector shall load you with burdens of his own

imposition. We are determined to keep not only our own hands clean,

but also those of our officials. Otherwise, vainly does a good Judge

guard himself from receiving money, if he leaves to the many under him

licence to receive it on their own account. But we, both by precept

and example, show that we aim at the public good, not at private and

fraudulent gains.

'We know what prayers you put up for us, how anxiously you watched for

our elevation, and we are determined that you shall not be

disappointed. Our Praetorium, which no base action has ever denied,

shall be open to all. No servile throng shall lord it over you. You

shall come straight to us, making your requests known to us through no

hired interpreter, and none shall leave our presence poorer than he

entered it. With God's help we trust we shall so act as to conform to

the instructions which we have received from our Sovereign[750]; and

we trust that you, by your loyalty, will enable us to be rather the

Father of our Provinces than their Judge. You have patiently obeyed

governors who fleeced you; how much more ought you to obey one who, as

you know, loves you mightily! Pay the regular fees to the officials

who are labouring in your midst; for there is no such excuse for

high-handed oppression as the fact that a man is not receiving his

covenanted salary. Obey the rule of reason, and you will not have to

fear the armed man's wrath.

[Footnote 750: 'Quemadmodum a rerum Dominis mandata suscepimus.']

'We wish that you should enjoy the privileges conceded to you by

former rulers without any encroachment by violent men.

'And now be of good heart; I pledge myself for your righteous

government. Had I been present with you face to face, ye could not

have seen my mind; but ye can read it in this letter, which is the

mirror of my heart, the true image of my will, and ye can see that it

desires only your prosperity.'

9. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE JUDGES OF THE PROVINCES.

[Sidenote: Exhortation to the Judges to govern in conformity with the

Edict.]

'Knowing that past suffering makes men anxious and timid as to the

future, we have put forth an edict [the preceding document] in order

to reassure the minds of the Provincials, and to deliver them from the

torment of ever-present fear.

'Therefore we call upon your Excellency[751] to cause this edict to be

exposed in all the places which are most resorted to. Thus let the

love and devotion of all classes be excited towards our happy

Sovereigns[752], that as our thoughts towards the people are entirely

thoughts of goodwill, so their dispositions towards the rulers who

govern them in righteousness may be only loyal[753].

[Footnote 751: 'Dicatio tua.']

[Footnote 752: 'Circa Dominos felices.']

[Footnote 753: 'Ita se et illi devotos debent _pie regnantibus_

exhibere.' Compare again Claudian's words:

'Nunquam libertas gratior exstat,

Quam sum _rege pio_.']

'It now rests with you, by your just government of the Provincials, to

carry our promises into effect.

'Remember that the official staff standing by, is a witness of the

acts of every one of you; and so comport yourselves, that both they

and all others may see that you in your own conduct obey the laws

which you administer.

'Be more anxious to remedy the poverty of the Provincials than to

inflict punishment upon them. So act that when you are giving an

account of your stewardship your year of office may be felt to have

been all too short[754]. If you have acted justly, and earned the

goodwill of your Provincials, you will have no need of gifts to stave

off accusations.

[Footnote 754: 'Sic agite ut cum justitia probata quaeritur, annus

vester brevis esse videatur.']

'We do not appoint any spies upon your actions, and we pray you so to

act that this most humiliating expedient may not be necessary.

'If you meet with any who pertinaciously set themselves up against the

authority of your _fasces_, send us at once a messenger with your

report; or, if you cannot spare such an one, send the report alone, as

you have authority to use the public postal-service[755]. Thus all

excuse for remissness on your part is taken away, since you can either

wield your power or explain to us the hindrances which beset you.'

[Footnote 755: 'Quando et evectiones publicas accepistis et nobis

gratum sit audire de talibus.']

10. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO BEATUS, VIR CLARISSIMUS AND

CANCELLARIUS.

[Sidenote: Davus is invalided to the Mons Lactarius.]

'Our lord the King[756] (whose prayer it is that he may ever rejoice

in the welfare of all his subjects), when he reflected upon the

impaired health of his servant Davus[757], ordered him to seek to the

healing properties of the Mons Lactarius[758], for the cure which

medical aid seemed powerless to bestow. A frequent cough resounded

from his panting chest, his limbs were becoming emaciated, and the

food which he took seemed to have lost all power to nourish his frame.

Persons in this state can neither feed nor endure to fast, and their

bodies seem like leaky casks, from which all strength must soon

dribble away.

[Footnote 756: 'Rerum Domini clementia.']

[Footnote 757: Or David, according to some MSS.]

[Footnote 758: This is no doubt the mountain on whose skirts was

fought the decisive battle between Narses and Teias in 553, now known

as Monte Lettere. It is a spur of the range reaching from Sorrento to

Salerno, which attains its highest elevation in Monte San Angelo

(4,690 feet high). It rises opposite to Mount Vesuvius on the

south-east, the ruins of Pompeii and the valley of the Sarno (formerly

the Draco) lying between the two.]

[Sidenote: The milk-cure, a remedy for consumption.]

'As an antidote to this cruel malady Heaven has given us the Mons

Lactarius, where the salubrious air working together with the fatness

of the soil has produced a herbage of extraordinary sweetness. The

cows which are fed on this herbage give a milk which seems to be the

only remedy for consumptive patients who have been quite given over by

their physicians. As sleep refreshes the weary limbs of toil, so does

this milk fill up the wasted limbs and restore the vanished strength.

Strange is it to see the herds feeding on this abundant pasture. They

look as if it did not profit them at all. Thin and scraggy, as they

wander through the thickets they look like the patients who seek their

aid; yet their milk is so thick that it sticks to the milker's

fingers.

'Do you therefore supply the invalid when he arrives, with the

appointed rations and pecuniary allowance, that he may be suitably

maintained in that place while he is recreating his exhausted energies

with the food of infancy.

'And, oh! all ye who are suffering under the like grievous malady,

lift up your hearts. There is hope for you. By no bitter antidote, but

by a delicious draught, you shall imbibe life--life, in itself the

sweetest of all things.'

11. EDICT CONCERNING PRICES TO BE MAINTAINED AT RAVENNA.

[Sidenote: Prices at Ravenna.]

'The price at which provisions are sold ought to follow, in a

reasonable way, the circumstances of the times, that there may be

neither cheapness in a dear season, nor dearness in a cheap one, and

that the grumblings of both buyers and sellers may be avoided, by

fairness being observed towards both.

'Therefore, after careful consideration, we have fixed in the

subjoined schedule the prices of the various articles of produce,

which prices are to remain free from all ambiguity.

'If any vendor does not observe the prices named in the present edict,

he will be liable to a fine of six solidi (£3 12s.) for each violation

of the law, and may be visited by corporal punishment[759].'

[Footnote 759: 'Per singulos excessus sex solidorum mulctam a se

noverit exigendam et fustuario posse subjacere supplicio.']

[The schedule mentioned in this letter is unfortunately not preserved.

Few documents that Cassiodorus could have handed down to posterity

would have been more valuable. If we could have compared it with the

celebrated Edict of Stratonicea (cir. A.D. 301), we should have seen

what changes had been wrought in the value of the precious metals and

the distribution of wealth during the two centuries of disturbance and

barbaric invasion which had elapsed since the reign of Diocletian.

But, unfortunately, Cassiodorus believed that his rhetoric and his

natural history would be more interesting to us than these vulgar

facts.]

12. EDICT CONCERNING PRICES ALONG THE FLAMINIAN WAY.

[Sidenote: Prices per Viam Flaminiam.]

'If prices need to be fixed for the leisurely inhabitant of a town,

much more for the traveller, whose journey may otherwise become a

burden instead of a pleasure. Let strangers therefore find that they

are entertained by you at fixed prices. To fawn upon them with feigned

politeness and then terrify them with enormous charges is the act of

a highway robber. Do you not know how much better moderate prices

would suit your own purpose? Travellers would gladly flock to your

accommodation-houses[760] if they found that you treated them fairly.

[Footnote 760: This is, I believe, the expression used in some of the

Australian colonies for what Cassiodorus calls _commoda vestra_.]

'Let no one think that because he is a long way off, his extortion

will escape notice, for people are arriving here every day with tales

of your rapacity.

'An official despatched for the purpose will, after deliberation with

the citizens and Bishops of each place, decide what prices are to be

charged there; and then whosoever dares to ask higher prices will have

to pay a fine of six solidi (£3 12s.) and will be afflicted by the

laceration of his body.

'Honest gains at the expense of your fellow-citizens ought to suffice

for all of you. One would think that the highways were beset with

brigands.'

13. THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME TO THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN.

[Sidenote: Supplications of the Senate to Justinian.]

'It seems a right and proper thing that we should address our prayers

for the safety of the Roman Republic to a dutiful Sovereign[761], who

can only desire what will benefit our freedom. We therefore beseech

you, most clement Emperor, and from the bosom of the Curia we stretch

forth our two hands to you in prayer, that you will grant a most

enduring peace to our King. Spurn not us, who ever seemed certain of

your love. It is in truth the Roman name that you are commending, if

you grant gracious terms to our lords. May your league with them

assure the peace of Italy; and if our prayers be not sufficient to

accomplish this thing, imagine that you hear our country break forth

with these words of supplication: "If ever I was acceptable to thee,

love, oh most dutiful Sovereign, love my defenders! They who rule me

ought to be in harmony with thee, lest otherwise they begin to do such

deeds towards me as thou least of all men wouldest desire. Be not to

me a cause of death, thou who hast ever ministered unto me the joys of

life. Lo, while at peace with thee I have doubled the number of my

children, I have been decked with the glory of my citizens. If thou

sufferest me to be wounded, where is thy dutiful name of Son? What

couldest even thou do more for me [than these rulers], seeing that my

religion and thine thus flourish under their rule?

[Footnote 761: 'Pio Principi.']

'"My Senate grows in honour and is incessantly increasing in wealth.

Do not dissipate in quarrels what thou oughtest rather to defend with

the sword. I have had many Kings; but none so trained in letters as

this one. I have had foreseeing statesmen, but none so powerful in

learning and religion. I love the Amal, bred up as he has been at my

knees, a strong man, one who has been formed by my conversation, dear

to the Romans by his prudence, venerable to the nations by his valour.

Join rather thy prayers to his; share with him thy counsels: so that

any prosperity which I may earn may redound to thy glory. Do not woo

me in the only fashion in which I may not be won. Thine am I already

in love, if thou sendest none of thy soldiers to lacerate my limbs.

For if Africa has deserved through thee to recover freedom, it were

hard that I should from the same hand lose that freedom which I have

ever possessed. Control the emotions of anger, oh illustrious

conqueror! The claims urged upon thee by the general voice of the

people ought to outweigh the offence which the ingratitude of any

private individual may have occasioned to thy heart."

'Thus Rome speaks while, through her Senators, she makes supplications

to you. And if that be not enough, let the sacred petition of the

blessed Apostles Peter and Paul be also taken into your account. For

surely they, who are proved to have so often defended the peace of

Rome from her enemies, deserve that your Sovereignty should yield

everything to their merits. The venerable man, our most pious King's

ambassador to your Clemency, will further set forth our prayers.'

[It is not easy to fix the exact occasion on which this petition was

likely to be sent from the Senate to the Emperor. The allusion to the

conquest of Africa shows that it was after the Vandal War, which ended

in March, 534. On the other hand, the language put into the mouth of

the Senate implies that the Imperial troops had not yet landed in

Italy or Sicily, and the petition is therefore of an earlier date than

the summer of 535. During the whole of these fourteen months the

relations between Empire and Kingdom were more or less strained, the

causes of complaint on the part of Constantinople beginning with the

occupation of Lilybaeum and ending with the murder of Amalasuentha. I

fear that the nattering portrait drawn of 'the Amal' can apply to no

one but Theodahad, the terms used being hopelessly inapplicable to a

boy like Athalaric. Who then are 'our lords' ('nostri Domini'), in

whose name peace is besought. The best that we can hope, for the sake

of the reputation of Cassiodorus, is that they are Amalasuentha and

Theodahad, the letter being written between October 2, 534 (when

Athalaric died), and April 30, 535 (when Amalasuentha was imprisoned).

Upon the whole this seems the most probable conclusion. If written

after Amalasuentha's death, in the few months or weeks which

intervened between that event and the landing of Belisarius in Sicily,

the language employed reflects deep discredit on the writer. In that

case, 'nostri Domini' must mean Theodahad and Gudelina.]

14. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO GAUDIOSUS, CANCELLARIUS OF THE

PROVINCE OF LIGURIA.

[Sidenote: Praises of Como. Relief of its inhabitants.]

'The City of Como[762] is visited by so many travellers that the

cultivators of the soil declare that they are quite worn out with

requisitions for post-horses[763]. Wherefore we direct that by Royal

indulgence they be favoured in this matter[764], that this city, so

beautifully situated, do not become a solitude for want of

inhabitants.

[Footnote 762: Thus called by Cassiodorus; not Comum.]

[Footnote 763: 'Se possessores paraveredorum assiduitate suggerunt

esse fatigatos.']

[Footnote 764: 'Quibus indultu Regali beneficium praecipimus jugiter

custodiri.' These words do not make it clear how the inhabitants were

relieved by the Royal decree; but it was probably by some gift of

money like that which is announced in the next letter.]

'Como, with its precipitous mountains and its vast expanse of lake,

seems placed there for the defence of the Province of Liguria; and

yet, again, it is so beautiful that one would think it was created for

pleasure only. To the south lies a fertile plain with easy roads for

the transport of provisions; on the north a lake sixty miles long,

abounding in fish, soothing the mind with delicious recreation.

'Rightly is it called _Como_, because it is adorned (compta) with such

gifts. The lake lies in a shell-like valley, with white margins. Above

rises a diadem of lofty mountains, their slopes studded with bright

villas[765], a girdle of olives below, vineyards above, while a crest

of thick chestnut-woods adorns the very summit of the hills. Streams

of snowy clearness dash from the hill-sides into the lake. On the

eastern side these unite to form the river Addua, so called because it

contains the _added_ volume of two streams. It plunges into the lake

with such force that it keeps its own colour[766] (dark among the

whiter waters) and its own name far along the northern shore[767], a

phenomenon often seen with rivers flowing into the ocean, but surely

marvellous with one flowing into an inland lake. And so swift is its

course as it moves through the alien waves, that you might fancy it a

river flowing over the solid plains.

[Footnote 765: 'Praetoriorum luminibus decenter ornata.']

[Footnote 766: So Claudian (De VI Consolata Honorii 196), 'et Addua

visu caerulus.']

[Footnote 767: 'Ut nomen retinens et colorem in Septentrionem obesiore

alvei ventre generetur.']

'So delightful a region makes men delicate and averse to labour.

Therefore the inhabitants deserve especial consideration, and for this

reason we wish them to enjoy perpetually the royal bounty.'

15. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE LIGURIANS.

[Announcing the despatch of money to relieve the necessities of the

Province, possibly after some incursions of the Franks. This would fit

in pretty well with the mention of _Astensis Civitas_ as having

suffered the most.]

[Sidenote: Relief of the necessities of Liguria.]

'It is the privilege of a King to increase the happiness of his

subjects. Not to postpone your joy by too long a preface, I will come

to the point at once, and inform you that our most glorious Lords,

taking the necessities of their loyal Liguria into account, have sent

100 lbs. of gold [£4,000] by the hands of A and B, officers of the

Royal Bedchamber. _You_ are to say how the money is to be spent,

indicating the persons who are in the greatest necessity; but as we

are informed that the city of Asti has been more heavily weighted than

others, it is our wish that it should be chiefly helped by this

disbursement. Now, do you who are tributaries, reflect upon the

clemency of your lords, who are inverting the usual order of things,

and paying out to you from the Treasury what they are accustomed to

receive. Let us know at once how much you think each taxpayer ought

to receive, that we may deduct it from his first instalment of

land-tax [768].

[Footnote 768: 'Sed ut beneficia Dominorum _subtractis exactionum,

incommodis_ augeantur, celerius relatio vestra nos instruat, quid

unicuique de hac summâ relaxandum esse judicetis, ut tantum de _primâ

illatione_ faciamus _suspendi_ quantum ad nos notitia directa

vulgaverit.' The meaning of Cassiodorus seems quite clear, though it

is not easy to understand how far the actual gift of money was

supplemented by, or independent of, remission of land-tax.]

'And put up your prayers for your most affectionate Sovereigns, that

they may receive back again from Heaven the favour which they are

conferring on you.'

16. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE LIGURIANS.

[Sidenote: Oppressions practised on the Ligurians to be remedied.]

'In thanking me so earnestly for a recent benefit [probably the

present mentioned in the preceding letter] you invited me to further

favours, and the implied promise which I then gave you I now fulfil.

'You complain that you are burdened with unjust weights and measures,

and I therefore declare that this iniquity shall cease, and that no

tax-collector or tithe-collector[769], shall dare to use too long a

measure or too heavy a weight [in the collection of the King's

revenue].

[Footnote 769: 'Exactores atque susceptores.' For the latter office,

see Cod. Theod. xii. 6.]

'Also that their accounts shall be promptly balanced, and that any

overcharge that may be detected shall be at once repaid.

'Now then, your minds being freed from anxiety on this score, turn

your attention to the supply of the wants of our most flourishing

army, and show your zeal for the public good, since we have satisfied

you that it is not for private and fraudulent gains that you are to

pay your contributions.'

17. ON THE PROMOTIONS IN THE OFFICIAL STAFF OF THE PRAETORIAN

PRAEFECT, MADE ON CHRISTMAS DAY[770].

[Footnote 770: This letter was probably addressed to the Princeps, the

highest person in the whole Officium, as it contains the words '_unus_

quisque ... _tuâ designatione vulgetur_.']

[Sidenote: Promotions in Officium of Praefectus Praetorio.]

'On this day of general rejoicing, when by the kindness of Heaven the

way of salvation was opened to all mankind, we wish that the members

of our staff should also be glad. For to rejoice, ourselves, when

those around us are mourning, is a kind of sacrilege. Hence some

philosophers have held that the whole human race is one being, the

various members of which are constrained to share one another's

feelings of joy or sadness. Therefore let every official in our staff

according to his grade[771] get promotion on this day, not only rising

himself, but creating a vacancy which enables those below him to rise

also.'

[Footnote 771: 'Juxta matriculae seriem.']

[All the Letters from 18 to 35 are documents, for the most part very

short ones, relating to these promotions.

For an explanation of the terms used in these letters, and of the

whole subject of the staff of the Praetorian Praefect, see chapter iv.

of the Introduction.]

In Letter 18, Antianus, who is vacating the office of CORNICULARIUS,

receives the rank of _Spectabilis_, and has a place assigned him among

the Tribuni and Notarii, where he may 'adore the presence of his

Sovereign[772]'.

[Footnote 772: 'Inter Tribunos et Notarios ad adorandos aspectus

properet Principales.']

In Letter 19 the successor of Antianus in the office of CORNICULARIUS

receives his appointment.

In Letter 20 the retiring PRIMISCRINIUS also receives the rank of

_Spectabilis_, and takes his place among the Tribuni and Notarii, 'to

adore the Purple of Royalty.'

In Letter 21 Andreas is rewarded for his faithful service on the

Praetorian staff[773], by being promoted to the office of

PRIMISCRINIUS.

[Footnote 773: 'Qui Praetorianis fascibus inculpabiliter noscitur

obsecutus.']

In Letter 22 Catellus, who stands next in grade for this

promotion[774], obtains the post of SCRINIARIUS ACTORUM.

[Footnote 774: 'Quem matriculae series fecit accedere.']

In Letter 23 Constantinian, to whose virtues Cassiodorus himself bears

witness, receives the charge of letters relating to the collection of

Land-Tax (CURA EPISTOLARUM CANONICARUM).

In Letter 24 Lucillus is appointed a clerk in the War-Office

(SCRINIARIUS CURAE MILITARIS).

In Letter 25 Patricius is appointed chief of the shorthand writers

(PRIMICERIUS EXCEPTORUM).

In Letter 26 Justus obtains a place as member of the Sixth Schola

(SEXTUS SCHOLARIS[775]).

[Footnote 775: I am unable to suggest any explanation of this title.]

In Letter 27 Joannes, whom we saw in the Sixth Letter of this Book

entrusted with the duties of Cancellarius, is rewarded for his

faithful discharge of those duties by receiving the place of

PRAEROGATIVARIUS[776].

[Footnote 776: I have not found any explanation of this title, which

is apparently unknown to the Notitia, to Lydus, and to the Theodosian

Code.]

In Letter 28 Cheliodorus[777] is appointed to the place of

COMMENTARIENSIS (Magistrates' clerk).

[Footnote 777: Note the corrupt form of the name Heliodorus.]

In Letter 29 Cart(h)erius is promoted to the office of REGERENDARIUS

(Secretary of the Post-Office), in the hope that this promotion will

render him yet more earnest in the discharge of his Praetorian

labours.

In Letter 30 Ursus is appointed PRIMICERIUS DEPUTATORUM, and Beatus

(probably the Cancellarius addressed in Letter 10) is made PRIMICERIUS

AUGUSTALIUM.

In Letter 31 Urbicus, on vacating the post of PRIMICERIUS

SINGULARIORUM (Chief of the King's Messengers), is placed among the

Body-guards (Domestici et Protectores), where he may adore the Royal

Purple, that, being made illustrious by gazing on the Sovereign, he

may rejoice in his liberation from official harassment.

[As the Singularii did not form part of the learned staff (Militia

Litterata), their chief on retiring receives a guardsman's place, but

still one which gives him access to royalty.]

In Letter 32 Pierius receives the post of PRIMICERIUS SINGULARIORUM

which is thus vacated.

[Sidenote: Delegatoria.]

In Letter 33 Cassiodorus, expanding the proverb 'Bis dat qui cito

dat,' agrees that the _Delegatoria_[778] (or Delegatiorius), the

letter conferring on the receiver the right to receive the increase of

rations due to his promotion, should not be long delayed.

[Footnote 778: We get this sense of Delegatio in Cod. Theod. vii. 4.

35: '_Annonas omnes_, quae universis officiis atque Sacri Palatii

Ministeriis et Sacris Scriniis ceterisque cunctarum adminiculis

dignitatum adsolent _delegari_.']

In Letter 34 Antianus, the retired Cornicularius of Letter 18,

receives a somewhat evasive answer to a petition which apparently

affected the rights of those below him in the official hierarchy[779].

[Footnote 779: In this letter occurs a sentence of tantalising

obscurity: 'Sola nos Alpha complectitur ubi ea littera non timetur.']

In Letter 35 we have an example of the _Delegatoria_ alluded to in

Letter 33. It is concerned with a PRINCEPS, apparently the Princeps of

the AGENTES IN REBUS; and, after extolling the zeal and alacrity of

those officers, who are constantly intent on enforcing obedience to

the Imperial decrees and reverence for the authority of the Praetorian

Praefect, he observes that it would be impiety to delay the reward of

such labour.

'Therefore let your Experience[780] pay, out of the third instalment

of land-tax[781] from such and such a Province, those monies which the

wisdom of Antiquity directed should be paid to the Princeps

Augustorum[782]. Let this be done at once to those who are chargeable

on the accounts of the thirteenth Indiction (Sept. 1, 534--Sept. 1,

535). Let there be no venal delays. Behave to the out-going public

servant as you would wish that others should behave to you on your

retirement from office. All men should honour the veteran, but

especially they who are still toiling in the public service.'

[Footnote 780: It is not clear to whom the letter is addressed.]

[Footnote 781: 'Ex illatione tertiâ.']

[Footnote 782: The marginal note says: 'i.e. Agentium in Rebus.']

36. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO ANAT(H)OLIUS, CANCELLARIUS OF THE

PROVINCE OF SAMNIUM.

[Sidenote: The retirement of a Cornicularius on a superannuation

allowance justified on astronomical grounds.]

'As all things else come to an end, so it is right that the laborious

life of a civil servant should have its appointed term.

'The heavenly bodies have their prescribed time in which to complete

their journeyings. Saturn in thirty years wanders over his appointed

portion of space. Jupiter in twelve years finishes the survey of his

kingdom. Mars, with fiery rapidity, completes his course in eighteen

months. The Sun in one year goes through all the signs of the Zodiac.

Venus accomplishes her circuit in fifteen months; the rapid Mercury in

thirteen months. The Moon, peculiar in her nearer neighbourhood,

traverses in thirty days the space which it takes the Sun a year to

journey over[783].

[Footnote 783: As might be expected from an observer who did not

understand the earth's motion in its orbit, the periods assigned to

the _inferior_ planets in this paragraph are all wrong, while those

assigned to the _superior_ planets are pretty nearly right.

_Periods according to Cassiodorus_. _True Periods_.

Saturn 30 years 29 years 174 days.

Jupiter 12 " 11 " 317 "

Mars 1 year 182 days 1 year 321 "

Venus 1 " 91 " 224 "

Mercury 1 " 30 " 88 "]

'All these bodies, which, as philosophers say, shall only perish with

the world, have an appointed end to their journeyings. But they

complete their course that they may begin it again: the human race

serves that it may rest from its ended labours. Therefore, since the

Cornicularius in my Court has completed his term of office, you are to

pay him without any deduction this 1st September 700 solidi (£420)

from the revenues of the Province of Samnium, taking them out of the

third instalment of land-tax[784]. He commanded the wings of the army

of the Praefect's assistants, from whence he derived his name[785].

When he handed us the inkstand, we wrote, unbribed, those decrees

which men would have paid a great price to obtain[786]. We gratified

him whom the laws favoured, we frowned on him who had not justice on

his side. No litigant had cause to regret his success, since it came

to him unbought. You know all this that we are saying to be true, for

our business was all transacted in the office, not in the bedchamber.

What we did, the whole troop of civil servants knew[787]. We were

private persons in our power of harming, Judges in our power of doing

good. Our words might be stern, our deeds were kindly. We frowned

though mollified; we threatened though intending no evil; and we

struck terror that we might not have to strike. You have had in me, as

you were wont to say, a most clean-handed Judge: I shall leave behind

in you my most uncorrupted witnesses.'

[Footnote 784: 'Per illam Indictionem de Samnii provinciâ ex illatione

tertiâ sine ambiguitate contrade.']

[Footnote 785: 'Praefuit enim Cornibus Secretarii Praetoriani, unde ei

nomen est derivatum.']

[Footnote 786: 'Eo ministrante caliculum scripsimus inempti quod

magnis pretiis optabatur impleri.']

[Footnote 787: 'Quod egimus cohortes noverunt.' Observe the military

character of the service, 'cohortes.']

37. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE CLARISSIMUS LUCINUS,

CANCELLARIUS OF CAMPANIA.

[Sidenote: Payment of retiring Primiscrinius.]

'It was well ordered by Antiquity that the servants of the Public

should receive a due reward for their labours; and who of all these

are more deserving than the officers of the Praetorian Praefect

(Praetoriani). Theirs is the difficult task of waiting on the

necessities of the army. They must demand accounts, often minute and

intricate, from great officers whom they dare not offend. They must

collect the stores of food for the Roman people from the Provincials

without giving them cause for complaint[788]. Their acts constitute

our true glory; and in the formation of their characters, work, hard

work, that stern and anxious pedagogue[789], is better than all

literary or philosophic training.

[Footnote 788: 'Eorum est etiam sudoribus applicandum, quod victuales

expensae longe quidem positae, _sed tamquam in urbe Regiâ natae_ [I do

not quite understand this antithesis] sine querelâ Provincialium

congregantur.']

[Footnote 789: 'Labores, violenti magistri, solliciti paedagogi, per

quos cautior quis efficitur dum incurri pericula formidantur.']

'Such men ought assuredly to receive their stipulated rewards; and

therefore we order you to pay regularly so many solidi of the third

instalment, from the land-tax of the Province of Campania[790], to

such and such a person, who has now just completed his term of service

as Primiscrinius.'

[Footnote 790: 'Ex canone provinciae Campaniae tertiae illationis tot

solidos solenniter te dare censemus.']

38. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO JOANNES, CANONICARIUS[791] OF

THUSCIA.

[Footnote 791: Tax-collector.]

[Sidenote: Praises of paper.]

'Rightly did Antiquity ordain that a large store of paper should be

laid in by our Bureaux (Scrinia), that litigants might receive the

decision of the Judge clearly written, without delay, and without

avaricious and impudent charges for the paper which bore it[792].

[Footnote 792: Lydus (De Magistratibus iii. 14) makes a similar

remark, but says that in his time the copying clerks (Exceptarii, or

Exceptores) supplied disgracefully bad paper made of grass, and

charged a fee for doing so.]

'A wonderful product in truth is this wherewith ingenious Memphis has

supplied all the offices in the world. The plants of Nile arise, a

wood without leaves or branches, a harvest of the waters, the fair

tresses of the marshes, plants full of emptiness, spongy, thirsty,

having all their strength in their outer rind, tall and light, the

fairest fruit of a foul inundation.

'Before Paper was discovered, all the sayings of the wise, all the

thoughts of the ancients, were in danger of perishing. Who could write

fluently or pleasantly on the rough bark of trees, though it is from

that practice that we call a book _Liber_? While the scribe was

laboriously cutting his letters on the sordid material, his very

thought grew cold: a rude contrivance assuredly, and only fit for the

beginnings of the world.

'Then was paper discovered, and therewith was eloquence made possible.

Paper, so smooth and so continuous, the snowy entrails of a green

herb; paper which can be spread out to such a vast extent, and yet be

folded up into such a little space; paper, on whose white expanse the

black characters look beautiful; paper which keeps the sweet harvest

of the mind, and restores it to the reader whenever he chooses to

consult it; paper which is the faithful witness of all human actions,

eloquent of the past, a sworn foe to oblivion.

'Therefore for this thirteenth Indiction[793] pay so many solidi from

the land-tax of the Tuscan Province to our Bureau, that it may be able

to keep in perpetuity a faithful record of all its transactions.'

[Footnote 793: Sept. 1, 534. The reading 'de tertiae decimae

Indictionis rationibus' seems required by the sense, instead of

'tertiam de decimae Indictionis rationibus.' It is quite clear that

Cassiodorus was not Praetorian Praefect at the tenth Indiction.]

39. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE CLARISSIMUS VITALIAN,

CANCELLARIUS OF LUCANIA AND BRUTTII.

[Sidenote: Payment by Province of Bruttii of commuted cattle-tax.]

'The vast numbers of the Roman people in old time are evidenced by the

extensive Provinces from which their food supply was drawn, as well as

by the wide circuit of their walls, the massive structure of their

amphitheatre, the marvellous bigness of their public baths, and the

enormous multitude of mills, which could only have been made for use,

not for ornament.

'It was to feed this population, that mountainous Lucania paid her

tribute of swine, that fertile Bruttii furnished her droves of oxen.

It was a glorious privilege for them thus to feed the Roman people:

yet the length of roads over which the animals had to be driven made

the tribute unnecessarily burdensome, since every mile reduced their

weight, and the herdsman could not possibly obtain credit at the

journey's end for the same number of pounds of flesh which he

possessed at its beginning. For this reason the tribute was commuted

into a money payment, one which no journeyings can diminish and no

toil can wound. The Provinces should understand and respond to this

favourable change, and not show themselves more slack than their

ancestors were, under far more burdensome conditions. Your Diligence

has now collected both these taxes[794] at the appointed periods; and

I am glad of it, that my countrymen, who have served alien

magistrates with praiseworthy diligence, might not seem negligent

under my rule. These Provinces, which I, my grandfather, and my

great-grandfather have benefited as private persons, I have

endeavoured to help yet more earnestly while I bore the majesty of the

_fasces_, that they who have rejoiced in my exaltation might see that

I still retained my love for our common country. Let them pay the tax

then, not from fear but from love. I have prevailed on the royal

generosity to limit its amount; for whereas it used to be 1,200 solidi

[£720] annually, it is henceforward to be 1,000 [£600][795].'

[Footnote 794: 'Ambos titulos.']

[Footnote 795: This sum seems ridiculously small for the Province of

Bruttii. Can it be the sum assessed on each district?]

40. AN INDULGENCE [OR AMNESTY TO PRISONERS ON SOME GREAT FESTIVAL OF

THE CHURCH, PROBABLY EASTER].

[Sidenote: General Amnesty.]

'All the year we are bound to tread in the path of Justice, but on

this day we secure our approach to the Redeemer by the path of

Forgiveness. Therefore we forswear punishments of all kinds, we

condemn the torture, and thus feel ourselves, in forgiving, to be more

truly than ever a Judge.

'Hail to thee, O Clemency[796], patroness of the human race! thou

reignest in the heavens and on the earth: and most fitting is it that,

at sacred seasons like this, thou shouldest be supreme.

[Footnote 796: 'Indulgentia.']

'Therefore, O Lictor, thou who art allowed to do with impunity the

very thing for which other men are punished, put up thy axe; let it be

henceforth bright, not bloody. Let the chains which have been so often

wet with tears now grow rusty. The prison--that house of Pluto, in

which men suffer a living death, from its foul odours, from the sound

of groaning which assails their ears, from the long fastings which

destroy their taste, from the heavy weights which weary their hands,

from the endless darkness which makes their eyes grow dim--let the

prison now be filled with emptiness. Never is it so popular as when it

is seen to be deserted.

'And you, its denizens, who are thus in a manner transplanted to

Heaven from Hell, avoid the evil courses which made you acquainted

with its horrors. Even animals shun the things which they have once

found harmful. Cattle which have once fallen into a pit seek not again

the same road. The bird once snared shuns bird-lime. The pike buries

himself in deep sand, that he may escape the drag-net, and when it has

scraped his back leaps nimbly into the waves and expresses by his

gambols his joy for his deliverance. When the wrasse[797] finds that

he is caught in an osier trap, he moves himself slowly backwards till

he can leave his tail protruding, that one of his fellows, perceiving

his capture, may pull him out from his prison.

[Footnote 797: 'Scarus.']

'So too the Sauri (?), a clever race of fish, named from their speed,

when they have swum into a net, tie themselves together into a sort of

rope; and then, tugging backwards with all their might, seek to

liberate their fellow-prisoners.

'Many facts of the same kind would be discovered on enquiry. But my

discourse must return to thee, O Gaoler. Thou wilt be miserable in the

general joy, because thou art wont to derive thy gladness from the

affliction of many. But as some consolation for thy groans, we leave

to thee those prisoners whom the Law, for very pity's sake, cannot set

free--the men found guilty of outrageous crimes, whose liberation

would make barbarous deeds frequent. Over these thou mayest still

exert thy power.'

BOOK XII.

CONTAINING TWENTY-EIGHT LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN HIS OWN NAME

AS PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

1. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE VARIOUS CANCELLARII OF THE

SEVERAL PROVINCES.

[Sidenote: General instructions to the Cancellarii.]

'It is generally supposed that long attendance at the Courts of Law

increases the love of justice. The character of the Judge also is in

some degree estimated by that of his officers[798], as that of a

philosophical teacher by his disciples. Thus your bad actions might

endanger our reputation, while, on the other hand, with no effort on

our part, we earn glory from all that you do well. Beware, therefore,

lest by any misconduct of yours, which is sure to be exaggerated by

popular rumour, you rouse anger in us, who as your Judge will be sure

to exact stern recompence for all the wrong you have done to our

reputation. Study this rather, that you may receive praise and

promotion at our hands, and go forth, with Divine help, on this

Indiction, to such and such a Province, adorned with the pomp of the

Cancelli, and girt about with a certain proud gravity. Remember the

honour of the _fasces_ which are borne before you, of the Praetorian

seat whose commands you execute.

[Footnote 798: 'Per milites suos judex intelligitur.']

'Fly Avarice, the Queen of all the vices, who never enters the human

heart alone, but always brings a flattering and deceiving train along

with her. Show yourself zealous for the public good; do more by reason

than by terror. Let your person be a refuge for the oppressed, a

defence of the weak, a stronghold for him who is stricken down by any

calamity. Never do you more truly discharge the functions of the

Cancelli than when you open the prison doors to those who have been

unjustly confined.'

2. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO ALL THE JUDGES OF THE PROVINCES

(A.D. 534-535).

[Sidenote: General instructions to the Provincial Governors.]

'God be thanked, the Provincials have attended to all my admonitions,

and I have kept all my promises to them. You, as Judges, have

admirably copied my own freedom from corruption, and I can only desire

that you will go on as you have begun.

'Let the peasant pay cheerfully his share of the public taxes, and I

on my part will guarantee him the administration of justice in the

courts[799].

[Footnote 799: 'Possessor mihi publicas pecunias libens inferat: ego

illi in conventus justitiae tributa persolvam.']

'It was evidently the intention of the legislators that you should be

imitators of our dignity, since they have given you almost the same

jurisdiction in the Provinces as ourselves.

'What avails the reputation of being a rich man? It confers no glory.

But to be known as a just man wins the praise of all. Nothing mean or

avaricious is becoming in a Judge. All his faults are made more

conspicuous by his elevation. Better were it to be absolutely unknown,

than to be marked out for the scorn of all men. Let us keep our own

brews clear from shame; then can we rebuke the sins of others. A

terrible leveller is iniquity: it makes the Judge himself feel like

the culprit who is tried before him. All these considerations,

according to my custom, I bring before you in this my yearly address,

since it is impossible ever to have too much of a good thing[800].

[Footnote 800:'Haec nos annuo sermone convenit loqui: quia bonarum

rerum nulla satietas est.']

'Now, to proceed to business. Do you and your official staff impress

upon all the cultivators of the soil the absolute necessity of their

paying their land-tax[801] for this thirteenth Indiction[802] at the

appointed time. Let there be no pressing them to pay before the time,

and no venal connivance at their postponement of payment after the

time. What kindness is there in delay? The money must be paid, sooner

or later.

[Footnote 801: 'Trina Illatio.']

[Footnote 802: Sept. 1, 534, to Sept. 1, 535.]

'Prepare also a full and faithful statement of the expenditure for

every four months[803], and address it to our bureaux[804], that there

may be perfect clearness in the public accounts.

[Footnote 803: 'Expensarum fidelem notitiam quaternis mensibus

comprehensam.' As the receipts of the _Trina Illatio_ had to be

gathered in every four months, the account of Provincial expenditure

covered the same period.]

[Footnote 804: 'Ad scrinia nostra dirigere maturabis.']

'In order to help you, we send A and B, members of our official staff,

to examine your accounts. See that you come up to the standard of duty

here prescribed for you.'

3. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO ALL THE SAJONES WHO HAVE BEEN

ASSIGNED TO THE CANCELLARII.

[Sidenote: General instructions to the Sajones.]

'There must be fear of the magistrate in the heart of the citizen,

else the laws would never be obeyed. But as in medicine various

remedies are required by various constitutions, so in the

administration of the laws sometimes force and sometimes gentleness

has to be used. Wisdom is required to decide which is the best mode

of dealing with each particular case.

'Therefore we despatch your Devotion[805] to attend upon A B,

Clarissimus Cancellarius. Be terrible to the lawless, but to them

alone. Above all things see to the punctual collection of the taxes.

Do not study popularity. Attend only to those cases which are

entrusted to your care, and work them thoroughly. No greater disgrace

can attach to an officer of Court than that a Judge's sentence should

be left unexecuted[806]. Do not swagger through the streets exulting

in the fact that nobody dares meet you. Brave men are ever gentle in

time of peace, and there is no greater lover of justice than he who

has seen many battles. When you return to your parents and friends let

it not be brawls that you have to boast of, but good conduct. We also

shall in that case welcome you back with pleasure, and not leave you

long without another commission. And the King too, the lord of

all[807], will entrust higher duties to him who returns from the lower

with credit and the reward of a good conscience.'

[Footnote 805: 'Devotio tua' was the technical way of addressing the

_fortis Sajo_.]

[Footnote 806: 'In executore illud est pessimum, si judicis relinquat

arbitrium.']

[Footnote 807: 'Rerum Dominus.']

4. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE CANONICARIUS[808] OF THE

VENETIAE.

[Footnote 808: Revenue-officer.]

[Sidenote: Praise of Acinaticium, a red wine of Verona.]

'A well furnished royal table is a credit to the State. A private

person may eat only the produce of his own district; but it is the

glory of a King to collect at his table the delicacies of all lands.

Let the Danube send us her carp, let the _anchorago_ (?) come from the

Rhine, let the labour of Sicily furnish the _exormiston_[809], let the

sea of Bruttii send its sweet _acerniae_ (?); in short, let

well-flavoured dishes be gathered from all coasts. It becomes a King

so to regale himself that he may seem to foreign ambassadors to

possess almost everything.

[Footnote 809: 'Perhaps a kind of lamprey' (White and Riddle's

Latin-English Dictionary).]

'And therefore, not to neglect home-produce also, as our fertile Italy

is especially rich in wines, we must have these also provided for the

King's table. Now the report of the Count of the Patrimony informs us

that the stock of _Acinaticium_[810] has fallen very low in the royal

cellars. We therefore order you to visit the cultivators of Verona,

and offer them a sufficient price for this product of theirs, which

they ought to offer without price to their Sovereign.

[Footnote 810: Apparently a kind of raisin wine; from _acina_, a grape

or berry.]

'It is in truth a noble wine and one that Italy may be proud of.

Inglorious Greece may doctor her wines with foreign admixtures, or

disguise them with perfumes. There is no need of any such process with

this liquor. It is purple, as becomes the wine of kings. Sweet and

strong[811], it grows more dense in tasting it, so that you might

doubt whether it was a liquid food or an edible drink[812].

[Footnote 811: What are we to make of 'Stipsis nescio quâ firmitate

roboratur?']

[Footnote 812: 'Tactus ejus densitate pinguescit: ut dicas esse aut

carneum liquorem aut edibilem potionem.' Questionable praise,

according to the ideas of a modern wine-grower.]

'I have a mind to describe the singular mode of manufacturing this

wine. The grape cluster, gathered in autumn, is hung up under the roof

of the house to dry till December. Thus exuding its insipid humours it

becomes much sweeter. Then in December, when everything else is bound

by the frost of winter, the chilly blood of these grapes is allowed to

flow forth. It is not insultingly trodden down by the feet, nor is any

foul admixture suffered to pollute it; its stream of gem-like

clearness is drawn forth from it by a noble provocation. It seems to

shed tears of joy, and delights the eye by its beauty as much as the

palate by its flavour. Collect this wine as speedily as possible, pay

a sufficient price for it, and hand it over to the _Cartarii_ who are

charged with this business.

'And this point is not to be forgotten, that it is to be served up in

goblets of a milky whiteness. Lilies and roses thus unite their

charms, and a pleasure is ministered to the eye, far beyond the mere

commonplace facts that the wine has a pleasant taste, and that it

restores the strength of the drinker.

'We rely on you to provide both the wine and the drinking vessels[813]

with all despatch.'

[Footnote 813: We might have expected to find wine-bottles rather than

wine-glasses thus requisitioned; but I think the words of Cassiodorus,

'quod lacteo poculo relucescit,' oblige us to adopt the latter

translation.]

5. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO VALERIAN, VIR SUBLIMIS.

[Written probably in the autumn or winter of 535, when Belisarius was

in Sicily threatening the Southern Provinces of Italy.]

[Sidenote: Measures for relief of Lucania and Bruttii.]

'The ruler's anxiety for the common good of all over whom he is

placed, may allowably show itself in an especial manner towards the

dwellers in his own home, and that pre-eminently at a time when they

need his succour from peril.

'The numerous army which was destined for the defence of the Republic

is said to have laid waste the cultivated parts of Lucania and

Bruttii, and to have diminished the abundance of those regions by its

love of rapine.

'Now since they must take and you must give, and since the cultivator

must not be robbed nor the army starved, know that the prices of

provisions are fixed by the order of the Lord of the State at a much

lower figure than you have been wont to sell at[814].

[Footnote 814: 'Pretia quae antiquus ordo constituit ex jussione rerum

Domini cognoscite temperata, ut multo arctius quam vendere solebatis

in assem publicum praebita debeant imputari.']

'Be not therefore anxious. You have escaped the hands of the

tax-collector. The present instrument takes away from you the

liability to tribute. In order that your knowledge may be made more

complete, we have thought it better that the amounts of the provisions

for which you are held responsible should be expressed in the

below-written letters[815], that no one may sell you a benefit which

you know to be conferred by the public generosity.

[Footnote 815: 'Sed quo facilius instrueretur vestra notitia,

_imputationum summas infra scriptis brevibus credidimus exprimendas._'

Apparently the ordinary taxes for the two Provinces are remitted, but

a certain quantity of provisions has to be furnished to the army,

perhaps by each township; and besides this, the commissariat officers

have a right of pre-emption at prices considerably below the market

rate.]

'Repress, therefore, the unruly movements of the cultivators[816].

While the Gothic army is fighting, let the Roman peasant enjoy in

quiet the peace for which he sighs. According to the King's command,

admonish the several tenants on the farms, and the better sort of

peasants, not to mingle in the barbarism of the strife, lest the

danger to public tranquillity be greater than any service they can

render in the wars[817]. Let them lay hands to the iron, but only to

cultivate their fields; let them grasp the pointed steel, but only to

goad their oxen.

[Footnote 816: 'Continete ergo possessorum intemperantes motus.']

[Footnote 817: 'Ex Regiâ jussione singulos conductores massarum et

possessores validos admonete, ut nullam contrahant in concertatione

barbariem: ne non tantum festinent bellis prodesse quantum quiete

confundere.' Evidently the rustics are dissuaded from taking up arms

lest they should use them on the side of Belisarius.]

'Let the Judges be active: let the tribunals echo with their

denunciations of crime. Let the robber, the adulterer, the forger, the

thief, find that the arm of the State is still strong to punish their

crimes. True freedom rejoices when these men are made sad. Here, in

this civil battle, is full scope for your energies: attend to this,

and enjoy the thought that others are fighting the battle with the

foreign foe for you.

'Exercise great care in calculating the rations of the soldiers, that

no trickery may succeed in defrauding the soldier of his due.

'The officers of the army are by the rulers of the State placed under

my authority, and you are therefore to admonish them if they go wrong,

while redressing all their real grievances. They, in their turn, must

uphold discipline, which is the most powerful weapon of an army. Rise

to the dignity of the occasion, and show that you are able to govern a

Province in a disturbed condition of public affairs, since anyone can

govern it while all things are quiet.

'The royal household is specially ordered to pay the same obedience to

this rescript as all the rest of the Province; and as for my own

dependants, I say expressly that, though I wish them well, I ask for

no favour for them which I would not grant to all the other

inhabitants of the Province.'

6. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO ALL THE SUBORDINATE GOVERNORS OF

THE PRAEFECTURE[818].

[Footnote 818: 'Universis Praefecturae titulos administrantibus.']

[Sidenote: General instructions to subordinate Governors.]

'The exhortations addressed to you by the inborn piety of our Lords

ought to suffice; but nevertheless, that we may be doubly assured, we

will address to you our threats against all who shall wield their

power unrighteously. Cease from avarice, from arrogance, from

venality. What will your money avail you when the day of inquisition

comes? _We_ shall not be tempted by it. Let it be clearly understood

that we shall not sell pardons to unjust Judges, but shall hunt them

to their ruin.

'But all you, good and honest rulers, continue to serve the State

without fear. No rival will buy your offices over your heads; you are

secure in your seats so long as you do well, until the time fixed by

our Lords expires. Be earnest, therefore, that my good deeds may be

imitated and receive their due meed of praise in your persons.'

7. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE TAX-COLLECTOR OF THE VENETIAN

PROVINCE[819].

[Footnote 819: 'Canonicario Venetiarum.']

[Sidenote: Remission of taxes on account of invasion by the Suevi.]

'A good Sovereign will always exert himself to repair fortuitous

disasters, and will allow those who have paid their taxes punctually

in prosperity, considerable liberty in times of barbaric invasion. On

this ground, and on account of the incursions of the Suevi, the King

grants for this year, the fifteenth Indiction[820], a discharge of all

claims by the Fiscus preferred against A and B. And in all similar

cases where you shall be satisfied that the property has really been

laid waste by those Barbarians, you are at liberty to remit the taxes

for this Indiction. Afterwards you will use all the ordinary methods,

in order that you may be able to pay over the stipulated sum to the

Royal Treasurer. But meanwhile the poor cultivator has the best of all

arguments against paying you, namely, that he has nothing left him

wherewith to pay. Thus is his calamity his best voucher for

payment[821]; and we do not wish that he who has been already alarmed

by the arms of the robber should further tremble at the official robe

of the civil servant[822].

[Footnote 820: Sept. 1, 536, to Sept. 1, 537.]

[Footnote 821: 'Validas contra te apochas invenerunt.']

[Footnote 822: 'Chlamydes non pavescant, qui arma timuerunt.']

8. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO THE CONSULARIS OF THE PROVINCE OF

LIGURIA.

[Sidenote: Permission to pay taxes direct to Royal Treasury.]

'It is a new and delightful kind of profit to be able to grant the

request of a petitioner without feeling any loss oneself. The present

suitor, complaining that he is vexed by the exactions of the

tax-gatherer on account of certain farms mentioned in the subjoined

letter, offers to bring the amount due from them himself to our

Treasurers[823]. We are willing to grant this request, on condition

that the Fiscus does not suffer thereby; and therefore desire your

Respectability to warn all _Curiales_, _Compulsores_, and all other

persons concerned, to remove for this Indiction every kind of legal

process from the before-mentioned properties; the condition of this

immunity being that he shall, before the kalends of such and such a

month produce the receipts[824] of the _Arcarius_, showing that he has

discharged his debt to the State. Otherwise the debt must be exacted

by ordinary process. But it is delightful to us whenever the tax is

paid without calling in the aid of the _Compulsor_. Would that the

peasant would always thus freely anticipate the needs of the

Treasury!'

[Footnote 823: 'Arcarii.']

[Footnote 824: 'Apochae.']

9. SENATOR, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT, TO PASCHASIUS, PRAEFECT OF THE

CORN-DISTRIBUTIONS[825].

[Footnote 825: 'Praefectus Annonae.']

[Sidenote: African claims to succeed to estate of an intestate

countryman.]

[To make this letter intelligible we must presuppose a custom,

certainly a very extraordinary one, by which on the death of an

African without heirs, any other African in Italy was allowed to claim

the inheritance. By 'African,' no doubt, we must understand one of the

indigenous inhabitants of Africa, perhaps a man of Negro race. The

custom certainly cannot have applied to African Provincials of Roman

descent. It was perhaps based on some old tribal notions of joint

possession and mutual inheritance.]

'It is a work of wondrous kindness to oblige a foreign race with

public benefits, and not only to invite blood relations to enjoy the

advantages of property, but to permit even strangers to share them.

This kind of heirship is independent of the ties of kindred,

independent of succession from parents, and requires nothing else

save only power to utter the speech of the fatherland.

'This is the privilege which, as the African asserts, was of old

bestowed on his race. By virtue thereof they lawfully demand the

inheritance of others, and thus obtain a right which the Roman in a

similar case could never claim. Nor have they this benefit in their

own land; but here they are for this purpose looked upon as all

related to one another.

'The whole nation, in what relates to the advantages of succession, is

regarded as one family.

'Your Experience is therefore to submit the subject of this man's

petition to a diligent examination, and if it shall turn out, as he

alleges, that the deceased has left no sons nor other persons who

might reasonably claim to succeed him, your official staff is to

induct him into the aforesaid property according to the established

usage.

'He will thus cease to be a foreigner, and will acquire the status of

a native possessor, and therewith the usual liability to pay tribute.

He is inferior to other owners only in this one point, that he lacks

the power of alienating his property. Let him who has derived so much

benefit from our commiseration now relieve others. Fortunate and

enviable has turned out his captivity[826], which enables him at one

and the same time to enjoy the citizenship of Rome and the privileges

of the African.'