[Footnote 475: 'Si esset humanis rebus ulla consideratio Romanam pulchritudinem non vigiliae sed sola deberet reverentia custodire.']

[Footnote 476: 'Quia juste tales persequitur publicus dolor.']

14. FORMULA OF THE COUNT OF RAVENNA.

[Sidenote: Comitiva Ravennatis.]

'High is your honour, to be the means of taking away all slowness from the execution of our orders. Who knows not what a quantity of ships you can muster at the least hint from us! Scarcely is the ink dry on the evectio [permission to use the public post] prepared by some palace dignitary, when already with the utmost speed it is by you being carried into effect. Do not exact too much service from merchants[477], nor yet from corrupt motives let them off too easily. Be very careful in your judicial capacity, and especially when trying the causes of the poor, to whom a small error in your judgment may be far more disastrous than to the rich.'

[Footnote 477: 'Negociatorum operas consuetas nec nimias exigas, nec venalitate derelinquas.' Apparently then a certain amount of forced labour could be claimed from the owners of merchant-vessels by the Count of Ravenna.]

15. FORMULA ADDRESSED TO THE PRAEFECT OF THE CITY ON THE APPOINTMENT OF AN ARCHITECT.

[Sidenote: Architectus Publicorum.]

'It is desirable that the necessary repairs to this forest of walls and population of statues which make up Rome should be in the hands of a learned man who will make the new work harmonise with the old. Therefore for this Indiction we desire your Greatness to appoint A B Architect of the City of Rome. Let him read the books of the ancients; but he will find more in this City than in his books. Statues of men, showing the muscles swelling with effort, the nerves in tension, the whole man looking as if he had grown rather than been cast in metal. Statues of horses, full of fire, with the curved nostril, with rounded tightly-knit limbs, with ears laid back—you would think the creature longed for the race, though you know that the metal moves not. This art of statuary the Etruscans are said to have practised first in Italy; posterity has embraced it, and given to the City an artificial population almost equal to its natural one. The ancients speak of the wonders of the world [here enumerated and described], but this one of the City of Rome surpasses them all. It had need to be a learned man who is charged with the care of upholding all these works; else, in his despair, he will deem himself the man of stone, and the statues about him the truly living men.'

16. FORMULA OF THE COUNT OF THE ISLANDS OF CURRITANA AND CELSINA.

[Sidenote: Comitiva Insulae Curritanae et Celsinae.]

[Celsina, from the place in which it is mentioned in the 'Itinerary' of Antonine (516), was probably one of the Lipari Islands. Curritana must have been near it but is not further identified.]

'The presence of a ruler is necessary; and it is not desirable that men should live without discipline, according to their own wills. We therefore appoint you Judge of these two islands. For it is right that someone should go to the habitations of these men, who are shut out from converse with the rest of their kind, and settle their differences by fair reason.

'Oh ye inhabitants of these islands, ye now know whom our Piety has set over you, and we shall expect you to obey him.'

17. FORMULA CONCERNING THE PRESIDENT OF THE LIME-KILNS.

[Sidenote: Praepositus Calcis.]

'It is a glorious labour to serve the City of Rome. It cannot be doubted that lime (coctilis calx), which is snow-white and lighter than sponge, is useful for the mightiest buildings. In proportion as it is itself disintegrated by the application of fire does it lend strength to walls; a dissolvable rock, a stony softness, a sandy pebble, which burns the best when it is most abundantly watered, without which neither stones are fixed nor the minute particles of sand hardened.

'Therefore we set you, well known for your industry, over the burning and distribution of lime, that there may be plenty of it both for public and private works, and that thereby people may be put in good heart for building. Do this well, and you shall be promoted to greater things.'

18. FORMULA CONCERNING ARMOURERS.

[Sidenote: Armorum Factores.]

'Good arms are of the utmost importance to a community. By means of them man, the frailest of creatures, is made stronger than monstrous beasts. Phoroneus is said to have first invented them, and brought them to Juno to consecrate them by her divinity.

'For this Indiction we set you over the soldiers and workmen in our armouries. Do not presume in our absence to pass bad workmanship. We shall find out by diligent search all that you do, and in such a matter as this consider no mistake venial.'

19. FORMULA ADDRESSED TO THE PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT CONCERNING THE ARMOURERS.

[Sidenote: Ad Praefectum Praetorio de Armorum Factoribus.]

Announces to the Praefects the appointment conferred in the preceding letter, and repeats that to supply inferior arms to soldiers is an act of treason. The workmen are to receive their just consuetudines [wages].

20 and 21. FORMULA AS TO THE COLLECTION OF BINA AND TERNA:

(1) If collected by the Judge himself; (2) If collected by his Officium.

[Sidenote: Binorum et Ternorum: (xx.) si per Judicem aguntur; (xxi.) si per Officium aguntur.]

These Bina and Terna, as stated in the note to iii. 8, are a mystery. All that can be positively stated about them is that they were a kind of land-tax, collected from the cultivators (possessores), and that they had to be brought into the Treasury by the first of March in each year. Under the first formula the Judex himself, under the second two Scriniarii superintend the collection, reporting to the Count of Sacred Largesses. As in the previous letter (iii. 8), the Judex is reminded that if there is any deficiency he will have to make it good himself. Cf. Manso, 'Geschichte des Ostgothischen Reiches' 388; and Sartorius, 'Regierung der Ostgothen' 207 and 347.

22. FORMULA OF EXHORTATION ADDRESSED TO THE TWO SCRINIARII REFERRED TO IN FORMULA 21.

[Sidenote: Commonitorium illi et illi Scriniariis.]

'Your day of promotion is come. Proceed to such and such a Province, in order that you may assist the Judex and his staff in collecting the Bina and Terna, before the first of March, and may forward them without delay to the Count of Sacred Largesses. Let there be no extortion from the cultivator, no dishonest surrender of our rights.'

23. FORMULA OF THE VICARIUS OF PORTUS.

[Sidenote: Vicarius Portus.]

'Great prudence is necessary in your office, since discords easily arise between two nationalities. Therefore you must use skill to soothe those [the Greek merchants and sailors from the Levant] whose characters are unstable as the winds, and who, unless you bring their minds into a state of calm, will, with their natural quickness of temper, fly out into the extremity of insolence.'

24. FORMULA OF THE PRINCEPS OF DALMATIA.

[Sidenote: Princeps Dalmatiarum.]

[The Princeps, as observed on p. 96, seems to have practically disappeared from the Officium of the Praefectus Praetorio. Here, however, we find a Provincial Princeps whose rank and functions are not a little perplexing. It seems probable that, while still nominally only the chief of a staff of subordinates, he may, owing to the character of the superior under whom he served, have practically assumed more important functions. That superior in this case was a Comes, whose military character is indicated by the first letter of this book. The Princeps was therefore virtually the Civil Assessor of this officer.

The Comes under Theodoric would generally be a Goth; the Princeps must be a Roman and a Jurisconsult. The business of the former was war and administration; that of the latter, judgment, though his decisions were apparently pronounced by the mouth of the Comes, his superior in rank.]

'Whosoever serves while bearing the title of Princeps has high pre-eminence among his colleagues. To the Consul of the Provinces power is given, but to you the Judge himself is entrusted. Without you there is no access to the Secretarium, nor is the ceremony of salutation[478] [by subordinate officers] performed. You hold the vine-rod[479] which menaces the wicked; you have the right, withheld from the Governor himself, of punishing the insolence of an orator pleading in his Court. The records of the whole suit have to be signed by you, and for this your consent is sought after the will of the Judge has been explained.'

[Footnote 478: 'Pompa osculationis.' Another reading is 'Pompa postulationis.']

[Footnote 479: 'Tu vitem tenes improbis minantem.' The allusion is to the vine-bough, which was used in scourging. The alternative reading, vitam, does not seem to give so good a sense.]

25. FORMULA RECOMMENDING THE PRINCIPES[480] TO THE COMES.

[Footnote 480: Plural. Apparently, therefore, each Count had more than one Princeps, perhaps one for each large city in his Province.]

[Sidenote: Ad Commendandos Comiti Principes.]

'It is our glory to see you [a Goth, one of our own nation] accompanied by a Roman official staff. Acting through such Ministers, your power seems to be hallowed by the sanction of Antiquity.

'For to this point, by God's help, have we brought our Goths, that they should be both well-trained in arms and attuned to justice. It is this which the other races cannot accomplish; this that makes you unique among the nations, namely, that you, who are accustomed to war, are seen to live obedient to the laws side by side with the Romans. Therefore from out of our Officium, we have decided to send A and B to you, that according to ancient custom, while forwarding the execution of your commands they may bring those commands into conformity with the mind of past ages[481].'

[Footnote 481: 'Rationabili debeant antiquitate moderari.' Perhaps we might translate, 'with the Common Law.']

26. FORMULA OF THE COUNTSHIP OF THE SECOND RANK IN DIVERS CITIES[482].

[Footnote 482: The title runs thus (in Nivellius' Edition): 'Formula Comitivae Honorum Scientiae Ordinis diversarum Civitatum.' I do not know what is meant by 'Honorum Scientiae.' Can 'Scientiae' be a transcriber's blunder for 'secundi?']

[Sidenote: Comitiva diversarum civitatum.]

For the sentences, more than usually devoid of meaning, in which Cassiodorus dilates on Free-will, Justice, and the mind of man, it may be well to substitute Manso's description of this dignity (p. 379):

'By the title of a Count of the Second Order the Judges in little towns appear chiefly to have been rewarded and encouraged. Those named for it, however, can hardly have received any great distinction or especial privileges, for Cassiodorus not only enumerates no civic advantages thus secured to them, but expressly says, "We intend to bestow better things than this upon you, if you earn our approbation in your present office." He does not use this language to those adorned with the Comitiva Primi Ordinis.'

27. FORMULA ADDRESSED TO THE DIGNIFIED CULTIVATORS AND CURIALES[483].

[Footnote 483: Cf. vi. 24.]

[Sidenote: Honorati Possessores et Curiales.]

'As one must rule and the rest obey, we have for this Indiction conferred the Countship of your City on A B, that he may hear your causes and give effect to our orders.'

[Apparently this letter and the preceding relate to the same appointment. The words 'secundi ordinis' are not added to the title of the new Count when his fellow-citizens are informed of it.]

28. FORMULA ANNOUNCING THE APPOINTMENT OF A COMES TO THE CHIEF OF HIS STAFF[484].

[Footnote 484: This must, I think, be the meaning; but it is hard to extract it from the words 'Formula Principis Militum Comitivae.']

[Sidenote: Princeps Militum Comitivae.]

'Judge and Court Officer (Praesul and Miles) are terms which involve one another. The officers of the Court have no right to exist, without the Judge; he is powerless without them to execute his commands. We therefore think it well to inform you of our appointment of A B as Count over your body[485]. It is no light benefit that so long as you attend to your duty[486] you are allowed to elect the examiners.'

[Footnote 485: 'Comitem Militiae Vestrae.']

[Footnote 486: 'Nec istud leve credatis beneficium, ut cum vos scitis obsequium, vobis occurrat electio cognitorum.' For Cognitores, see vii. 3. These Cognitores had virtually the decision of all 'issues of fact,' and consequently their nomination was a very important matter. I think the meaning of this passage is: 'I, the King, appoint the Comes (= Judex), and graciously inform you of my decision. But you (the Officium) have the privilege—and it is no small one—of electing the Cognitores.']

29. FORMULA CONCERNING THE GUARD AT THE GATES OF A CITY.

[Sidenote: De Custodiendis Portis Civitatis.]

'We entrust to you an important office, the care of the gate of such and such a city. Do not keep it always shut—that were to turn the city into a prison; nor let it always lie open—then the walls are useless. Use your own judgment, but remember that the gate of a city is like the jaws of the human body, through which provisions enter to nourish it.'

30. FORMULA OF THE TRIBUNATE IN THE PROVINCES.

[Sidenote: Tribunatus Provinciarum.]

'It is right that one who has served his time in civil employment should receive his reward, and we therefore appoint as your Tribune the man who has a right to the office by seniority. You are to obey him, since officers of this kind partake of the nature of Judges [governors], as they are called to account for any excesses committed by you.'

[Who this Tribune was—since the Tribunus Voluptatum is apparently out of the question—and how his jurisdiction fitted in to that of other officers, Manso (p. 362) deems it impossible to decide, nor can I offer any suggestion.]

31. FORMULA OF THE PRINCEPS OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: Formula Principatus Urbis Romae.]

'As there must be the Officium, of a Count in Rome, and as we want to have our chief Princeps[487] near us [in Ravenna], we wish you to take his place and wield power as his Vicarius in Rome.

[Footnote 487: 'Principem nostrum cardinalem' (observe this use of the word).]

'If you think that any of the Comitiaci ought to be sent to attend our Comitatus [at Ravenna], do so at your own discretion, retaining those whom you think proper to retain at Rome. Let there be an alternation, however, that one set of men be not worn out with continuous labour, while the others are rusting in idleness.'

32. FORMULA OF THE MASTER OF THE MINT.

[Sidenote: Formula qua Moneta Committitur.]

'Great is the crime of tampering with the coinage; a crime against the many—whose buying and selling is disturbed by it; and a crime and a sacrilege against us, whose image is impressed on the coins.

'Let everything be pure and unalloyed which bears the impress of our Serenity. Let the flame of gold be pale and unmixed, let the colour of silver smile with its gracious whiteness, let the ruddy copper retain its native glow.

'Coins are to keep their full weight. They used to pass current by weight, not by tale, whence the words for profit and expenditure[488]. Pecunia was named from cattle (pecus). You must see that our money does not return to this low condition. King Servius first used stamped money. Take then the care of the mint; hold it for five years, and be very careful how you administer it.'

[Footnote 488: 'Compendium et dispendium' (from pendere, to weigh).]

33. FORMULA RESPECTING THE AMBASSADORS OF VARIOUS NATIONS.

[Sidenote: Formula Legatorum Gentium Diversarum.]

'Since it is important that when ambassadors return to their country they should feel that they have been well treated in ours, hand the enclosed douceur (humanitas), and a certain quantity of fodder for their horses, to the ambassadors of such and such a nation. Nothing pleases those who have commenced their return journey better than speeding them on their way.'

34. FORMULA OF SUMMONS TO THE KING'S COURT (UNSOLICITED).

[Sidenote: Formula Evocatoria quam Princeps dirigit.]

'We summon you by these presents to our Comitatus, that you may have an extraordinary pleasure. Be brisk therefore, and come on such a day to such a city. Our Palace longs for the presence of good men, and God puts it into our hearts to give them a cordial reception.'

35. FORMULA OF SUMMONS TO THE COURT (SOLICITED).

[Sidenote: Formula Evocatoria quae petenti conceditur.]

'It is a sign of a good conscience to seek the presence of a just ruler; it is only good deeds that crave the light of the sun. Come then speedily. We consider our own glory augmented when we see noble men flocking to our obedience.'

36. FORMULA GRANTING TEMPORARY LEAVE OF ABSENCE.

[Sidenote: Formula Commeatalis ad tempus.]

'All men require change: even honey cloys after a time. We therefore give you leave to visit such a Province and remain there so many months, with the understanding that when they are over you return to the City. If it be tedious to live always in the City, how much more to live long in the country! But we gladly give you this holiday, not that Rome should be deserted, but that absence from her may commend her to you all the more.'

37. FORMULA CONFERRING THE RANK OF A SPECTABILIS.

[Sidenote: Spectabilitas.]

'Wishing to bestow the right honours on the right man among our subjects, we decorate you with the splendour of a Spectabilis, that you may know that your opinion is duly respected[489] at all public meeting-places, when you take your honoured seat among the nobles.'

[Footnote 489: 'Spectandam,' an allusion to the derivation of spectabilis.]

38. FORMULA CONFERRING THE RANK OF A CLARISSIMUS.

[Sidenote: Clarissimatus.]

'The desire of praise is a good thing, and leads to the increase of virtue. Receive the honour of the Clarissimatus, as a testimony to the excellence of your past life and a pledge of your future prosperity. Observe, you are not called Clarus, but Clarissimus. Everything that is most excellent may be believed of him who is saluted by such a splendid superlative.'

39. FORMULA BESTOWING 'POLICE PROTECTION.'

[Sidenote: Tuitio Regii nominis.]

'Though it seems superfluous to grant special protection to any of our subjects, since all are shielded by the laws, yet moved by your cry for help we are willing to relieve you and to give you as a strong tower of defence the shelter of our name[490], into which you may retire when wounded by the assaults of your enemies. This defence will avail you alike against the hot-headed onslaughts [of the Goths] and the ruinous chicanery [of the Romans][491]; but you must beware that you, who have thus had to solicit the help of the law, do not yourself set law at defiance by refusing to appear in answer to a summons.

[Footnote 490: 'Tuitio nostri nominis.']

[Footnote 491: 'Validissimam turrem contra inciviles impetus et conventionalia detrimenta.']

'That our royal protection be not a mere name, we appoint A and B to protect you by their fidelity and diligence, the former against the Goths, and the latter against the Romans[492]. If any one hereafter attempt any act of incivilitas against you, you will see your desire upon your enemies.'

[Footnote 492: 'Praesentis beneficii jussione adversus Gothis illa, adversus Romanos illa, facile te fides et diligentia custodiet' ('custodivit' is surely an error).]

[This important letter is commented upon at some length by Dahn ('Koenige der Germanen' iii. 125-127). I am not sure that he is right in stating that Tuitio against a Goth would necessarily be given by means of a Sajo, though evidently this was often the rank of the officer employed.]

40. FORMULA FOR THE CONFIRMATION OF MARRIAGE AND THE LEGITIMATION OF OFFSPRING.

[Sidenote: De Matrimonio confirmando et liberis legitime constituendis.]

'An eternal benefit is that which is bestowed on a man's offspring; and hard is the lot of him who, born with a stain on his name, finds his troubles prepared as soon as he comes forth to the light of day.

'You pray that the woman whom you have loved but not married may receive the honour of wedlock, and that your children by her may attain the name of heirs. We grant your request, and ordain that your mistress shall be your lawful wife, and the children whom you love and whom Nature has given you, your successors.'

[Some of the maxims of this letter can hardly have obtained the approval of the author after he 'entered religion.']

41. FORMULA CONFERRING THE RIGHTS OF FULL AGE.

[Sidenote: Aetatis venia.]

'An honourable boast is contained in the suit for "venia aetatis." In it a young man says, "Give me those rights which my stability of character warrants, though my age does not as yet entitle me to them."

'Thus you refuse the protection which the law throws round the years of weakness, and this is as bold a thing as any man can do. We grant your request; and if you can prove that you have come to the age at which "venia aetatis" should be asked for, we ordain that, with the proper formalities which have been of old provided in this matter[493], you shall be admitted to all the rights of an adult, and that your dispositions of property, whether in city or country, shall be held valid[494]. You must exhibit that steadfastness of character which you claim. You say that you will not be caught by the snares of designing men; and you must remember that now to deny the fulfilment of your promise will become a much more serious matter than heretofore.'

[Footnote 493: 'Ut in foro competenti ea quae in his causis reverenda legum dictat Antiquitas solenniter actitentur.']

[Footnote 494: 'Ita ut in alienandis rusticis vel urbanis praediis constitutionum servitus auctoritas.']

42. FORMULA OF AN EDICT TO THE QUAESTOR ORDERING THE PERSON WHO ASKS FOR THE PROTECTION OF A SAJO TO GIVE BAIL.

[Sidenote: Edictum ad Quaestorem, ut ipse spondere debeat qui Sajonem meretur.]

'Heavy charges are sometimes brought against the Sajones whom with the best intentions we have granted for the protection of our wealthy subjects. We are told that the valour of the Sajo is employed not merely for the protection of him to whom he is assigned, but for illegal violence and rapine against that person's enemies. Thus our remedy becomes itself a disease. To guard against this perversion of our beneficent designs we ordain that anyone asking for the guardianship of a brave Sajo against violence with which he feels himself unable to cope, shall give a penal bond to our Officium, with this condition, that if the Sajo[495] who is assigned to him shall exceed our orders by any improper violence, he himself shall pay by way of fine so many pounds of gold, and shall make satisfaction for the damage sustained by his adversary as well as for the expenses of his journey [to obtain redress]. For our wish is to repress uncivil dispositions, not to injure the innocent. As for the Sajo who shall have wilfully transgressed the limit of our commands, he shall lose his donative, and—which is the heaviest of all punishments—our favour also. Nor will we entrust any further duty to him who has been the violator rather than the executor of our will.'

[Footnote 495: 'Sajus' in the original, and so in the next place where it occurs.]

43. FORMULA APPROVING THE APPOINTMENT OF A CLERK IN THE RECORD-OFFICE.

[Sidenote: Probatoria Cartariorum.]

'At the suggestion of the Tribune of the Cartarii—to whom the whole office pays fitting reverence—we bestow upon you the title of a Cartarius. Flee avarice and avoid all unjust gains.'

[This letter gives no information as to the duties of a Cartarius, or, as he is called in the Codes, Cartularius.]

44. FORMULA FOR THE GRANT OF PUBLIC PROPERTY ON CONDITION OF IMPROVEMENT[496].

[Footnote 496: Formula de Competitoribus is the somewhat obscure title of this document, which might perhaps be compared to our Commons' Enclosure Acts.]

[Sidenote: De Competitoribus.]

'He who seeks to become owner of public property can only justify his claim by making the squalid beautiful, and by adorning the waste. Therefore, as you desire it, we confer upon you as your full property such and such a place, reserving all mineral rights—brass, lead, marbles—should any such be found therein; but we do this on the understanding that you will restore to beauty that which has become shabby by age and neglect. It is the part of a good citizen to adorn the face of his city, and you may securely transmit to your posterity that which your own labour has accomplished[497].'

[Footnote 497: 'Securus etiam ad posteros transmissurus, quod proprio fuerit labore compositum.']

45. FORMULA OF REMISSION OF TAXES WHERE THE TAXPAYER HAS ONLY ONE HOUSE, TOO HEAVILY ASSESSED.

[Sidenote: Formula qua census relevetur ei qui unam casam possidet praegravatam.]

'You complain that the land-tax (tributum) levied upon your holding (possessio) in such a Province is so heavy that all your means are swallowed up in the swamp of indebtedness, and that more is claimed by the tax-collectors than can be obtained from the soil by the husbandman. You might, by surrendering the property altogether, escape from this miserable necessity which is making you a slave rather than, a landowner; but since the Imperial laws (sacratissimae leges) give us the power to relieve a man of moderate fortune in such circumstances, our Greatness, which always hath the cause of justice at heart, decrees by these presents that if the case be as you say, the liability for the payment of so many solidi on behalf of the aforesaid property shall be cancelled in the public archives, and that this shall be done so thoroughly that there shall be no trace of it left in any copy of the taxing-rolls by which the charge may be revived at a future day[498].'

[Footnote 498: 'Decernimus ut, si ita est, tot solidos tributario supradictae possessionis ... ita faciatis de vasariis publicis diligenter abradi ut hujus rei duplarum vestigium non debeat inveniri.' Cf. what is said by Evagrius (iii. 39) of the proceedings of Anastasius at the time of the abolition of the Chrysargyron.]

46. FORMULA LEGITIMATING MARRIAGE WITH A FIRST COUSIN.

[Sidenote: Formula qua consobrina legitima fiat uxor.]

'After the laws of the two tables, Moses adds the laws wherein God forbids marriages between near kindred, to guard against incest and provide for a wise admixture of divers strains of blood[499].

[Footnote 499: 'Ne dilationem providam in genus extraneum non haberent.']

'These commands have been extended to remoter degrees of relationship by the wise men of old, who have however reserved to the Prince the power of granting dispensations from the rule in the cases (not likely to be frequent) where first cousins (by the mother's side) seek to intermarry.

'Acting on this wise principle we permit you to marry C D, if she is of no nearer kinship to you than first cousin. By God's favour may you have legitimate heirs from this marriage, which, our consent having been obtained, is not blameable but praiseworthy.'

47. FORMULA ADDRESSED TO THE PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT DIRECTING THE SALE OF THE PROPERTY OF A CURIALIS.

[Sidenote: Formula ad Praefectum, ut sub decreto Curialis praedia vendat.]

'It is the hard lot of human nature often to be injured by the very things which were intended as remedies. The prohibition against the sale of the property of a Curialis was intended for his protection, and to enable him fearlessly to discharge his share of the public burdens. In some cases, however, where he has contracted large debts, this prohibition simply prevents him from saving anything out of the gulf of indebtedness. You have the power, after making due enquiry into the circumstances, to authorise the sale of such a property. You have the power; but as the proceeding is an unusual one, to guard you against any odium to which it may expose you, we fortify your Eminence by this our present command. Let the Curialis who petitions for this relief satisfy you as to the cause of his losses, that it may be shown that they are really the result of circumstances beyond his own control, not due to his own bad character.

'Wisely has Antiquity laid upon you the responsibility of deciding cases of this kind, you whose advantage lies in the maintenance of the Curia. For by whom could its burdens be borne, if the nerves of the communities should everywhere be seen to be severed[500]?'

[Footnote 500: 'Quapropter provide vobis permisit antiquitas de illa causa decernere, cui est utile Curiam custodire. A quibus enim munia petuerunt sustineri, si civitatum nervi passim videantur abscidi.']



BOOK VIII.

CONTAINING THIRTY-THREE LETTERS, ALL WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF ATHALARIC THE KING, EXCEPT THE ELEVENTH, WHICH IS WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF TULUM.

1. KING ATHALARIC TO THE EMPEROR JUSTIN (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: The accession of Athalaric announced to the Emperor Justin.]

[Some MSS. read Justiniano, but there can be no doubt that Justino is the right reading. Athalaric's accession took place August 30, 526; the death of Justin, August 1, 527. Justinian was associated with his uncle in the Empire, April 1, 527.]

'Most earnestly do I seek your friendship, oh most clement of Princes, who are made even more illustrious by the wide extension of your favours than by the purple robe and the kingly throne. On this friendship I have an hereditary claim. My father was adorned by you with the palm-enwoven robe of the Consul [Eutharic, Consul 519] and adopted as a son in arms, a name which I, as one of a younger generation, could more fittingly receive[501]. My grandfather also received curule honours from you[502] in your city. Love and friendship should pass from parents to their offspring, while hatred should be buried in the tomb; and therefore with confidence, as one who by reason of my tender years cannot be an object of suspicion to you, and as one whose ancestors you have already known and cherished, I claim from you your friendship on the same compacts and conditions on which your renowned predecessors granted it to my lord and grandfather of Divine memory[503]. It will be to me something better than dominion to have the friendship of so excellent and so mighty a ruler. My ambassadors (A and B) will open the purport of their commission more fully to your Serenity.'

[Footnote 501: The text is evidently corrupt here: 'Genitor meus desiderio quoque concordiae factus est per arma filius, quia unis nobis pene videbatur aequaevus.' The suggested reading, 'quamvis vobis,' does not entirely remove the difficulty.]

[Footnote 502: That is, of course, not from Justin himself but from his predecessors.]

[Footnote 503: 'Ut amicitiam nobis illis pactis, illis conditionibus concedatis, quas cum divae memoriae domino avo nostro inclytos decessores vestros constat habuisse.']

2. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME ON HIS ACCESSION (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the Senate.]

'Great must be the joy of all orders of the State at hearing of the accession of a new ruler, above all of a peaceful succession, without war, without sedition, without loss of any kind to the Republic.

'Such has been our succession to our grandfather. On account of the glory of the Amal race, which yields to none[504], the hope of our youth has been preferred to the merits of all others. The chiefs, glorious in council and in war, have flocked to recognise us as King so gladly, so unmurmuringly, that it seems like a Divine inspiration, and the kingdom has been changed as one changes a garment.

[Footnote 504: 'Quoniam quaevis claritas generis Amalis cedit.']

'The institution of royalty is consolidated when power thus passes from one generation to another, and when a good prince lives again, not in statues of brass but in the lineaments and the character of his descendants.

'The general consent of Goths and Romans [at Ravenna] has crowned us King, and they have confirmed their allegiance by an oath. You, though separated from us by space, are, we know, as near to us in heart as they; and we call upon you therefore to follow their example. We all know that the most excellent fathers of the Senate love their King more fervently than other ranks of the State, in proportion to the greater benefits which they have received at his hand.

'And since one should never enter your Curia empty-handed, we have sent our Count, the Illustrious Sigismer, with certain persons to administer the oath to you. If you have any requests to make to us which shall be for the common benefit of the Republic, make them through him, and they are granted beforehand.'

3. KING ATHALARIC TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the citizens of Rome.]

'If a stranger to the royal line were succeeding to the throne, you might doubt whether the friendship between him and you would endure, and might look for a reversal of the policy of his predecessors. But now the person of the King only, not his policy, is changed. We are determined to follow the revered maxims of our predecessor, and to load with even more abundant benefits those whom he most kindly defended.

'Everything was so ordered by our glorious grandfather that on his death the glad consent of Goths called us to our kingdom; and that no doubt might remain upon the matter they pledged themselves by an oath most cordially taken, to accept us as their ruler. We invite you to follow their example, and like Trajan, we, the Sovereign, in whose name all oaths are made, will also swear to you. The bearers of this letter will receive your sworn promise, and will give you ours, "by the Lord's help to observe justice and fair clemency, the nourisher of the nations; that Goths and Romans shall meet with impartial treatment at our hands; and that there shall be no other division between the two nations, except that they undergo the labours of war for the common benefit, while you are increased in numbers by your peaceable inhabitancy of the City of Rome[505]." Raise then your spirits, and hope for even better things and more tranquillity, under God's blessing, from our reign than from that of our predecessor.'

[Footnote 505: 'Justitiam nos et aequabilem clementiam, quae populos nutrit, juvante domino, custodire et Gothis Romanisque apud nos jus esse commune, nec aliud inter vos esse divisum, nisi quod illi labores bellicos pro communi utilitate subeunt, vos autem civitatis Romanae habitatio quieta multiplicat.' I do not consider that the words in Italics, taken with the context, are irreconcilable with Dahn's view that the Goths were still, to a certain extent, under Gothic law.]

4. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE ROMANS SETTLED IN ITALY AND THE DALMATIAS (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the Romans in Italy and Dalmatia.]

'He who hears of a change in the ruler is apt to fear that it may be a change for the worse; and a new King who makes no kind promises at his accession is supposed to be harbouring designs of severity. We therefore inform you that we have received the oaths of Goths and Romans and are ready to receive yours, which we doubt not you will willingly offer.' [The rest as in the preceding letters.]

5. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE GOTHS SETTLED IN ITALY (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the Goths.]

'Gladly would we have announced to you the prolonged life of our lord and grandfather; but inasmuch as he has been withdrawn by hard fate from us who loved him, he has substituted us, by Divine command, as heirs of his kingdom, that through us his successors in blood, he might make the benefits which he has conferred on you perpetual. And in truth we hope not only to defend but to increase the blessings wrought by him. All the Goths in the Royal City [Ravenna] have taken the oaths to us. Do you do the same by this Count whom we send to you.

'Receive then a name which ever brought prosperity to your race, the royal offshoot of the Amals, the sprout of the Balthae[506], a childhood clad in purple. Ye are they by whom, with God's help, our ancestors were borne to such a height of honour, and obtained an ever higher place amid the serried ranks of kings[507].'

[Footnote 506: 'Amalorum regalem prosapiem, Baltheum germen.' I know not how Athalaric had any blood of the Balths in his veins. The other reading, 'blatteum,' gives the same idea as the following clause, 'infantiam purpuratam.']

[Footnote 507: 'Inter tam prolixum ordinem Regum susceperunt semper augmenta.' Perhaps we should translate 'by such a long line of (Amal) kings obtained advancement for their nation;' but the meaning is not very clear.]

6. KING ATHALARIC TO LIBERIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT OF THE GAULS (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the Governor of Gaul.]

'You will be grieved to hear of the death of our lord and grandfather of glorious memory, but will be comforted in learning that he is succeeded by his descendant. Thus, by God's command, did he arrange matters, associating us as lords in the throne of his royalty, in order that he might leave his kingdom at peace, and that no revolution might trouble it after his death.'

[Invitation to take the oath, as in previous letters.]

7. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE PROVINCIALS SETTLED IN GAUL (A.D. 526).

[Sidenote: To the Gaulish subjects of Athalaric.]

'Our grandfather of glorious memory is dead, but we have succeeded him, and will faithfully repay, both on his account and our own, the loyalty of our subjects.

'So unanimous was the acclamation of our [Italian] subjects when we succeeded to the throne, that the thing seemed to be of God rather than of man.

'We now invite you to follow their example, that the Goths may give their oath to the Romans, and the Romans may confirm it by a Sacramentum to the Goths, that they are unanimously devoted to our King.'

'Thus will your loyalty be made manifest, and concord and justice flourish among you.'

[There is an appearance of mutuality about this oath of allegiance as between Goths and Romans, not merely by both to Athalaric, which we have not had in the previous letters.]

8. KING ATHALARIC TO VICTORINUS, VIR VENERABILIS AND BISHOP[508] (A.D. 526).

[Footnote 508: Baronius says (vii. 121): 'Cujusnam Ecclesiae Antistes fuerit Victorinus ignoratur.' From the tone of the letter one may conjecture that Victorinus was a Bishop in Gaul.]

[Sidenote: To Bishop Victorinus.]

'Saluting you with all the veneration due to your character and office, we inform you with grief of the death of our lord and grandfather. But your sadness will be moderated when you hear that his kingdom is continued in us. Favour us with your prayers, that the King of Heaven may confirm to us the kingdom, subdue foreign nations before us, forgive us our sins, and propitiously preserve all that He was pleased to bestow on our ancestors. Let your Holiness exhort all the Provincials to concord.'

9. KING ATHALARIC TO TULUM, PATRICIAN.

[Sidenote: Praises of Tulum, who is raised to the Patriciate.]

'As our grandfather used to refresh his mind and strengthen his judgment by intercourse with you, so, a fortiori, may we in our tender years do the same. We therefore make you, by this present letter, Patrician, that the counsels which you give us may not seem to proceed from any unknown and obscure source.

'Greece adorned our hero [Tulum] with the chlamys and the painted silken buskin; and the Eastern peoples yearned to see him, because for some reason civic virtues are most prized in him who is believed to be of warlike disposition[509]. Contented with this repayment of honour he laboured with unwearied devotion for foreign countries (?), and with his relations (or parents) he deigned to offer his obedience to the Sovereign, who was begotten of the stock of so many Kings[510].

[Footnote 509: Probably Tulum had gone on some embassy to Constantinople.]

[Footnote 510: 'Hac igitur honoris remuneratione contentus, pro exteris partibus indefessa devotione laboravit: et praestare com suis parentibus principi dignabatur obsequium, qui tantorum regum fuerat stirpe procreatus.' This sentence is full of difficulties. What can he mean by the labour 'pro exteris partibus?' Who is the 'Princeps' whom Tulum deigns to serve: the Eastern Emperor or Theodoric? Above all, who is 'tantorum regum stirpe procreatus?' I think the turn of the sentence requires that it should be Tulum; but Dahn has evidently not so understood it, for in his Koenige der Germanen (iii. 29, 30) he makes Tulum a conspicuous example of a man not of noble birth raised to high dignity, and says that the two long letters about him in the Variae contain no allusion to illustrious descent.]

[After some very obscure sentences, in which the writer appears to be celebrating the praises of Theodoric, he turns to Tulum, of whom he has hitherto spoken in the third person, and addresses him as you.]

'His toil so formed your character that we have the less need to labour. With you he discussed the sure blessings of peace, the doubtful gains of war; and—rare boon from a wise King—to you, in his anxiety, he confidently opened all the secrets of his breast. You, however, responded fully to his trust. You never put him off with doubtful answers. Ever patient and truthful, you won the entire confidence of your King, and dared even, hardest of all tasks, to argue against him for his own good.

'Thus did your noble deeds justify your alliance with the Amal race [apparently he has received an Amal princess in marriage], and thus did you become worthy to be joined in common fame with Gensemund, a man whose praises the whole world should sing, a man only made son by adoption in arms to the King, yet who exhibited such fidelity to the Amals that he transferred it even to their heirs, although he was himself sought for to be crowned[511]. Therefore will his fame live for ever, so long as the Gothic name endures.

[Footnote 511: 'Exstat gentis Gothicae hujus probitatis exemplum: Gensemundus ille toto orbe cantabilis, solum armis filius factus, tanta se Amalis devotione conjunxit ut haeredibus eorum curiosum exhibuerit famulatum, quamvis ipse peteretur ad regnum.' Dahn (ii. 61 and iii. 309) and Koepke (p. 142) refer this mysterious affair of Gensemund's renunciation to the interval after the death of Thorismund (A.D. 416). But this is mere conjecture. See Italy and her Invaders iii. 8-10.]

'We look for even nobler things from you, because you are allied to us by race.'

[A singularly obscure, vapid, and ill-written letter. The allusion to Gensemund seems introduced on purpose to bewilder the reader.]

10. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[On the elevation of Tulum to the Patriciate.]

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We are conferring new lustre on your body by the promotion of Tulum. A man sprung from the noblest stock[512] he early undertook the duties of attendance in the King's bedchamber[513], a difficult post, where the knowledge that you share the secret counsels of royalty itself exposes you to enmity.

[Footnote 512: 'Primum, quod inter nationes eximium est, Gothorum nobilissima stirpe gloriatur.']

[Footnote 513: 'Statim rudes annos ad sacri cubiculi secreta portavit.']

'In the dawn of manhood he went forth with our army to the war of Sirmium [A.D. 504], showed what one of our young nobles bred in peace could do in war, triumphed over the Huns[514], and gave to slaughter the Bulgarians, terrible to the whole world. Such warriors do even our nurseries send forth: thus does the preparation of a courageous heart supersede the necessity for martial training[515].

[Footnote 514: We do not hear from the other authorities of Huns being engaged in this war. In 505 Mundo the Hun was in alliance with Theodoric against the Empire.]

[Footnote 515: 'Tales mittunt nostra cunabula bellatores: sic paratae sunt manus, ubi exercetur animus.']

'Returned to the Court he became the most intimate counsellor of the King, who arranged with him all his plans for campaign, and so admitted him to his most secret thoughts that Tulum could always anticipate how Theodoric would act in every fresh conjuncture of events; and it may be said "by offering him counsel he ruled the King[516]."

[Footnote 516: 'Et ministrando consilium regebat ipse Rectorem.']

'He then distinguished himself in the Gaulish campaign [A.D. 508], where he was already enrolled among the generals, directing the campaign by his prudence, and bravely sharing its dangers. In the fierce fight which was waged at Arles for the possession of the covered bridge across the Rhone[517], the bravery of our candidatus was everywhere conspicuous, and he received many honourable wounds, those best and most eloquent champions of a soldier's courage.

[Footnote 517: 'Arelate est civitas supra undas Rhodani constituta, quae in Orientis prospectum tabulatum pontem per nuncupati fluminis dorsa transmittit.']

'But a general ought not to be always fighting. I have pleasure in relating his next success, which was brilliant yet achieved without bloodshed. When the Frank and Burgundian again fell out, he was sent to Gaul [A.D. 523] to defend our frontier from hostile incursion. He then obtained for the Roman Republic, without any trouble, a whole Province while others were fighting. It was a triumph without a battle, a palm-branch without toil, a victory without slaughter.

'So great were his services in this campaign that Theodoric considered that he ought to be rewarded by the possession of large lands in the district which he had added to our dominions.

'A storm overtook him on his return to Italy: the remembrance of the vanished danger of that storm is sweet to us now[518]. In the wide, foaming sea his ship was swallowed up. He had to save himself by rowing; the sailors perished; he alone with the dear pledge of his love [one child?] escaped. Theodoric rushed to the shore, and would have dashed into the waves to save his friend, but had the delight of receiving him unharmed, saved manifestly by Divine protection for his present honours.

[Footnote 518: 'Discrimina dum feliciter cedunt, suavissimae memoriae sensum relinquunt.' Compare Claudian (De Bella Getico 207-8):

'An potius meminisse juvat semperque vicissim Gaudia praemissi cumulant inopina dolores.']

'Favour then, Conscript Fathers, the ambition of our candidatus, and open for the man of our choice the Hall of Liberty[519]. The race of Romulus deserves to have such martial colleagues as Tulum.'

[Footnote 519: 'Favete nunc auspiciis candidati, et viris nostris libertatis atria reserate.']

11. TULUM, ILLUSTRIS AND PATRICIAN, TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Note that Cassiodorus has to provide an elegant oration not only for his master, but for this Gothic fellow-minister of State. See Dahn's remarks on the writer of this letter, 'Koenige der Germanen' iii. 273.]

[Sidenote: Tulum's address to the Senate.]

'I pray you to receive favourably the order of the King which makes me a member of your body.

'I have ever favoured the dignity of the Senate, as if with a prescience that I should one day hold it. When I shared the counsels of Theodoric, that chief of Kings, of glorious memory, I often by my intercessions obtained for members of your body Consulships, Patriciates, Praefectures; and now, behold, I am similarly honoured myself. Reflect, I pray, that by my accepting it, the genius of the Patriciate is exalted, since none of my fellow-countrymen will hold cheaply that rank in you which he sees honoured in me. Live in security, by the blessing of God; enjoy your prosperity with your children; and strive, now as always, to show forth the true Roman type of character. I shall defend those with whom I am now associated.'

12. KING ATHALARIC TO ARATOR, VIR ILLUSTRIS.

[Bestowing on him the rank of Comes Domesticorum.]

[I have altered the order of subjects in this letter, to make it correspond with that of time. There cannot be much doubt that Arator's pomposa legatio from Dalmatia was his first introduction to the Court of Theodoric, and preceded his employment as Advocatus.]

[Sidenote: Arator made Count of the Domestics.]

'By raising Tulum to the Patriciate we have provided for the military strength of the State. Now must we see to it that she is equally adorned by the glory of letters, and for this purpose we raise you, still in the prime of life, to the rank of Comes Domesticorum. By your example it was seen that eloquence could be acquired elsewhere than at Rome, since in your own Province [probably Dalmatia] your father, who was an extremely learned man, taught you to excel in this art: a happy lot for you, who obtained from your father's love that accomplishment which most youths have to acquire with terror from a master.

'That I may say something here of a very recherche character[520], I may mention that, according to some, letters were first invented by Mercury, who watched the flight of cranes by the Strymon, and turned the shapes assumed by their flying squadron into forms expressive of the various sounds of the human voice.

[Footnote 520: 'Ut aliquid studiose exquisitum dicere videamur.']

'You were sent upon a stately embassy[521] by the Provincials of Dalmatia to our grandfather; and there, not in commonplace words but with a torrent of eloquence, you so set forth their needs and the measures which would be for the advantage of the public, that Theodoric, a man of cautious temperament, listened to your flow of words without weariness, and all men desired still to listen, when you ceased speaking.

[Footnote 521: 'Juvat repetere pomposam legationem.']

'[Since then] you have filled the office of Advocate in our Court. You might have been a trier of causes (Cognitor): you have preferred to be a pleader, though to all your advocacy you have brought so fair and judicial a mind that your eloquence and your zeal for your client have never exceeded the bounds of truth.'

13. KING ATHALARIC TO AMBROSIUS.

[Conferring on him the Quaestorship.]

[This Ambrosius, son of Faustinus, is apparently the same to whom Ennodius addressed his 'Paraenesis Didascalica,' containing some important notices of Festus, Symmachus, Boethius, Cethegus, and their contemporaries. (In Migne's 'Patrologia' lxiii. 250.)]

[Sidenote: Ambrosius appointed Quaestor.]

'A steady gradation of honours secures good servants for the State. You have already served with credit the office of Count of the Private Largesses. And you have also filled satisfactorily the place of a high official who was dismissed in disgrace[522]. We now therefore promote you to the office of Quaestor, and expect you to be the Pliny to the new Trajan. Let your eloquent tongue adorn all that we have to say, and be fearless in suggesting to us all that is for the welfare of the State. A good Sovereign always allows his ministers to speak to him on behalf of justice, while it is the sure mark of a tyrant to refuse to listen to the voice of the ancient maxims of law. Remember that celebrated saying of Trajan to an orator: "Plead, if I am a good ruler, for the Republic and me; if I am a bad one, for the Republic against me[523]." But remember, that if we are thus severe upon ourselves we are equally strict with regard to you, and expect you to follow the example of your noble ancestors, and to abstain from everything like an infraction of the laws. We confer upon you the insignia of the Quaestorship for this fifth Indiction' [Sept. 1, 526—Sept. 1, 527].

[Footnote 522: 'Gratiam quoque loci alterius invenisti. Dictationibus enim probaris adhibitus, cum sit offensionibus alter expulsus: et ita suspensum honorem tuum sustinebat ingenium, ut Palatio non sineres decesse Judicem, cujus ad tempus abrogatam cognovimus dignitatem.' I do not think we can say from this what the office temporarily filled by Arator was.]

[Footnote 523: 'Sume dicationem, si bonus fuero, pro Republica et me: si malus, pro Republica in me.']

14. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[On the elevation of Ambrosius to the Quaestorship].

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'As a kind of door to our royal favour do we appoint Ambrosius to be our Quaestor. You know his merits of old: but, to speak only of recent matters[524], we may remind you that when your hearts were wrung with grief for the death of our glorious grandfather, it was by his mouth that we assured you of our determination to continue to you the blessings of good government.

[Footnote 524: 'Quando et moderna quae loquimur.' (Notice again moderna.)]

'The presence of Ambrosius is full of dignity, and has a soothing influence which the words of his speech do but confirm[525]. It is unfortunate for an orator to have eloquence for his only gift, and to have to obliterate by his oration the unfavourable effect produced on the multitude by his appearance.

[Footnote 525: So the contemporary poet Maximian, speaking of his own past successes as an orator, and a good-looking one, says:

'Nec minor his aderat sublimis gratia formae Quae vel si decent cetera, muta placet.'

Elegiae i. 17-18.]

'We consider it not necessary to praise his eloquence. Of course a Quaestor is eloquent. While some have the government of a Province committed to them, others the care of the Treasury, he receives the ensigns of his dignity in order that by him his Sovereign's fame may be spread abroad through the whole world.'

15. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[On the election of Pope Felix III, 526.]

[As this letter has an important bearing on the royal rights in connection with Papal elections, it is translated in full.]

[Sidenote: Election of Pope Felix III (or IV).]

'We profess that we hear with great satisfaction that you have responded to the judgment of our glorious lord and grandfather in your election of a Bishop. It was right in sooth to obey the will of a good Sovereign, who, handling the matter with wise deliberation, although it had reference to a form of faith alien from his own[526], thought fit to select such a Pontiff as could rightfully be displeasing to none. You may thus recognise that his one chief desire was that Religion might flourish by good priests being supplied to all the churches.

[Footnote 526: 'Qui sapienti deliberatione pertractans quamvis in aliena religione.']

'You have received then a man both admirably endowed with Divine grace and approved by royal scrutiny. Let no one any longer be involved in the old contention. There is no disgrace in being conquered when the King's power has helped the winning side. That man makes him [the successful candidate] his own, who manifests to him pure affection. For what cause for regret can there be, when you find in this man, those very qualities which you looked for in the other when you embraced his party?

'These are family quarrels[527], a battle without cold steel, a contest without hatred: by shouts, not wounds, a matter like this is decided.

[Footnote 527: The words of Cassiodorus are, 'crinea sunt ista certamina.' No one seems able to suggest a meaning for crinea. The editors propose to read civica, which however is very flat, and not exactly in Cassiodorus' manner. I suspect some recondite classical allusion, which has been missed by the transcribers, has led to the corruption of the text.]

'For even though the person who is desired be taken from you, yet naught is lost by the faithful, since the longed-for priesthood is possessed by them. [They have a Pope, if not just the Pope whom they wished for.] Wherefore on the return of your Legate, the Illustrious Publianus, we have thought it right to send to your assembly these letters of salutation. For we taste one of our highest pleasures when we exchange words with our nobles; and we doubt not that this is very sweet to you also, when you reflect that what you did by our grandsire's order is personally agreeable to ourselves.'

[For remarks on this important letter see Dahn's 'Koenige der Germanen' iii. 239. He makes it a simple appointment of the Pope by the bare will of Theodoric, afterwards confirmed by Athalaric. To me it seems more probable that there had been a contest, threatening the election of an antipope (as in 498 in the case of Symmachus and Laurentius), and that the matter had been, as on that occasion, referred to the arbitration of Theodoric.]

16. KING ATHALARIC TO OPILIO, COUNT OF THE SACRED LARGESSES (527).

[Sidenote: Opilio appointed Comes Sacrarum Largitionum.]

'It is generally necessary to weigh carefully the merits of a new aspirant to the honours of the Court (aulicas dignitates); but in your case the merits of your family render this examination needless. Both your father and brother held the same office[528] which we are now entrusting to you, and one may say that this dignity has taken up its abode in your house.

[Footnote 528: 'Pater his fascibus praefuit sed et frater eadem resplenduit claritate.']

'You learned the duties of a subordinate in the office under your brother; and often did he, leaning upon you as on a staff, take a little needful repose, knowing that all things would be attended to by you. The crowds of suppliants who resorted to him with their grievances, shared the confidence which the people had in you, and saw that you were already assuming the character of a good judge.

'Most useful also were your services to the throne at the commencement of the new reign, when men's minds were in trouble as to what should happen next. You bore the news of our accession to the Ligurians, and so strengthened them by your wise address that the error into which they had been betrayed by the sun-setting was turned into joy at the rising of our empire[529].'

[Footnote 529: 'Nam cum ... auspicia nostra Liguribus felix portitor nuntiasti, et sapientiae tuae allocutione firmasti, in errorem quem de occasu conceperant, ortum nostri imperii in gaudia commutabant.' Does this obscure passage indicate some revolutionary movements in Liguria after the death of Theodoric, perhaps fomented by the Frankish neighbours of Italy?]

'We therefore confer upon you the dignity of Count of the Sacred Largesses from this sixth Indiction (Sept. 1, 527). Enjoy all the privileges and emoluments which belonged to your predecessors. God forbid that those whose own actions are right should be shaken by any machinations of calumny. There was a time when even Judges were harassed by informers (delatores); but that time is over. Lay aside then all fear, you who have no errors to reproach yourself with, and freely enjoy the advantages of your dignity. Imitate your brother: even though a little way behind him you will still be before most holders of the office. He was a man of the highest authority and of proved constancy, and the highest testimony to his merits was afforded by the fact that even under a successor who was hostile to him the whole official staff of the palace was loud in his praises[530].'

[Footnote 530: 'Quando sub ingrato successore palatinum officium praeconia ejus tacere non potuit.']

[This letter is of great importance, as containing indirectly the expression of Cassiodorus' opinion on the trial of Boethius, and the tendency of that opinion seems to be against him and in favour of his accusers. Comparing this letter with v. 40, addressed to Cyprian, Cornes Sacrarum Largitionum and son of Opilio, we may with something like certainty construct this genealogical table:

OPILIO, C.S.L. (? son of the Consul of 453). CYPRIAN, OPILIO, C.S.L. 524. C.S.L. 527.

Now Cyprian, whose ready wit and ingenious eloquence had rendered him a favourite with Theodoric, is represented to us in the 'Philosophiae Consolatio' of Boethius (I. iv.) and in the 'Anonymus Valesii' (85) as the informer by whom Albinus and Boethius were accused of high treason. Opilio too (no doubt the same as the receiver of this letter) is described by Boethius (loc. cit.) as a man who on account of his numberless frauds had been ordered by the King to go into banishment, had taken refuge at the altar, and had been sternly bidden to leave Ravenna before a given day, and then had purchased pardon by coming forward as a delator against Boethius.

Against all this passionate invective it is fair to set this remarkable letter of Cassiodorus, written it is true in the young King's name and presenting the Court view of these transactions, but still written after the death of Theodoric, and perhaps republished by Cassiodorus in the 'Variarum' after the downfall of the Gothic Monarchy. In any case the allusions to delatores in this letter, considering the history of Opilio and his brother, are extraordinary.]

17. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

This letter, though it does not mention the name of Opilio, is evidently written on his promotion to the office of Comes Sacrarum Largitionum. It enumerates his good qualities, and declares that it is marvellous and almost fortunate for Athalaric that so suitable a candidate should not have been promoted in the reign of his grandfather. The father of Opilio was a man of noble character and robust body, who distinguished himself by his abstinence from the vices of the times and his preference for dignified repose in the stormy period of Odovacar[531].

[Footnote 531: 'Adjectis saeculi vitiis, ditatus claris honoribus.' The text is evidently corrupt. 'Abjectis' seems to be required; but some MSS. instead of 'vitiis' read 'Odovacris.' In any case Odovacar's government is evidently alluded to. Cf. the words used of the same man in the letter announcing the elevation of his other son, Cyprian (v. 41): 'Nam pater huic, sicut meministis, Opilio fuit, vir quidem abjectis temporibus ad excubias tamen Palatinas electus.']

'He was reputed an excellent man in those times, when the Sovereign was not a man of honour[532]. But why go back to his parentage, when his brother has set so noble an example. The friendship, the rivalry in virtue of these two brothers, is worthy of the good old times. Both are true to their friends; both are devoid of avarice. Both have kept their loyalty to their King unspotted, and no marvel, since they have first shown themselves true to their friends and colleagues.

[Footnote 532: 'His temporibus habitus est eximius, cum princeps non esset erectus.']

'Distinguished by these virtues, our candidate has been fittingly allied by marriage with the noble family of Basilius[533].

[Footnote 533: This is probably the Basilius who was concerned in the accusation of Boethius (Phil. Cons. I. iv.); possibly the Consul of 541, who fled to Constantinople when Totila took Rome in 546 (Procop. De Bello Gotthico iii. 20, and Anastasius Lib. Pontif. apud Murator. iii. 132); and perhaps the Basilius whom we find in trouble in Variarum iv. 22, 23: scarcely the Basilius of Variarum ii. 10, 11.]

'He has managed his private affairs so as to avoid the two extremes of parsimony and extravagance. He has become popular with the Goths by his manner of life, and with the Romans by his righteous judgments[534]; and has been over and over again chosen as a referee (Judex privatus), thus showing the high opinion in which his integrity is held.

[Footnote 534: 'Gentiles victu (?), Romanos sibi judiciis obligabat.']

'The Conscript Fathers are exhorted to endorse the favourable judgment of the King, by welcoming the new Count of Sacred Largesses into their body.'

[In view of these letters I do not understand what Gibbon means by saying (cap. xxxix. n. 95), 'The characters of the two delators, Basilius ('Var.' ii. 10, 11; iv. 22) and Opilio (v. 41; viii. 16), are illustrated, not much to their honour, in the Epistles of Cassiodorus.' This is quite true of Basilius, if the person alluded to in the references given by Gibbon be the same as the informer against Boethius, of which there may be a doubt; but Opilio is mentioned, as we see, with the highest honour by Cassiodorus. So, too, is Decoratus, whom in the same note Gibbon too hastily stigmatises as 'the worthless colleague of Boethius.']

18. KING ATHALARIC TO FELIX, QUAESTOR (527).

[This cannot be the same as the Consul of 511, nor even his son; for that Felix was of Gaulish extraction, and came from beyond the Alps.]

[Sidenote: Promotion of Felix to the Quaestorship.]

'It is desirable that those who are appointed as Judges should know something of law, and most unfitting that he whom so many officials (milites) obey should be seen to be dependent for his law on some one of his subordinates.

'You long ago, when engaged in civil causes as an Advocate, were marked out by your Sovereign's eye[535]. He noted your eloquence, your fidelity, your youthful beauty, and your maturity of mind. No client could ask for more devotion than you showed in his cause; no Judge found in you anything to blame.

[Footnote 535: 'Dudum te forensibus negociis insudantem, oculus imperialis aspexit'—an expression which goes very near to styling Theodoric Imperator.]

'Receive then now the dignity of Quaestor for this sixth Indiction (Sept. 1, 527), and judge in the Courts where hitherto you have pleaded.

'You are called Felix; act so as always to merit that name; for it is absurd to have a name which denotes one thing and to display the opposite in one's character. We think we have now said enough for a man of your good conscience. Many admonitions seem to imply a doubt of the character of him who receives them.' [A maxim often forgotten by Cassiodorus.]

19. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[On the promotion of Felix.]

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'As the sky with stars, or the meadow with flowers, so do we wish the Senate to be resplendent with the men of eminence whom we introduce into it. It is itself a seminary of Senators; but our favour and the dignities of our Court also rear them.

'The Quaestorship is the true mother of the senatorial dignity, since who can be fitter to take his seat in the Curia than he who has shared the counsels of his Sovereign?

'You know the eloquence of our candidate [Felix], his early triumphs, his modesty, his fidelity. To leave such a man unpromoted were a public loss; and he will always love the laws by the practice of which he has risen to eminence.

'Nor is he the first of his race to earn rhetorical distinction. His father shone so brilliantly in the Forum of Milan, that he bloomed forth with undying fruits from the soil of Cicero[536]. He stood against Magnus Olybrius, he was found equal in fluency to Eugenius[537] and many others whom Rome knew as foremost in their art. If the transmission of material wealth by long descent makes men noble, how much more should the inheritance of the treasures of the intellect give nobility.'

[Footnote 536: 'Pater ita in Mediolanensi foro resplenduit, ut aeterno fructu e Tulliano cespite pullularet.']

[Footnote 537: 'Is palmarum Eugenetis linguae ubertate suffecit.' Possibly this is the Magister Officiorum of Var. i. 12, and the person to whom is addressed a letter of Ennodius (iv. 26). The form Eugenetis, instead of Eugenii, belongs to the debased Latinity of the age.]

20. KING ATHALARIC TO ALBIENUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO[538] (527).

[Footnote 538: In Nivellius' edition the title of this office is given as Praepositus.]

[Sidenote: Albienus made Praetorian Praefect.]

'Your predecessor has been the model of a bad governor. As the North wind clears the face of the sky from the rain and clouds brought by the South wind, so do we look to you to repair the evils wrought by his misgovernment. In all things your best maxim will be to do exactly the opposite of what he did. He made himself hateful by his unjust prosecutions: do you become popular by your righteous deeds. He was rapacious: be you moderate. Soothe and relieve the harassed people entrusted to your charge. Receive for this sixth Indiction [Sept. 1, 527-528] the fasces of the Praefecture, and let the office of Praetorian Praefect return to its ancient fame, an object of praise to the whole world[539]. This office dates from Joseph, and rightly is he who holds it called by our laws Father of the Provinces, Father of the Empire.

[Footnote 539: 'Redeat ad nomen antiquum Praefectura illa Praetorii, toto orbe laudabilis.' Is it possible that there had been some attempt to change the title of the Praefect, which accounts for the Praepositus which in some MSS. we find in the heading of this letter?]

'See that you avoid all unjust exactions. We cannot bear that our Treasury should be filled by unrighteous means.

'Your descent from a father who has held the same high office, and your intimate knowledge of the Dicta prudentum, warrant us in believing that you will make a good judge.'

[I have not been able to find any hint of the name of the Praefectus Praetorio for 526-527, so bitterly condemned in this letter. As he may have held office for some years, his misgovernment may have been connected with the death of Boethius (524). Can we connect him with the Trigguilla 'Regiae Praepositus Domus' whose injustice is denounced by Boethius ('Phil. Cons.' i. 4)?]

21. KING ATHALARIC TO CYPRIAN, PATRICIAN.

22. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: Cyprian's elevation to the Patriciate.]

In these two letters the high character and distinguished services of Cyprian are commemorated. 'Under Theodoric he distinguished himself both in war and peace. At the time of the war of Sirmium he was conspicuous both in his resistance to the fiery onslaught of the Bulgarians and in his active pursuit of them when their ranks were broken[540]. He then filled, with great credit to himself, the office of Referendarius[541]. Great was the responsibility of exercising peaceful as well as warlike offices under such a master as Theodoric. In fact the training for one was helpful for the other, since it required a soldier's courage and promptness to be always ready with a truthful and accurate reply to that keen, firm-minded ruler of men[542].

[Footnote 540: 'Vidit te adhuc gentilis' (still under the dominion of the Gepidae) 'Danubius bellatorem: non te terruit Bulgarorum globus, qui etiam nostris erat praesumptione certaminis obstaturus. Peculiare tibi fuit et renitentes Barbaros aggredi, et conversos terrore sectari. Sic victoriam Gothorum non tam numero quam labore juvisti.']

[Footnote 541: For a description of his services in this function, see Var. v. 40.]

[Footnote 542: This is evidently the meaning; but something seems to have dropped out of the text.]

'Thence he was promoted to the dignity of Count of the Sacred Largesses, a post well suited to his pure, self-restrained character[543]. He is now growing old in body, but ever young in fame, and the King heartily wishes him increase of years to enjoy his renown.

[Footnote 543: 'Hoc est laborum tuorum aptissimum munus: quam sic casta sic moderata mente peregisti ut majora tibi deberi faceres, quamvis eam in magna praemia suscepisses.']

'Rightly, too, is there now conferred upon him the dignity of Patricius, since he is the father of such noble sons, men whose childhood was passed in the palace under the very eye of Theodoric (thus like young eagles already learning to gaze upon the sun), and who now cultivate the friendship of the Goths, learn from them all martial exercises, speak their language, and thus give evident tokens of their future fidelity to the Gothic nation[544].

[Footnote 544: 'Relucent etiam gratia gentili, nec cessant armorum imbui fortibus institutis. Pueri stirpis Romanae nostra lingua loquuntur; eximie indicantes exhibere se nobis futuram fidem, quorum jam videntur affectasse sermonem.... Variis linguis loquuntur egregie, maturis viris communione miscentur.']

'The Senate is therefore exhorted to welcome its thus promoted colleague, who at each accession of rank has shown himself yet worthier of his high place, and whom grandfather and grandson have both delighted to honour. Thus will it renew the glories of the Decii and the Corvini, who were its sons in the days of old.'

[The subject of these letters is indisputably the same Cyprian whom the 'Anonymus Valesii' speaks of as suborning false witnesses against Albinus and Boethius, and of whom the latter says ('Phil. Cons.' i. 4): 'Ne Albinum, Consularem virum praejudicatae accusationis poena corriperet, odiis me Cypriani delatoris opposui.' Compare the remarks made on Letters 16 and 17; and remember that this letter was composed three years after the death of Boethius, when Theodoric also was dead, and his daughter was only too willing to retrace his steps, in all that concerned the severities of the latter years of his reign. For the pedigree of Cyprian see p. 363.]

23. KING ATHALARIC TO BERGANTINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND COMES PATRIMONII.

[Sidenote: Gifts to Theodahad.]

'Kings should always be generous, but especially to those of their own family.

'Therefore we desire your Greatness to transfer the farms herein described, to the exalted and most honourable Theodahad, weighing out to him so many solidi, out of that which was formerly the patrimony of his magnificent Mother; and we guarantee to him the absolute ownership of such farms, free from any claims to the inheritance on our part[545].

[Footnote 545: 'Atque ideo illustrem magnitudinem tuam praecelso atque amplissimo viro Theodahado massas subter annexas, tot solidos pensitantes, ex patrimonio quondam magnificae foeminae matris ipsius, praecipimus reformari, ejus feliciter dominio plenissime vendicandas, cujus successionis integrum jus in ea qua praecipimus parte largimur.' According to Dahn (Koenige der Germanen iv. 60-61), these lands had been given in her lifetime by Theodahad's mother to the King, and are now begged for by Theodahad. But why 'tot solidos pensitantes?' Why should Theodahad receive both land and money? There seems no authority for translating 'pensitantes' receiving. Probably the solidi thus paid to him are mesne rents received by the King and accounted for to Theodahad. On the whole affair cf. Procopius, De Bello Gotthico i. 4.]

'We trust to his sincerity and good faith, that in the future he will deserve the remainder of the above-mentioned patrimony, with the addition of the whole quantity[546].

[Footnote 546: 'De cujus fide ac synceritate praesumimus, ut sequenti tempore reliqua supra memorati patrimonii cum omni adjecta quantitate mereatur.' This sentence is to me quite unintelligible.]

'What can we deny to such a man, whose obedience might claim a higher reward even were he not our cousin—a man who is not puffed up by any pride of his noble birth, humble in his modesty, always uniform in his prudence? Therefore instruct the Cartarii of your office to make over the aforesaid farms to his Actores without delay[547].'

[Footnote 547: Cf. the formalities connected with Odovacar's deed of gift to Pierius (Marini, Pap. Diplom. 82, 83), quoted in Italy and her Invaders iii. 165.]

24. KING ATHALARIC TO THE CLERGY OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.

[Sidenote: Ecclesiastical immunities.]

'For the gift of kingly power we owe an infinite debt to God, whose ministers ye are.

'Ye state in your tearful memorial to us that it has been an ordinance of long custom that anyone who has a suit of any kind against a servant of the sacrosanct Roman Church should first address himself to the chief Priest of that City, lest haply your clergy, being profaned by the litigation of the Forum, should be occupied in secular rather than religious matters. And you add that one of your Deacons has, to the disgrace of religion, been so sharply handled by legal process that the Sajo[548] has dared actually to take him into his own custody.

[Footnote 548: In the text, 'Sajus.']

'This dishonour to the Ministers of holy things is highly displeasing to our inborn reverence, yet we are glad that it gives us the opportunity of paying part of our debt to Heaven.

'Therefore, considering the honour of the Apostolic See, and wishing to meet the desires of the petitioners, we by the authority of this letter decree in regular course[549]:

[Footnote 549: 'Praesenti auctoritate moderato ordine definimus.' Dahn interprets 'moderato ordine,' 'not so absolutely as the Roman clergy desires.' Is not this to attribute rather too much force to the conventional language of Cassiodorus?]

'That if anyone shall think he has a good cause for going to law with a person belonging to the Roman clergy, he shall first present himself for hearing at the judgment-seat of the most blessed Pope, in order that the latter may either decide between the two in his own holy manner, or may delegate the cause to a Jurisconsult to be ended by him. And if, perchance, which it is impiety to believe, the reasonable desire of the petitioner shall have been evaded, then may he come to the secular courts with his grievance, when he can prove that his petitions have been spurned by the Bishop of the aforesaid See[550].

[Footnote 550: 'Definimus, ut si quispiam ad Romanum Clerum aliquem pertinentem, in qualibet causa probabili crediderit actione pulsandum, ad beatissimi Papae judicium prius conveniat audiendus. Ut aut ipse inter utrosque more suae sanctitatis agnoscat, aut causam deleget aequitatis studio terminandam: et si forte, quod credi nefas est, competens desiderium fuerit petitoris elusum, tuno ad saecularia fora jurgaturus occurrat, quando suas petitiones probaverit a supradictae sedis praesule fuisse contemptas.']

'Should any litigant be so dishonest and so irreverent, both towards the Holy See and our authority, as to disregard this order [and proceed first in our tribunals against one of the Roman clergy], he shall forfeit 10 lbs. of gold [L400], to be exacted by the officers of the Count of Sacred Largesses and distributed by the Pope to the poor; and he shall lose his suit in addition, notwithstanding any decree which he may have gained in the secular court.

'Meanwhile do you, whom our judgments thus venerate, live according to the ordinances of the Church. It is a great wickedness in you to admit such crimes as do not become the conversation even of secular men. Your profession is the heavenly life. Do not condescend to the grovelling wishes and vulgar errors of ordinary mortals. Let the men of this world be coerced by human laws; do you obey the precepts of righteousness.'

[See Dahn, 'Koenige der Germanen' iii. 191-2, Sartorius 145, and Bauer's 'History of the Popes' ii. 323-4, for remarks on this important privilegium.

It is clear that it relates to civil, not criminal procedure, and that it does leave a right of final appeal from the Papal Courts to the dissatisfied secular litigant. At the same time, that such an appeal would be prosecuted with immense difficulty is clear even from the words of the decree. The appellant will have to satisfy the King's Judges of a thing which it is almost impiety to believe, that the occupant of the Roman See has spurned his petitions.]

25. KING ATHALARIC TO JOANNES, VIR SPECTABILIS, REFERENDARIUS.

[Sidenote: Confirmation of Tulum's gift of property in the Lucullanum.]

'It is a very fitting thing to confirm the generosity of others towards persons who might well have received gifts from oneself. We therefore declare that in your case the gift is another's but the will to give is our own, and the King has only been anticipated by the rapid bounty of the subject[551].

[Footnote 551: 'Profitemur itaque alterius quidem donum, sed nostrum esse judicium, et modernam principis mentem praevenisse tantum velocissimam largitatem.' Observe again the use of Cassiodorus' favourite word modernam.]

'Everyone knows that our grandfather wished to give you the house of Agnellus in the Castrum Lucullanum, but could not do so having already given it to the Patrician Tulum[552]. Tulum, however, with his usual generosity, seconding the wishes of his master, formally conveyed the property to you; and that conveyance we now confirm, guaranteeing the quiet possession of it to you and your heirs for all time to come. If any doubt exist as to your title, by any mischance, or by reason of any enquiry, such doubt is exploded by the authority of this letter of ours[553].

[Footnote 552: Tholuit, or Tholum, in some MSS., but no doubt the same as the Tulum of Letters 9 and 10.]

[Footnote 553: 'Ubi et si quid esset quolibet casu, qualibet inquisitione fortassis ambiguum, hujus auctoritatis nostrae judicio constat explosum.']

'And should any envious person, in contempt of our royal will, dare to raise any question in this matter hereafter, either on behalf of the Fiscus or of any private individual, we declare that he shall pay to you, or to the person to whom you may have assigned the said house, 100 lbs. of gold (L4,000) by way of penalty.'

[Why should there be the necessity of this royal confirmation of a transaction between two private individuals, Tulum and Joannes, and this tremendous penalty on all future impugners of it?

Evidently because the property had been impressed with the character of State domain, and it was doubtful how far Tulum's alienation of it might stand good against the claims of future Sovereigns.

This becomes quite clear when we reflect what is the property to which this letter refers. It is either the whole or a part of the Lucullanum, to which the deposed Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was banished in 476. On his death, as we may conjecture, this property, one of the most delightful places of residence in Italy, has been given by Theodoric to Tulum, perhaps just after he had distinguished himself in the Gaulish campaign of 508. For some reason or other, Tulum has alienated it (ostensibly, given it) to the Reporter Joannes, no doubt a Roman, who is apparently nervous lest his title to it should hereafter be impugned on the ground that the palace of the last Roman Emperor was national property. Hence this letter. There is some difficulty and variation between the MSS. in the words describing the property: 'Saepe dicta domus paternae recordationis Agnelli, in Lucullano castro posita.' For paternae, Migne's editor reads patriciae. The forthcoming critical edition of the 'Variae' will show whether there is any support in the MSS. for a conjecture which I cannot help entertaining that Agnelli is an error for Augustuli.]

26. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE INHABITANTS OF REATE AND NURSIA.

[Sidenote: Gothic settlers in the Sabine territory exhorted to obedience to their Prior, Quidila.]

'Our glorious grandfather had arranged that, in accordance with your desire, Quidila, son of Sibia, should be your Captain (Prior). We confirm this appointment, and desire you to obey him in all things. You are so far moulded by the character of our grandfather that you willingly obey both the laws and the Judges. Our enemies are best vanquished, and the favour both of Heaven and of other nations is best conciliated for us, by our obeying the principles of justice. If anyone is in need of anything, let him seek to obtain it from the generosity of his Sovereign rather than by the strength of his own right hand, since it is for your advantage that the Romans be at peace, who, in filling our Treasury, at the same time multiply your donatives.'

[This letter is evidently addressed to Goths, and Quidila the Prior, who is set over them, is also a Goth. We can only conjecture what the office of Prior was: probably to some extent it involved civil as well as military authority. The conjecture of Dahn ('Koenige der Germanen' iv. 173) that it corresponds to the Gothic Hundafath (Centenarius), seems to me extremely probable. The title of the letter is curious. It is addressed 'Universis Reatinis et Nursinis.' Are we then to suppose that strong military colonies of Goths had been settled in these places, the Roman inhabitants having been extruded? The fact that St. Benedict was born in Nursia, some fifty-seven years before the writing of this letter, gives an additional interest to this question.]

27. KING ATHALARIC TO DUMERIT THE SAJO, AND TO FLORENTINUS, A ZEALOUS OFFICER OF THE COURT[554].

[Footnote 554: 'Florentino viro devoto Comitiaco.']

[Sidenote: Robbery in the district of Faenza to be suppressed.]

'Justice must be shown upon the wicked. Different diseases require different remedies.

'Let your Devotion speed instantly through the territory of Faventia, and if you find any persons, either Goths or Romans, concerned in the plunder of the possessors, punish them severely. How much better it would be for those misguided persons to live according to our will, and earn the reward of pleasing us.' [The last sentence is obscure, and perhaps the text is corrupt.]

28. KING ATHALARIC TO CUNIGAST, VIR ILLUSTRIS.

[No doubt the same as the Conigast attacked by Boethius in the 'Philosophiae Consolatio' i. 4[555].]

[Footnote 555: 'Quoticus ego Conigastum in inbecillis cujusque fortunas impetum facientem obvius excepi!']

[Sidenote: Possessores (or Coloni?) forced to become slaves.]

'Our Serenity has been moved by the grievous petition of Constantius and Venerius, who complain that Tanca [probably a Goth] has wrested from them the farm which is called Fabricula, which belonged to them in their own right, together with the stock upon it[556], and has compelled them, in order to prevent similar forcible demands upon their property in future, to allow the worst lot of all—the condition of slavery—to be imposed upon them, who are really free[557].

[Footnote 556: 'Cum suo peculio.' If they were not slaves they could not have peculium in the technical sense. I therefore understand 'peculio' to be simply equivalent to cattle, a sense which is confirmed by 'Calabri peculiosi' in Letter 33.]

[Footnote 557: 'Adjicientes ne rerum suarum repetitionibus imminerent [? imminuerent] liberis sibi conditionem ultimae servitutis imponi.' Cf. Salvian, De Gubernatione Dei v. 8, 9, for a description of similar occurrences in Gaul.]

'Let your Greatness therefore summon Tanca to your judgment-seat, and, after hearing all parties, pronounce a just judgment and one accordant to your character. For though it is a serious matter to oust a lord from his right, it is contrary to the feelings of our age to press down free necks under the yoke of slavery.

'Let Tanca therefore either establish his right to the slaves and their property, or, if they are proved free, let him give them up, whole and unharmed: in which case we will inflict upon him no further penalty.'

29. KING ATHALARIC TO THE DIGNIFIED CULTIVATORS[558] AND CURIALS OF THE CITY OF PARMA.

[Footnote 558: 'Honoratis Possessoribus.']

[Sidenote: Sanitary measures needed in Parma.]

'You ought willingly to co-operate in that which is being done for the advantage of your town. When it was suffering from a long drought, our grandfather, with God's help, watered it with the life-giving wave. Cleanse out then the mouths of your sewers, lest otherwise, being checked in its flow by the accumulated filth, it should surge back into your houses, and bring into them the pollution which it was meant to wash away.

'The Spectabilis Genesius is appointed to superintend this work, and to quicken your zeal regarding it.'

30. KING ATHALARIC TO GENESIUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.

[Relating to the same subject as the preceding.]

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'Through love of your city our grandfather, with royal generosity, constructed an aqueduct of the ancient type[559] for you. But it is of no use to provide a good water-supply unless your sewers are in good order. Therefore let your Sublimity set the citizens of Parma diligently to work at this business, that all ancient channels, whether underground or those which run by the sides of the streets, be diligently repaired[560], in order that when the longed-for stream flows into your town it be not hindered by any obstacle.

[Footnote 559: 'Antiqui operis formam.']

[Footnote 560: 'Quatenus antiquos cuniculos, sive subterraneos, sive qui junguntur marginibus platearum diligenter emendent.']

'How fair is water in a running stream, but how ugly in puddles and swamps; it is good then neither for man nor beast. Without water city and country alike languish; and rightly did the ancients punish one who was unfit for human society by forbidding all men to give him water. Therefore you ought all heartily to combine for this most useful work, since the man who is not touched by the comeliness of his city has not yet the mind of a citizen.'

31. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.

[Is Severus Vicarius Urbis? His title Spectabilis seems to require some such rank as this, otherwise he seems more like a Corrector (Clarissimus) Bruttiorum et Lucaniae. Perhaps already the strict gradation established by Diocletian and Constantine was somewhat broken down, and governors received higher titles than strictly belonged to them.]

[Sidenote: Dissuasions from a country life, and praises of Cassiodorus' native land of Bruttii.]

'Since you, when on the staff of the Praefect, have learned the principles of statesmanship, we are sure that you will agree with us that cities are the chief ornament of human society. Let the wild beasts live in fields and woods: men ought to draw together into cities. Even among birds we see that those of gentle disposition—like thrushes, storks, and doves—love to flock together, while the greedy hawk, intent on its bloody pastime, seeks solitude.

'Now we say that the man who shuns human society becomes at once an object of suspicion. Let therefore the Possessores and Curiales of Bruttii return to their cities. The Coloni may cultivate the soil—that is what their name denotes[561]; but the men whom we decorate with civic honours ought to live in cities.

[Footnote 561: 'Coloni sunt qui agros jugiter colunt.']

'In truth it is a lovely land. Ceres and Pallas have crowned it with their respective gifts (corn and oil); the plains are green with pastures, the slopes are purple with vineyards. Above all is it rich in its vast herds of horses[562], and no wonder, since the dense shade of its forests protects them from the bites of flies, and provides them with ever verdant pasture even in the height of summer. Cool waters flow from its lofty heights; fair harbours on both its shores woo the commerce of the world.

[Footnote 562: Cf. what is said (i. 4) as to the large present of horses made by the father of Cassiodorus to Theodoric for the use of the Gothic army.]

'There the countryman enjoys the good food of the citizen, the poor man the abundance of the wealthy[563]. If such then be the charms even of the country in your Province, why should you shirk living in its cities[564]?

[Footnote 563: 'Vivunt illic rustici epulis urbanorum, mediocres autem abundantia praepotentium.' 'Mediocres' and 'tenues' are technical words with Cassiodorus for the poor.]

[Footnote 564: Cassiodorus must have felt the weakness of his logic here. He patriotically praises the rural beauty of Bruttii, yet the conclusion which by main force he arrives at is, 'Leave the country and live in towns.']

'Why should so many men refined by literature skulk in obscurity? The boy goes to a good school, becomes imbued with the love of letters, and then, when he is come to man's estate and should be seeking the Forum in order to display his talents, he suddenly changes into a boor, unlearns all that he has learned, and in his love for the fields forgets what is due to a reasonable love for himself. And yet even birds love human fellowship, and the nightingale boldly rears her brood close to the haunts of men.

'Let the cities then return to their old splendour; let none prefer the charms of the country to the walls reared by the men of old. Why should not everyone be attracted by the concourse of noble persons, by the pleasures of converse with his equals? To stroll through the Forum, to look in at some skilful craftsman at his work, to push one's own cause through the law courts, then between whiles to play with the counters of Palamedes (draughts), to go to the baths with one's acquaintances, to indulge in the friendly emulation of the banquet—these are the proper employments of a Roman noble; yet not one of them is tasted by the man who chooses to live always in the country with his farm-servants[565].

[Footnote 565: 'Cui enim minus grata nobilium videatur occursio. Cui non affectuosum sit cum paribus miscere sermonem, forum petere, honestas artes invisere, causas proprias legibus expedire, interdum Palamediacis calculis occupari, ad balneas ire cum sociis, prandia mutuis apparatibus exhibere? Caret profecto omnibus his, qui vitam suam vult semper habere cum famulis.']

'We order therefore that all Possessores and Curiales shall, according to their relative means, find bail and give bonds, promising that they will for the larger part of the year reside in some city, such as they may choose[566]. And thus, while not wholly debarred from the pleasures of the country, they will furnish to the cities their proper adornment of citizens.'

[Footnote 566: 'Datis fidejussoribus jam Possessores quam Curiales, sub aestimatione virium, poena interposita, promittant anni parte majore se in civitatibus manere, quas habitare delegerint.']

32. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.

[Sidenote: The Fountain of Arethusa.]

'Nimfadius (Vir Sublimis) was journeying to the King's Comitatus on some affair of his own, when, wearied with his journey, he lay down to rest, and let his beasts of burden graze round the fountain of Arethusa.

'This fountain, situated in the territory of Squillace[567], at the foot of the hills and above the sand of the sea, makes a green and pleasant place all round it, fringed with rustling reeds as with a crown. It has certain marvellous properties: for let a man go to it in silence and he sees it calmly flowing, more like a pond than a fountain. But let him cough or speak with a loud voice, and it becomes violently agitated, heaving to and fro like a pot boiling. Strange power this of a fountain to answer a man. I have read that some fountains can change the colours of the animals that drink at them; that others can turn wood dropped into them to stone. The human reason is altogether unable to understand such things as these.

[Footnote 567: 'In Scyllatino territoris.' Transcribers, thinking of the Arethusa at Syracuse, have tried to alter this into Siciliano; but there can be little doubt that the above reading is right. As to the situation of the Fountain of Arethusa, see Introduction, p. 72.]

'But let us return to the complaint of our suppliant. Nimfadius asserts that, while he was resting, the country people artfully drove off his beasts of burden.

'This kind of crime brings our times into disgrace, and turns the charm of that quiet resting-place into disgust. Diligently enquire into it, for the credit of our Comitatus is involved in our subjects being able to journey to it in safety. At first, no doubt, the offenders will lie close, and seem as silent as the unmoved Arethusa. But begin your investigations, and they will soon break forth, like that fountain, with angry exclamations, in the midst of which you will discover the truth. Punish the offenders severely; for we should regret that owing to the excesses of robbers that wonderful and joy-bringing fountain should be deserted.'

33. KING ATHALARIC TO SEVERUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.

[Sidenote: The Feast of St. Cyprian.]

'We hear that the rustics are indulging in disorderly practices, and robbing the market-people who come from all quarters to the chief fair of Lucania on the day of St. Cyprian. This must by all means be suppressed, and your Respectability should quietly collect a sufficient number of the owners and tenants of the adjoining farms[568] to overpower these freebooters and bring them to justice. Any rustic or other person found guilty of disturbing the fair should be at once punished with the stick[569], and then exhibited with some mark of infamy upon him[570].