[Footnote 568: 'Spectabilitas vestra praedicto tempore, una cum Possessoribus atque Conductoribus diversarum massarum ad quietem convenientium ... reos inveniat,' &c.]

[Footnote 569: 'Inter ipsa initia comprehensus fustuariae subdatur ultioni.']

[Footnote 570: 'Pompatus mala nota.']

'This fair, which according to the old superstition was named Leucothea [after the nymph], from the extreme purity of the fountain at which it is held, is the greatest fair in all the surrounding country. Everything that industrious Campania, or opulent Bruttii, or cattle-breeding Calabria[571], or strong Apulia produces, is there to be found exposed for sale, on such reasonable terms that no buyer goes away dissatisfied. It is a charming sight to see the broad plains filled with suddenly-reared houses formed of leafy branches intertwined: all the beauty of the most leisurely-built city, and yet not a wall to be seen. There stand ready boys and girls, with the attractions which belong to their respective sexes and ages, whom not captivity but freedom sets a price upon. These are with good reason sold by their parents, since they themselves gain by their very servitude. For one cannot doubt that they are benefited even as slaves [or servants?], by being transferred from the toil of the fields to the service of cities[572].

[Footnote 571: 'Calabri peculiosi.']

[Footnote 572: 'Praesto sunt pueri ac puellae, diverso sexu atque aetate conspicuo, quos non facit captivitas esse sub pretio sed libertas: hos merito parentes vendunt, quoniam de ipsa famulatione proficiunt. Dubium quippe non est servos posse meliorari qui de labore agrorum ad urbana servitia transferuntur.' With almost any writer but Cassiodorus this would prove that in the Sixth Century free Italians were selling their children into actual slavery. But I doubt whether he really means more than that the children of the country people were for hire as domestic servants in the cities. If so, the scene is not unlike our own 'statute fairs' or 'hirings' in the north of England. It appears from Sec. 94 of the Edictum Theodorici that parents could sell their children, but that the latter did not lose their status ingenuus. Must they then claim it on coming of age? 'Parentes qui cogente necessitate filios suos alimentorum gratia vendiderint ingenuitati eorum non praejudicant. Homo enim liber pretio nullo aestimatur.' Cf. also Sec. 95: 'Operas enim tantum parentes filiorum quos in potestate habuerint, locare possunt.']

'What can I say of the bright and many-coloured garments? what of the sleek and well-fed cattle offered at such a price as to tempt any purchaser?

'The place itself is situated in a wide and pleasant plain, a suburb of the ancient city of Cosilinum, and has received the name of Marcilianum from the founder of these sacred springs[573].

[Footnote 573: Marcilianum is now Sala, in the valley of the Calore (Tanager). Padula is thought by some to mark the site of Cosilinum. The Island of Leucosia, now Licosa, a few miles from Paestum, evidently does not represent the Leucothea of this letter.]

'And this is in truth a marvellous fountain, full and fresh, and of such transparent clearness that when you look through it you think you are looking through air alone. Choice fishes swim about in the pool, perfectly tame, because if anyone presumes to capture them he soon feels the Divine vengeance. On the morning which precedes the holy night [of St. Cyprian], as soon as the Priest begins to utter the baptismal prayer, the water begins to rise above its accustomed height. Generally it covers but five steps of the well, but the brute element, as if preparing itself for miracles, begins to swell, and at last covers two steps more, never reached at any other time of the year. Truly a stupendous miracle, that streams of water should thus stand still or increase at the sound of the human voice, as if the fountain itself desired to listen to the sermon.

'Thus hath Lucania a river Jordan of her own. Wherefore, both for religion's sake and for the profit of the people, it behoves that good order should be kept among the frequenters of the fair, since in the judgment of all, that man must be deemed a villain who would sully the joys of such happy days.'



BOOK IX.

CONTAINING TWENTY-FIVE LETTERS, ALL WRITTEN IN THE NAME OF ATHALARIC THE KING.

1. KING ATHALARIC TO HILDERIC, KING OF THE VANDALS (A.D. 527).

[Sidenote: Murder of Amalafrida, widow of King Thrasamund and sister of Theodoric.]

'Friendship and relationship are turned to bitterness by the tidings that Amalafrida, of divine memory, the distinguished ornament of our race, has been put to death by you[574]. If you had any cause of offence against her, you ought to have sent her to us for judgment. What you have done is a species of parricide. If the succession, on the death of her husband, passed to another [yourself], that was no reason why a woman should be embroiled in the contest. It was really an addition to your nobility to have the purple dignity of the Amal blood allied to the lineage of the Hasdingi.

[Footnote 574: With reference to this event Victor Tunnunensis writes: 'Cujus (Trasamundi) uxor Amalafrida fugiens ad barbaros congressione facta Capsae juxta Heremum capitur, et in custodia privata moritur.' Procopius (De B. Vandalico i. 9) says: [Greek: Kai sphisi (tois Bandilois) xynenechthe Theudericho te kai Gotthois en Italia ek te symmachon kai philon polemioi genesthai ten te gar Amalaphridan en phylake eschon kai tous Gotthous diephtheiran hapantas epenenkontes autois neoterizein es te Bandilous kai Hilderichon]. Both Victor and Procopius seem to place the conflict before the death of Theodoric; Victor says A.D. 523. Probably therefore the fighting, the capture of Amalafrida, and the death of her countrymen, took place in that year, the year of her husband's death and Hilderic's accession. Three or four years later (526 or 527), when her brother Theodoric was dead, the imprisoned princess was murdered—a grievous insult to the young Sovereign of the Goths, her great-nephew.]

'Our Goths keenly feel the insults conveyed in this deed, since to slay the royal lady of another race is to despise the valour of that race and doubt its willingness to avenge her.

'We send you two ambassadors to hear what your excuses are. We hear that you pretend that her death was natural. And you also must send ambassadors in return to us to explain the matter, without war or bloodshed, and either pacify us or acknowledge your guilt. If you do not do this, all ties of alliance between us are broken, and we must leave you to the judgment of the Divine Majesty, which heard the blood of Abel crying from the ground.'

2. EDICT OF KING ATHALARIC.

[Sidenote: Oppression of the Curiales.]

'The body of the Republic is so tempered together that if one member suffers all the members suffer with it. The Curiales, whose name is derived from their care (cura) and forethought, are, we are told, molested by hostile proceedings, so that what was bestowed upon them as an honour turns out rather to their injury. What scandalous injustice! What an insupportable evil! that he who ought to have benefited the Republic by his services, should often lose both fortune and liberty.

'Wherefore by this edict we decree that if any Curialis suffer oppression, if anyone, without the express warrant of ourselves or the high officers of State whose business it is, inflict upon a Curialis any injury or loss of property, he shall pay a fine of 10 lbs. of gold (L400), to go to the benefit of the person thus oppressed; or, if his property be insufficient to pay this fine, he shall be beaten with clubs. The Curialis must then give additional diligence to the discharge of his public duties, since his debt to the State is, as it were, increased by the protection which we are thus affording him. As for the farms of Curiales, in connection with which the greatest frauds are practised on poor men, let no one seek to obtain them by an unlawful purchase; for a contract cannot be called a contract when it is in violation of the law[575]. The Judges must help the Curiales against the molestations of Sajones and other officials. It is a grievous offence, when the very person to whom is entrusted the duty of defending the weak, himself turns oppressor.

[Footnote 575: 'Praedia Curialium, unde maximae mediocribus parantur insidiae, nullus illicita emptione pervadat. Quia contractus dici non potest nisi qui de legibus venit.']

'Raise your heads in hope, oh ye oppressed ones! lift up your hearts, ye who are weighed down with a load of evils! To each citizen his own city is his Republic. Administer justice in your cities in conformity with the general will. Let your various ranks live on a footing of justice. Do not oppress the weak, lest you in your turn be deservedly oppressed by the strong. This is the penalty of wrong-doing, that each one suffers in his own person what he has wantonly inflicted on another.

'Live then in justice and moderation. Follow the example of the cranes, who change the order of their flight, making foremost hindmost, and hindmost foremost, without difficulty, each willingly obeying its fellow—a commonwealth of birds.

'You have, according to the laws, power over your citizens. Not in vain has Antiquity conceded to you the title of Curia: not vainly did it call you the Lesser Senate, the nerves and vital organs of the State[576]. What is not contained of honour and power in that title! For that which is compared to the Senate is excluded from no kind of glory.'

[Footnote 576: 'Non enim incassum vobis Curiam concessit Antiquitas, non inaniter appellavit Minorem Senatum, nervos quoque vocitans ac viscera civitatum.']

3. KING ATHALARIC TO BERGANTINUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, COMES [PATRIMONII], AND PATRICIAN[577].

[Footnote 577: Cf. viii. 23.]

[Sidenote: Gold-mining in Italy.]

'Gold, as well as many other fair fruits of Nature which gold can buy, is said to be produced by our generous Italy. Theodorus, who is an expert in such matters, asserts that gold will be found on the farm Rusticiana in Bruttii[578]. Let your Greatness therefore send a Cartarius to commence mining operations on that spot. The work of a miner resembles that of a mole. He burrows underground, far from the light of day. Sometimes the sides of his passages fall in and his way is closed up behind him; but if he emerge safely with his treasure, how happy is he! Then the gold-miner proceeds to immerse his ore in water, that the heavy metal may be separated from the lighter earth; then to submit it to a fervent heat, that it may thence derive its beautiful colour[579].

[Footnote 578: Have we any clue to the geographical position of this farm? The only Rusticiana known to the Itineraries is in Spain.]

[Footnote 579: 'Origo quidem nobilis, sed de flamma suscipit vim coloris, ut magis credas inde nasci, cujus similitudine videtur ornari. Sed cum auro tribuat splendidum ruborem, argento confert albissimam lucem. Ut mirum sit, unam substantiam tradere, quod rebus dissimilibus possit aptari.' Have we here a hint of 'the transmutation of metals?' Cassiodorus seems to think that it is only the furnace that makes the difference between the colours of gold and of silver.]

'Let then the land of Bruttii pay her tribute in gold, the most desired of all treasure. To seek gold by war is wicked, by voyages dangerous, by swindling shameful; but to seek it from Nature in its own home is righteous. No one is hurt by this honest gain. Griffins are said to dig for gold and to delight in the contemplation of this metal; but no one blames them, because their proceedings are not dictated by criminal covetousness. For it is not the act itself, but the motive for the act, that gives it its moral quality.'

4. KING ATHALARIC TO ABUNDANTIUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.

[Sidenote: A family of Curiales permitted to step down into the ranks of the Possessores.]

'The pietas of the King is happily shown in moderating the sentence of the law, where for certain reasons it bears with especial hardness on anyone. The Curiales have peculiar advantages in their opportunity of being thus liberated by the Sovereign from the performance of their duties[580]. It is reasonable to release a Curialis whose health prevents him from fulfilling his appointed task; and a numerous Curia will never miss a few names out of so large a number.

[Footnote 580: 'Neque enim ob aliud Curiales leges sacratissimae ligaverunt, nisi ut cum illos soli principes absolverent, indulgentiae praeconia reperirent.']

'Therefore let your Illustrious Magnificence remove Agenantia, wife [or widow?] of the most eloquent man Campanianus, dwelling in Lucania, from the album of her Curia, and her sons also, so that posterity may never know that they were formerly liable to Curial duties.

'Remitted to the ranks of [mere] Possessores they will now be liable to the same demands which formerly [as members of the Curia] they made upon others. They will now dread the face of the tax-collector (compulsor), and will begin to fear the mandates by which formerly they made themselves feared[581]. Still this is a sign of their past good life, that they are willing to live without office among a population whose dislike they are not conscious of having incurred, and under old colleagues whom they know that they have not incited to an abuse of their powers.'

[Footnote 581: 'Formidare delegata incipient, per quae antea timebantur.' To translate by an analogy, 'And will tremble at the rate-summonses, their signatures to which used to make other men tremble.']

5. KING ATHALARIC TO THE BISHOPS AND FUNCTIONARIES OF ——[582].

[Footnote 582: 'Episcopis et Honoratis.' Perhaps it is from motives of delicacy that Cassiodorus has not added the name of the Province.]

[Sidenote: Forestalling and regrating of corn prohibited.]

'We learn with regret by the complaint of the Possessores of your district that the severity of famine is being increased by the conduct of certain persons who have bought up corn and are holding it for higher prices. In a time of absolute famine there can be no "higgling of the market;" the hungry man will submit to be cheated rather than let another get the food before him[583].

[Footnote 583: 'In necessitate siquidem penuriae pretii nulla contentio est: dum patitur quis induci ne possit aliqua tarditate percelli.']

'To stop this practice we send to you the present messengers, whose business it is to examine all the stores of corn collected for public distribution[584] or otherwise, to leave to each family sufficient for its needs, and to purchase the remainder from the owners at a fair market price. Co-operate with these orders of ours cheerfully, and do not grumble at them. Complain not that your freedom is interfered with. There is no free-trade in crime[585]. If you work with us you will earn good renown for yourselves; if against us, the King's reputation will gain by your loss. It is the sign of a good ruler to make men act righteously, even against their wills.'

[Footnote 584: 'Sive in gradu [panis gradilis?] sive in aliis locis.']

[Footnote 585: A paraphrase, confessedly anachronistic, of 'Ne quis ergo venditionem sibi impositam conqueratur, sciat libertatem in crimine non requiri.']

6. KING ATHALARIC TO ——, PRIMISCRINIUS.

[Sidenote: A furlough granted for a visit to Baiae.]

'You complain that your health is failing under the long pressure of your work, and that you fear, if you absent yourself, you may lose the emoluments of your office. At the same time you ask leave to visit the Baths of Baiae. Go then with a mind perfectly at rest as to your emoluments, which we will keep safe for you. Seek the Sun, seek the pure air and smiling shore of that lovely bay, thickly set with harbours and dotted with noble islands—that bay in which Nature displays all her marvels and invites man to explore her secrets. There is the Lake of Avernus, with its splendid supply of oysters. There are long piers jutting out into the sea; and the most delightful fishing in the world is to be had in the fish-ponds—open to the sky—on either side of them. There are warm baths, heated not by brick-work flues and smoky balls of fire, but by Nature herself. The pure air supplies the steam and softly stimulates perspiration, and the health-giving work is so much the better done as Nature is above Art. Let the Coralli [in Moesia, on the shore of the Euxine] boast their wonderful sea, let the pearl fisheries of India vaunt themselves. In our judgment Baiae, for its powers of bestowing pleasure and health, surpasses them all. Go then to Baiae to bathe, and have no fear about the emoluments.'

7. KING ATHALARIC TO REPARATUS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.

[We learn from Procopius ('De Bello Gotthico' i. 26) that Reparatus was brother of Pope Vigilius; that in 537 he escaped from the captivity in which the other Senators were kept at Ravenna by Witigis, and fled to Milan. In 539 Reparatus, who was then Praefectus Praetorio, was captured at Milan by the Goths, hewn in pieces, and his flesh given to the dogs (Ibid. ii. 21).]

[Sidenote: Reparatus appointed Praefectus Urbis.]

'The son of a high official naturally aspires to emulate his father's dignities. Your father had a distinguished career, first as Comes Largitionum, then as Praefectus Praetorio. While holding the latter office, he repaired the Senate-house, restored to the poor the gifts (?) of which they had been deprived[586], and though not himself a man of liberal education, pleased all by the natural charm of his manner.

[Footnote 586: 'Curiam reparans, pauperibus ablata restituens.']

'You have those advantages of mental training which were denied to your father. Education lifts an obscure man on to a level with nobles, but also adorns him who is of noble birth. You have moreover been chosen as son-in-law by a man of elevated character, whose choice is in itself a mark of your high merit. You are coming young to office[587]; but, with such a man's approbation, you cannot be said to be untried.

[Footnote 587: 'Licet primaevus venias ad honorem.']

'We therefore confer upon you for this Indiction the dignity of Praefect of the City. The eyes of the world are upon you. The Senate, that illustrious and critical body, the youngest members of which are called Patres, will listen to your words. See that you say nothing which can displease those wise men, whose praise, though hard to win, will be most sweet to your ears. Diligently help the oppressed. Hand on to your posterity the renown which you have received from your ancestors.'

8. KING ATHALARIC TO COUNT OSUIN (OR OSUM), VIR ILLUSTRIS[588].

[Footnote 588: Cf. iii. 26 and iv. 9. In the former letter he is called Osun.]

[Sidenote: Osuin made Governor of Dalmatia and Savia.]

'We reward our faithful servants with high honours, hoping thereby to quicken the slothful into emulation, when they ask themselves why, under such an impartial rule, they too do not receive promotion.

'We therefore again entrust to your Illustrious Greatness the Provinces of Dalmatia and S(u)avia. We need not hold up to you the examples of others. You have only to imitate yourself, and to confer now again in your old age the same blessings on those Provinces which, as a younger man, you bestowed on them under our grandfather.'

9. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE GOTHS AND ROMANS (IN DALMATIA AND SAVIA).

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We send back to you the Illustrious Count Osuin, whose valour and justice you already know, to ward off from you the fear of foreign nations, and to keep you from unjust demands. With him comes the Illustrious Severinus[589], that with one heart and one mind, like the various reeds of an organ, they may utter their praiseworthy precepts.

[Footnote 589: We are not told in what capacity Severinus came. Probably it was on account of Osuin's age that Severinus was associated with him.]

[Sidenote: Remission of Augmentum.]

'As an act of grace on the commencement of our reign, we direct the Count of the Patrimony to remit to you all the super-assessment (augmentum) which was fixed for your Province at the fourth Indiction[590].

[Footnote 590: 'Per quartam Indictionem quod a nobis augmenti nomine quaerebatur illustrem virum Comitem Patrimonii nostri nunc jussimus removere.' As the fourth Indiction began Sept. 525, in the lifetime of Theodoric, it is clear that that date belongs to the imposition, not to the removal of the 'augmentum.']

'We also grant that when the aforesaid person [Severinus] returns to our presence, you may send suitable men with him to inform us of your financial position, that we may, by readjustment of the taxes, lighten your load if it be still too heavy. Nothing consolidates the Republic so much as the uninjured powers of the taxpayer.'

10. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE PROVINCIALS OF THE CITY OF SYRACUSE.

[Sidenote: Remission of Augmentum to Syracusans.]

'Lately we announced to you our accession: now we wish to confer upon you a benefit in the matter of taxes. For we look on that only as our revenue which the cultivator pays cheerfully. Our grandfather, considering the great increase in wealth and population which his long and peaceful reign had brought with it, thought it prudent to increase the taxes to be paid by the Province of Sicily[591]. He was quite right in doing this, but he thereby prepared for us, his young successor, an opportunity of conferring an unexpected favour, for we hereby remit to you all the augmentum which was assessed upon you at the fourth Indiction. And not only so, but all that you have already paid under this head for the fifth Indiction (526-7) we direct the tax-collectors to carry to your credit on account[592].

[Footnote 591: 'Avus noster de suis beneficiis magna praesumens (quia longa quies et culturam agris praestitit et populos ampliavit) intra Siciliam provinciam sub consueta prudentiae suae moderatione censum statuit subflagitari ut vobis cresceret devotio, quibus se facultas extenderat.']

[Footnote 592: This most be the meaning of 'quicquid a discursoribus novi census per quintam Indictionem probatur affixum, ad vestram eos fecimus deferre notitiam.']

'Besides this, if anyone have to complain of oppression on the part of the Governors of the Province, let him seek at once a remedy from our Piety. Often did our grandfather of glorious memory grieve over the slowness of the Governors to obey their letters of recall, feeling sure that they were lingering in the Provinces neither for his good nor yours.

'We however, with God's help, shall go on in the good work which we have begun. You have a Prince who, the older he grows, the more will love you. We send to you our Sajo Quidila, who will convey to you our orders on this matter.'

11. KING ATHALARIC TO GILDIAS, VIR SPECTABILIS, COUNT OF SYRACUSE.

12. KING ATHALARIC TO VICTOR AND WITIGISCLUS (OR WIGISICLA), VIRI SPECTABILES, CENSITORES[593] OF SICILY.

[Footnote 593: Tax-collectors. The word is unknown to the Notitia, but Censuales occurs once in it (Not. Occ. iv.).]

[Sidenote: Oppressions exercised by the King's officers in Sicily rebuked.]

Victor and Witigisclus are sharply rebuked for their delay in desisting from the oppression of the Provincials and coming to the Court of Theodoric when called for[594], a delay which is made more suspicious by their not having presented themselves to welcome Athalaric on his accession. Both they and Count Gildias are informed of the King's decision to remit the increased tax imposed at the fourth Indiction (Sept. 525); and the two Censitores are recommended, if they are conscious of having oppressed or injured any of the Provincials, to remedy the matter themselves, as the King has given all the Sicilians leave to appeal to himself against their oppressions: and the complaints of the Sicilians, though distant, will certainly reach his ears.

[Footnote 594: 'Quos etiam seris praeceptionibus credidit esse admonendos, ut relicto tandem provincialium gravamine ad ejus deberetis justitiam festinare.']

13. KING ATHALARIC TO WILLIAS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, COMES PATRIMONII.

[Sidenote: Increase of emoluments of Domestici.]

'Your Greatness informs us of cases that have come to your knowledge, in which the Guards (Domestici) attending the Counts who are appointed [to the government of various Provinces] have oppressed the Provincials by their exactions. As we believe that there is some excuse for this in the smallness of their emolumenta, which at present consist of only 200 solidi (L120) and ten rations (Annonae), we direct that you henceforth pay them, as from the fifth Indiction (Sept. 526), 50 solidi (L30) annually, in addition to the above, charging this further payment to our account. By taking away Necessity, the mother of crimes, we hope that the practice of sinning will also be removed. If, after this, anyone is found oppressing the Provincials, let him lose his emolumenta altogether. Our gifts ennoble the receiver, and are given in order to take away from him any pretext for begging from others.'

[The Domestici were a very select corps of Life-guardsmen; probably only a very small number of them would accompany a Provincial Governor to his charge. This may explain what seems an extraordinarily high rate of pay. Perhaps it is the Comes himself, not his Domestici, who is to receive the emolumenta here specified; but, if so, the letter is very obscurely expressed.]

14. KING ATHALARIC TO GILDIAS, VIE SPECTABILIS, COUNT OF SYRACUSE.

[Sidenote: Oppressive acts charged against Gildias, Comes of Syracuse.]

'We hear great complaints of you from the Sicilians; but, as they are willing to let bye-gones be bye-gones, we accede to their request, but give you the following warning:

'(1) You are said to have extorted large sums from them on pretence of rebuilding the walls, which you have not done. Either repay them the money or build up their walls. It is too absurd, to promise fortifications and give instead to the citizens hideous desolation[595].

[Footnote 595: 'Nimis enim absurdum est, spondere munitiones et dare civibus excecrabiles vastitates.']

'(2) You are said to be claiming for the Exchequer (under the name of "Fiscus Caducus") the estates of deceased persons, without any sort of regard for justice, whereas that title was only intended to apply to the case of strangers dying without heirs, natural or testamentary.

'(3) You are said to be oppressing the suitors in the Courts with grievous charges[596], so that you make litigation utterly ruinous to those who undertake it.

[Footnote 596: 'Conventiones.' I think the complaint here is of the expenses of 'executing process.' It is not as Judge but as the functionary who carries the Judge's orders into effect that Gildias is here blamed.]

'We order therefore that when our[597] decrees are being enforced against a beaten litigant, the gratuity claimed by the officer shall be the same which our glorious grandfather declared to be payable—according to the respective ranks of the litigants—to the Sajo who was charged with the enforcement of the decree; for gratuities ought not to be excessive[598].

[Footnote 597: 'Nostra' (the reading of Nivellius) seems evidently a better reading than 'vestra' (which Migne has adopted).]

[Footnote 598: 'Commodum debet esse cum modo.' A derivation or a pun.]

'But if your decrees are being enforced—and that must be only in cases against persons with whom the edicts allow you to interfere[599]—then your officer must receive half the gratuity allowed to him who carries our decrees into execution. It is obviously improper that the man who only performs your orders should receive as much as is paid out of reverence for our command. Anyone infringing this constitution is to restore fourfold.

[Footnote 599: 'Duntaxat in illis causis atque personis, ubi te misceri edicta voluerunt.']

'(4) The edicts of our glorious grandfather, and all the precepts which he made for the government of Sicily, are to be so obediently observed that he shall be held guilty of sacrilege who, spurred on by his own beastly disposition, shall try to break down the bulwark of our commands[600].

[Footnote 600: 'Quisquis belluinis moribus excitatus munimen tentaverit irrumpere jussionum.']

'(5) It is said that you cite causes between two Romans, even against their will, before your tribunal. If you are conscious that this has been done by you, do not so presume in future, lest while seeking the office of Judge, for which you are incompetent, you wake up to find yourself a culprit. You, of all men, ought to be mindful of the Edictum, since you insist on its being followed by others. If not, if this rule is not observed by you, your whole power of decreeing shall be taken from you. Let the administration of the laws be preserved intact to the Judices Ordinarii. Let the litigants throng, as they ought to do, to the Courts of their Cognitores. Do not be gnawed by envy of their pomp. The true praise of the Goths is law-abidingness[601]. The more seldom the litigant is seen in your presence the greater is your renown. Do you defend the State with your arms; let the Romans plead before their own law courts in peace.

[Footnote 601: 'Gothorum laus est civilitas custodita.']

'(6) You are also accused of insisting on buying the cargoes of vessels that come to the port at your own price [and selling again at a higher]—a practice the very suspicion of which is injurious to an official, even if it cannot be proved against him in fact[602]. Wherefore, if you wish to avoid the rumour of this deed, let the Bishop and people of the city come forward as witnesses on behalf of your conscience[603]. Prices ought to be fixed by the common deliberation [of buyer and seller]; since no one likes a commercial transaction which is forced upon the unwilling.

[Footnote 602: This seems a possible interpretation of a dark sentence: 'Navigiis vecta commercia te suggerunt occupare, et ambitu cupiditatis exosae solum antiqua pretia definire, quod non creditur a suspicione longinquum etiam si non sit actione vicinum.']

[Footnote 603: Is this a kind of compurgation which is here proposed?]

'Wherefore we have thought it proper to warn your Sublimity by these presents, since we do not like those whom we love to be guilty of excess, nor to hear evil reports of those who are charged with reforming the morals of others.'

[This is an important letter, especially when taken in connection with the words of Totila (Procopius, 'De Bello Gotthico' iii. 16), as to the exceptional indulgence with which the Gothic Kings had treated Sicily, 'leaving, at the request of the inhabitants, very few soldiers in the island, that there might be no distaste to their freedom or to their general prosperity.'

Gildias is evidently a Goth, and though a Vir Spectabilis and holding a Roman office—the Comitiva Syracusanae Civitatis—still it is essentially a military office, and he has no business to divert causes from the Judices Ordinarii to his tribunal, though probably a Roman Comes might often do this without serious blame. But by his doing so, the general principle, that in purely Roman causes a Goth is not to interfere, seems to be infringed, and therefore he receives this sharp reprimand to prevent his doing it again.]

15. KING ATHALARIC TO POPE JOHN II (532).

[Sidenote: Against Simony at Papal elections.]

'The Defensor of the Roman Church hath informed us in his tearful petition that lately, when a President was sought for the Papal chair, so much were the usual largesses to the poor augmented by the promises which had been extorted from the candidate, that, shameful to say, even the sacred vessels were exposed to sale in order to provide the necessary money[604].

[Footnote 604: 'Quosdam nefaria machinatione necessitatem temporis aucupatos, ita facultates pauperum extortis promissionibus ingravasse, ut quod dictu nefas est, etiam sacra vasa emptioni publicae viderentur exposita.']

'Therefore let your Holiness know that by this present decree, which relates also to all the Patriarchs and Metropolitan Churches [the five Metropolitan Churches in Rome, and such Sees as Milan, Aquileia, Ravenna], we confirm the wise law passed by the Senate in the time of the most holy Pope Boniface [predecessor of John II]. By it any contract or promise made by any person in order to obtain a Bishopric is declared void.

'Anyone refusing to refund money so received is to be declared guilty of sacrilege, and restitution is to be enforced by the Judge.'

'Should a contention arise as to an election to the Apostolic See, and the matter be brought to our Palace for decision, we direct that the maximum fee to be paid, on the completion of the necessary documents (?), shall be 3,000 solidi [L1,800][605]; but this is only to be exacted from persons of sufficient ability to pay it.

[Footnote 605: 'Et quia omnia decet sub ratione moderari, nec possunt dici justa quae nimia sunt, cum de Apostolici consecratione Pontificis intentio fortasse pervenerit, et ad Palatium nostrum producta fuerit altercatio populorum, suggerentes (?) nobis intra tria millia solidorum, cum collectione cartarum censemus accipere.']

'Patriarchs [Archbishops of the other great Italian Sees] under similar circumstances are to pay not more than 2,000 solidi [L1,200].

'No one is to give [on his consecration] more than 500 solidi [L300] to the poor.

'Anyone professing to obtain for money the suffrage of any one of our servants on behalf of a candidate for Papacy or Patriarchate, shall be forced to refund the money. If it cannot be recovered from him, it may be from his heirs. He himself shall be branded with infamy.

'Should the giver of the money have been bound by such oaths, that, without imperilling his soul, he cannot disclose the transaction, anyone else may inform, and on establishing the truth of his accusation, receive a third part of the money so corruptly paid, the rest to go to the churches themselves, for the repair of the fabric or for the daily ministry. Remember the fate of Simon Magus. We have ordered that this decree be made known to the Senate and people by the Praefect of the City.'

[I think the early part of this letter gives us the clue to the pretext under which these simoniacal practices were introduced. It was usual for the Pope on his election to give a certain sum of money to the poor. Then at a vehemently contested election certain of the voters—perhaps especially the priests of the different tituli of Rome—claimed to be distributors of the Papal bounty, a large part of which they no doubt kept for themselves.]

16. KING ATHALARIC TO SALVANTIUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECT OF THE CITY.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

Rehearses the motives of the previous edict, and directs that both it and the Senatus Consulta having reference to the same subject [and framed two years previously], be engraved on marble tablets, and fixed up in a conspicuous place, before the Atrium of St. Peter the Apostle.

17. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SAME (BETWEEN 532 AND 534).

[Sidenote: Release of two Roman citizens accused of sedition.]

'We cannot bear that there should be sadness in Rome, the head of the world. We hear with regret from the Apostolic Pope John, and other nobles, that A and B, who are Romans, on a mere suspicion of sedition are being macerated by so long imprisonment that the whole city mourns for them; no gladness of a holyday and no respect for the Papal name[606] (which is most dear to us) availing to mitigate their confinement. This treatment of persons against whom no crime has been proved distresses us much, and we admonish your Greatness, wherever you may succeed in finding them, to set them free. If, confident in their innocence, they think that they have been unjustly tormented, we give them liberty to make their appeal to the laws. Judges were raised to their high estate, not to oppress but to defend the innocent.

[Footnote 606: 'Nec ulla—quae apud nos est gratissima—nominis sui dignitas subveniret.' I think sui must refer to the recently-mentioned Papa Johannes.]

'Now let the Romans return to their ancient gladness; nor let them think that any [rulers] please us but those who seek to act with fairness and moderation. Let them understand that our forefathers underwent labours and dangers that they might have rest; and that we are expending large sums in order that they may rejoice with garrulous exultation. For even if they have before now suffered some rough and unjust treatment, let them not believe that that is a thing to be neglected by our Mildness. No; for we give ourselves no rest, that they may enjoy secure peace and calm gladness. Let them understand at once that we cannot love the men whose excesses have made them terrible to our subjects. Whose favour do those men expect to win who have earned the dislike of their fellow-citizens? They might have reaped a harvest of the public love, and instead thereof they have so acted that their names are justly held in execration.'

18. THE EDICT OF ATHALARIC.

[This edict is minutely examined by Dahn ('Koenige der Germanen' iv. 123-135). I have adopted his division of paragraphs, though rather disposed to think that the 'De Donationibus' should be broken up into two, to prevent counting the Epilogue as a section. See also Manso ('Geschichte der Ostrogothen' 405-415).]

[Sidenote: Edict of Athalaric.]

'Prologue. This edict is a general one. No names are mentioned in it, and those who are conscious of innocence need take no offence at anything contained therein.

'For long an ominous whisper has reached our ears that certain persons, despising civilitas, affect a life of beastly barbarism[607], returning to the wild beginnings of society, and looking with a fierce hatred on all human laws. The present seems to us a fitting time for repressing these men, in order that we may be hunting down vice and immorality within the Republic at the same time that, with God's help, we are resisting her external foes. Both are hurtful, both have to be repelled; but the internal enemy is even more dangerous than the external. One, however, rests upon the other; and we shall more easily sweep down the armies of our enemies if we subdue under us the vices of the age. [This allusion to foreign enemies is perhaps explained by the hint in Jordanes ('De Reb. Get.' 59) of threatened war with the Franks. But he gives us no sufficient indication of time to enable us to fix the date of the Edictum.]

[Footnote 607: 'Affectare vivere belluina saevitia.']

'I. Forcible Appropriation of Landed Property[608] (Pervasio). This is a crime which is quite inconsistent with civilitas, and we remit those who are guilty of it to the punishment[609] provided by a law of Divus Valentinianus [Valentinian III. Novell. xix. 'De Invasoribus'], adding that if anyone is unable to pay the penalty therein provided he shall suffer banishment (deportatio). He ought to have been more chary of disobeying the laws if he had no means to pay the penalty. Judges who shrink from obeying this law, and allow the Pervasor to remain in possession of what he has forcibly annexed, shall lose their offices and be held liable to pay to our Treasury the same fine which might have been exacted from him. If the Pervasor sets the Judge's official staff (officium) at defiance, on the report of the Judge our Sajones will make him feel the weight of the royal vengeance who refused to obey the [humbler] Cognitor.

[Footnote 608: 'Praedia urbana vel rustica.']

[Footnote 609: The punishment consisted in loss of all claim to the property—which was generally seized by someone who had some kind of ostensible claim to it—and a penalty of equal value with that of the property wrongfully seized.]

'II. Affixing Titles to Property. [When land had from any cause become public property, the Emperor's officers used to affix tituli, to denote the fact and to warn off all other claimants. Powerful men who had dispossessed weaker claimants used to imitate this practice, and are here forbidden to do so.]

'This offence shall subject the perpetrator to the same penalties as pervasio. It is really a kind of sacrilege to try to add the majesty of the royal name to the weight of his own oppression. Costs are to be borne by the defeated claimant.

'III. Suppression of Words in a Decree. Anyone obtaining a decree against an adversary is to be careful to suppress nothing in the copy which he serves upon him. If he does so, he shall lose all the benefits that he obtained. We wish to help honest men, not rogues.

'IV. Seduction of a Married Woman. He who tries to interfere with the married rights of another, shall be punished by inability to contract a valid marriage himself. [This punishment of compulsory celibacy is, according to Dahn, derived neither from Roman nor German law, but is possibly due to Church influence.] The offender who has no hope of present or future matrimony[610] shall be punished by confiscation of half his property; or, if a poor man, by banishment.

[Footnote 610: 'Illis quos spes non habet praesentis conjugii vel futuri.' It is not easy to see how the Judge could ascertain whether a man belonged to this claim or not.]

'V. Adultery. All the statutes of the late King (divalis commonitio) in this matter are to be strictly observed. [Edict. Theodorici, Sec. 38, inflicted the penalty of death on both offenders and on the abettors of the crime.]

'VI. Bigamy is to be punished with loss of all the offender's property.

'VII. Concubinage. If a married man forms a connection of this kind with a free woman, she and all her children shall become the slaves of the injured wife. If with a woman who is a slave already, she shall be subjected to any revenge that the lawful wife likes to inflict upon her, short of blood-shedding[611].

[Footnote 611: 'Quod si ad tale flagitium ancilla pervenerit, excepta poena sanguinis, matronali subjaceat ultioni: ut illam patiatur judicem, quam formidare debuisset absentem.' These provisions are probably of Germanic origin.]

'VIII. Donations are not to be extorted by terror, nor acquired by fraud, or as the price of immorality. Where a gift is bona fide, the document conveying it is to be drawn up with the strictness prescribed by Antiquity, in order to remove occasions of fraud.

'IX. Magicians and other persons practising nefarious arts are to be punished by the severity of the laws. What madness to leave the Giver of life and seek to the Author of death! Let the Judges be especially careful to avoid the contagion of these foul practices.

'X. Violence Exercised towards the Weak. Let the condition of mediocrity be safe from the arrogance of the rich. Let the madness of bloodshed be avoided. To take the law into your own hands is to wage private war, especially in the case of those who are fortified by the authority of our tuitio. If anyone attempts with foul presumption to act contrary to these principles, let him be considered a violator of our orders.

'XI. Appeals are not to be made twice in the same cause.

'XII. Epilogue. But lest, while touching on a few points, we should be thought not to wish the laws to be observed in other matters, we declare that all the edicts of ourself and of our lord and grandfather, which were confirmed by venerable deliberation[612], and the whole body of decided law[613], be adhered to with the utmost rigour.

[Footnote 612: 'Quae sunt venerabili deliberatione firmata.' Is it possible that we have here a reference to a theoretical right of the Senate to concur in legislation?]

[Footnote 613: 'Et usualia jura publica.' Dahn expands: 'All other juristic material, all sources of law—Roman leges and jus, and Gothic customary law—the whole inheritance of the State in public and private law.']

'And these laws are so scrupulously guarded that our own oath is interposed for their defence. Why enlarge further? Let the usual rule of law and the honest intent of our precepts be everywhere observed.'

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

[Sidenote: Promulgation of the Edict.]

'Good laws are called forth by evil manners. If no complaints were ever heard, the Prince might take holiday. Stirred up by many and frequent complaints of our people, we have drawn up certain regulations necessary for the Roman peace, in our edict which is divided into twelve chapters, after the manner of the civil law[614]. We do not thereby abrogate, but rather confirm, the previously existing body of law.

[Footnote 614: 'Necessaria quaedam Romanae quieti edictali programmate duodecim capitibus sicut jus civile legitur institutum in aevum servanda conscripsimus, quae custodita residuum jus non debilitare, sed potius corroborare videantur.']

'Let this edict be read in your splendid assembly, and exhibited for thirty days by the Praefect of the City in the most conspicuous places. Thus shall our civilitas be recognised, and truculent men lose their confidence. What insolent subjects[615] can indulge in violence when the Sovereign condemns it? Our armies fight that there may be peace at home. Let the Judges do their duty fearlessly, and avoid foul corruption.'

[Footnote 615: Evidently aimed at the Goths.]

20. KING ATHALARIC TO ALL THE JUDGES OF THE PROVINCES.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'It is vexatious that, though we appoint you year by year to your duties, and leave no district without its Judge, there is yet such tardiness in administering justice that suitors come by preference to our distant Court.

'To take away all excuse from you, and relieve the necessity of our subjects, we have drawn up an edict which we desire you to exhibit for thirty days in the wonted manner at all places of public meeting.'

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

[Sidenote: Increase of salaries of grammarians.]

'You who are called Fathers should be interested in all that concerns the education of your sons. We hear by certain whisperings that the teachers of eloquence at Rome are not receiving their proper reward, and that the sums appointed to be paid to the masters of schools are lessened by the haggling of some persons.

'Grammar is the noble foundation of all literature, the glorious mother of eloquence. As a virtuous man is offended by any act of vice, as a musician is pained by a discordant note, so does the grammarian in a moment perceive a false concord.

'The grammatical art is not used by barbarous kings: it abides peculiarly with legitimate sovereigns[616]. Other nations have arms: the lords of the Romans alone have eloquence. Hence sounds the trumpet for the legal fray in the Forum. Hence comes the eloquence of so many chiefs of the State. Hence, to say nothing more, even this discourse which is now addressed to you[617].

[Footnote 616: 'Hac non utuntur barbari reges: apud legales dominos manere cognoscitur singularis.']

[Footnote 617: 'Et, ut reliqua taceamus, hoc quod loquimur inde est.']

'Wherefore let the teacher of grammar and of rhetoric, if he be found suitable for his work and obey the decrees of the Praefect of the City, be supported by your authority, and suffer no diminution of his salary[618].

[Footnote 618: 'Et semel Primi Ordinis vestri ac reliqui Senatus amplissimi auctoritate firmatus.' What is the meaning of 'Primi Ordinis vestri?']

'To prevent his being dependent in any way on the caprice of his employer, let him receive half his salary at the end of half a year, and his annonae at the customary times. If the person whose business it is to pay him neglects this order, he shall be charged interest on the arrears.

'The Grammarian is a man to whom every hour unemployed is misery, and it is a shame that such a man should have to wait the caprice of a public functionary before he gets his pay. We provide for the salaries of the play-actors, who minister only to the amusement of the public; and how much more for these men, the moulders of the style and character of our youth! Therefore let them henceforward not have to try the philosophical problem of thinking about two things at once, but, with their minds at ease about their subsistence, devote themselves with all their vigour to the teaching of liberal arts.'

22. KING ATHALARIC TO PAULINUS, VIR CLARISSIMUS AND CONSUL (533).

[Flavius Theodoras Paulinus Junior was Consul with the Emperor Justinian in 534. This letter was written in Sept. 533, about thirteen months before the death of Athalaric. Paulinus was son of Venantius and grandson of Liberius.]

[Sidenote: Paulinus chosen as Consul.]

'The absent from our Court need not fear that they will be disregarded in the distribution of honours, especially when they are sprung from an illustrious stock, the offspring of the Senate.

'In your family Rome recognises the descendants of her ancient heroes the Decii, who, in a great crisis, alone saved their country.

'Take then for the twelfth Indiction the ensigns of the Consulship[619]. It is an arduous honour, but one which your family is well used to. The Fasti are studded with its names, and nearly all the Senate is of kin to you. Still, presume not too much on the merits of your ancestors, but rather seek to emulate their noble deeds.'

[Footnote 619: The twelfth Indiction began Sept. 1, 533. The Consul would enter office Jan. 1, 534. Was he designated when the great Imperial officers were appointed at the beginning of the Indiction?]

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

[Sidenote: On the Consulship of Paulinus.]

'Judge of our esteem for your honourable body, Conscript Fathers, when, without any hesitation, we appoint your sons whom we have never seen to high office, because they are your sons.

'We admire the Patrician Venantius, blessed as he has been with such an abundant progeny, and found equal to the weight of so many Consulships. His sons have been all temperate and lively; worthy members of the same distinguished family. They have been trained in arms, their minds have been formed by letters, their bodies by the exercises of the gymnasium. They have learned to show constancy to their friends, loyalty to their lords; and they have succeeded to the virtues of their ancestors, as they will to their patrimony. Wisely husbanding his own fortune, Venantius has been able to support the honour—gratifying, but burdensome—of seeing so many of his sons made Consuls. But this is an honour not strange to his family, sprung from the ancient Decii. His hall is full of laurelled Fasces, and in his line one might almost say that each one is born a Consular.

'Favour our candidate then, Conscript Fathers, and cherish him with that care which the name of your body[620] signifies.'

[Footnote 620: Curia, from cura.]

24. KING ATHALARIC TO SENATOR [CASSIODORUS HIMSELF], PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT (SEPT. 1, 533).

[Sidenote: Cassiodorus appointed Praetorian Praefect.]

'If you had been hitherto an obscure person we might feel some doubt how you would bear yourself in your new office, but your long and glorious career under our grandfather relieves us from any such anxieties. His choice of you is a thing to be not discussed but reverently accepted. It was by him that we ourselves were chosen; and the Divine favour so conspicuously followed him that no General whom he selected was other than victorious, no Judge whom he appointed was other than just. In short, one might almost deem him to have been endowed with the gift of prophecy.

[Sidenote: His Quaestorship.]

'In your early manhood he received you into the office of Quaestor, and soon found you to be a conscientious man, learned in the law beyond your years[621]. You were the chief ornament of your times, inasmuch as you, by your blameless service sustaining the weight of that royal intellect by all the force of your eloquence, enabled him, with his keen interest in all public affairs, to await the result with confidence. In you he possessed a counsellor pleasant in the transaction of business, rigid in his sense of justice, free from all taint of avarice. You never fixed a scandalous tariff for the sale of his benefits; and thus you reaped your reward in a wealth of public opinion, not in gold. It was because that just Prince proved you to be averse from all these vices that he selected you for his glorious friendship. A wise judge, he threw upon you the weight of listening to the arguments of contending parties; and so high was his opinion of your tried sagacity that he at once uttered your decision as the greatest benefit that he could confer on the litigants. How often did he rank you among the oldest chiefs of his Council! How often was it seen that your young beginnings were more than a match for them, who had the experience of long years behind them! What he found to praise in you was your excellent disposition, wide open for useful work, tight closed against the vices of avarice. Whereas, for some reason, it is rare to find amongst men, the hand closed and justice open.

[Footnote 621: 'Primaevum recipiens ad Quaestoris Officium, mox reperit conscientia praeditum, et legum eruditione maturum.']

[Sidenote: His career as Master of the Offices.]

'Let us pass on to the dignity of Magister Officiorum, which all men knew that you obtained, not from the reputation of wealth, but as a testimony to your character. In this place you were always ready to help the [successive] Quaestors; for, when pure eloquence was required, the case was always put in your hands. The benignant Sovereign claimed from you the fulfilment of duties which he knew that he had not formally laid upon you; and such was the favour that he had for you, while others laboured you received the reward of his abundant praises[622]. For under your administration no dignity kept its exact limits; anything that was to be honestly done by all the chiefs of the State together, you considered to be entrusted to your conscience for its performance.

[Footnote 622: 'Et quadam gratia praejudiciali vacabat alios laborare, ut te sententiae suae copiosa laude compleret.' One would have expected Cassiodorus to say, 'You had the special privilege of doing other people's work and being praised for it, while they enjoyed their leisure;' but I hardly see how we can get this meaning out of 'vacabat alios laborare.']

'No one found occasion to murmur anything to your disadvantage, though you had to bear all the weight of unpopularity which comes from the Sovereign's favour. The integrity of your life conquered those who longed to detract from your reputation, and your enemies were obliged to utter the praises which their hearts abhorred; for even malice leaves manifest goodness unattacked, lest it be itself exposed to general hatred.

[Sidenote: His friendship for Theodoric.]

'To the Monarch you showed yourself a friendly Minister and an intimate Noble[623]. For when he had laid aside the cares of State, he would seek in your conversation the opinions of wise men of old, that by his own deeds he might make himself equal to the ancients[624]. Into the courses of the stars, into the gulfs of the sea, into the marvels of springing fountains, this most acute questioner enquired, so that by his diligent investigations into the nature of things he seemed to be a Philosopher wearing the purple.

[Footnote 623: 'Egisti rerum domino judicem familiarem et internum procerem.']

[Footnote 624: 'Nam cum esset publica cura vacuatus, sententias prudentum a tuis fabulis exigebat; ut factis propriis se aequaret antiquis.']

'It were long to narrate all your merits in the past. Let us rather turn to the future, and show how the heir of Theodoric's Empire proposes to pay the debts of Theodoric.

'Therefore, with the Divine help, we bestow on you from the twelfth Indiction [Sept. 1, 533] the authority and insignia of Praetorian Praefect. Let the Provinces, which we know to have been hitherto wearied by the administration of dishonest men, fearlessly receive a Judge of tried integrity.

'Though you have before you the example of your father's Praefecture[625], renowned throughout the Italian world, we do not so much set before you either that or any other example, as your own past character, exhorting you to rule consistently with that. You have always been averse from bribery; now earnestly help the victims of injustice. We have purposely delayed your accession to this high office that you might be the more heartily welcomed by the people, who expected to see you clothed with it long ago. Diligently seek out anything belonging to the titles of the Praetorian Praefecture, of which it has been defrauded by the cupidity of others. We send you as a light into a dark chamber, and expect that your sagacity and loyalty will discover many hidden things.

[Footnote 625: 'Quamvis habeas paternam Praefecturam, Italico orbe praedicatam.' This is one of the many proofs that Senator (now first advanced to the office of Praefectus Praetorio) is the son of the Cassiodorus to whom the letter (i. 3) is addressed on his retirement from that office.]

'We know that you will work not so much for the sake of honour as in order to satisfy your conscience; and work so done knows no limit to its excellence.'

25. KING ATHALARIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME (ON THE PROMOTION OF CASSIODORUS SENATOR TO THE PRAETORIAN PRAEFECTURE).

[Sidenote: Eulogy of Cassiodorus on his appointment as Praetorian Praefect.]

'We have loaded Senator with our benefits, Conscript Fathers, because he abounds in virtue, is rich in excellence of character, and is already full of the highest honours. But, in fact, we are his debtors. How shall we repay that eloquent tongue of his, with which he set forth the deeds of the Prince, till he himself who had wrought them wondered at his story? In praising the reign of the wearer of the purple, he made it acceptable to your nation. For taxes may be paid to a tyrant; praise, such as this, is given only to a good Prince.

[Sidenote: His Gothic History.]

'Not satisfied with extolling living Kings, from whom he might hope for a reward, he drew forth the Kings of the Goths from the dust of ages, showing that the Amal family had been royal for seventeen generations, and proved that the origin of the Gothic people belonged to Roman history[626], adorning the whole subject with the flowers of his learning gathered from wide fields of literature.

[Footnote 626: 'Tetendit se etiam in antiquam prosapiem nostram, lectione discens, quod vix majorum notitia cana retinebat. Iste Reges Gothorum longa oblivione celatos, latibulo vetustatis eduxit. Iste Amalos cum generis sui claritate restituit, evidenter ostendens in decimam septimam progeniem stirpem nos habere regalem. Originem Gothicam historiam fecit esse Romanam, colligens quasi in unam coronam germen floridum quod per librorum campos passim fuerat ante dispersum.']

'In the early days of our reign what labour he gave to the settling of our affairs! He was alone sufficient for all. The duty of making public harangues, our own private counsels, required him. He laboured that the Empire might rest.

[Sidenote: His official career.]

'We found him Magister; but he discharged the duties of Quaestor, and willingly bestowed on us, the heir, the experience which he had gained in the counsels of our grandfather.

[Sidenote: His military services.]

'And not only so, he helped the beginning of our reign both with his arms and his pen. For when the care of our shores[627] occupied our royal meditation, he suddenly emerged from the seclusion of his cabinet, boldly, like his ancestors, assumed the office of General[628], and triumphed by his character when there was no enemy to overcome. For he maintained the Gothic warriors[629] at his own charges, so that there should be no robbery of the Provincials on the one hand, no too heavy burden on the exchequer on the other. Thus was the soldier what he ought to be, the true defender, not the ravager of his country. Then when the time for victualling the ships was over, and the war was laid aside, he shone as an administrator rather than a warrior, healing, without injury to the litigants, the various suits which arose out of the sudden cessation of the contracts[630].

[Footnote 627: Probably from some expected descent of the Vandals, in connection with the affair of Amalafrida.]

[Footnote 628: 'Par suis majoribus ducatum sumpsit intrepidus.']

[Footnote 629: 'Deputatos.']

[Footnote 630: A conjectural translation of a difficult sentence: 'Mox autem ut tempus clausit navium commeatum, bellique cura resoluta est, ingenium suum legum potius ductor exercuit: sanans sine damno litigantium quod ante sub pretio comstabat esse laceratum.' I conjecture that by the sudden stoppage of the warlike preparations several of the contractors were in danger of being ruined, and there was a general disposition to repudiate all purchases.]

'Such was the glory of the military command of a Metellus in Asia, of a Cato in Spain—a glory far more durable than any that can be derived from the varying shock of war.

[Sidenote: His religious character.]

'Yet with all these merits, how humble he has been, how modest, how benevolent, how slow to wrath, how generous in the distribution of that which is his own, how slow to covet the property of others! All these virtues have been consolidated by his reading of the Divine Book, the fear of God helping him to triumph over baser, human motives. Thus has he been rendered humble towards all, as one imbued with heavenly teaching.

'Him therefore, Conscript Fathers, we make, under God's blessing, Praetorian Praefect from the twelfth Indiction [Sept. 1, 533], that he may repress by his own loyalty the trafficking of knaves, and may use his power for the good of the Republic, bequeathing eternal renown to his posterity.'



BOOK X.

CONTAINING THIRTY-FIVE LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS:

FOUR IN THE NAME OF QUEEN AMALASUENTHA. TWENTY-TWO IN THAT OF KING THEODAHAD. FOUR IN THAT OF HIS WIFE GUDELINA. FIVE IN THAT OF KING WITIGIS.

1. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO JUSTINIAN THE EMPEROR (A.D. 534).

[Sidenote: Association of Theodahad in the Sovereignty.]

'I have hitherto forborne to distress you with the sad tidings of the death of my son of glorious memory, but now am able to mingle a joyful announcement with this mournful message. We have promoted to the sceptre a man allied to us by a fraternal tie, that he may wear the purple robes of his ancestors, and may cheer our own soul by his prudent counsels. We are persuaded that you will give us your good wishes on this event, as we hope that every kind of prosperity may befall the kingdom of your Piety. The friendship of princes is always comely, but your friendship absolutely ennobles me, since that person is exalted in dignity who is united by friendship to your glory[631].

[Footnote 631: 'Nam licet concordia Principum semper deceat, vestra tamen absolute me nobilitat; quoniam ille redditur amplius excelsus, qui vestrae gloriae fuerit unanimiter conjunctus.']

'As we cannot in the short space of a letter express all that we desire to say on such an occasion, we have entrusted certain verbal messages to the ambassadors who bear this epistle.'

2. THEODAHAD THE KING TO JUSTINIAN THE EMPEROR.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'It is usual for newly-crowned Kings to signify their accession to the different nations round them. I, in making this communication to you, am greatly favoured by Providence, feeling secure of your favour, because I know that my most excellent Lady and Sister has already attained it. I feel confident that I shall justify the choice of one who shines in such a light of wisdom that she both governs her own kingdom with admirable forethought and keeps firmly the vows of friendship which she has plighted to her neighbours. Partner of her cares, I desire also to be a partner of her wisely-formed friendships, those especially which she has contracted with you, who have nothing like unto you in the whole world. This alliance is no new thing: if you will look back upon the deeds of our ancestors you will find that there is a custom which has obtained the force of a law, that the Amals should be friendly with the Empire. So old a friendship is likely to endure; and if, in obedience to it and to my Sister's choice, I have your love, I shall feel that I am indeed a King.

'The ambassadors who have charge of this letter will further express my sentiments.'

3. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'After the death of our son of blessed memory[632] our love for the common weal overcame the yearnings of a mother's heart and caused us to seek your prosperity rather than an opportunity to indulge in our own sorrow. We have considered by what solace we should strengthen ourselves for the cares of royalty. The same Providence which has deprived us of a son in the dawn of manhood, has reserved for us the affection of a brother in mature age. Under the Divine auspices we have chosen Theodahad[633] as the fortunate partner of our throne. We two, with conjoined counsels, shall now labour for the common welfare, two in our meditations, one in the action which results from them. The stars give one another mutual help in ruling the heavens, and God has bestowed on man two hands, two ears, two eyes, that each one of these members should assist the other.

[Footnote 632: 'Divae recordationis.']

[Footnote 633: Is there any authority for the reading of Nivellius, 'Theobaldum?']

[Sidenote: Praises of Theodahad.]

'Therefore exult, Conscript Fathers, and commend our deed to the blessing of the Almighty. Our sharing our power with another is a pledge of its being wisely and gently exercised. By God's help we have opened our palace to a man of our own race, conspicuous by his illustrious position, who, born of the Amal stock, has a kingly dignity in all his actions, being patient in adversity, moderate in prosperity, and, most difficult of all kinds of government, long used to the government of himself. Moreover, he possesses that desirable quality, literary erudition, lending a grace to a nature originally praiseworthy. It is in books that the sage counsellor finds deeper wisdom, in books that the warrior learns how he may be strengthened by the courage of the soul, in books that the Sovereign discovers how he may weld nations together under his equal rule. In short, there is no condition in life the credit whereof is not augmented by the glorious knowledge of literature.

'Your new Sovereign is moreover learned in ecclesiastical lore, by which we are ever reminded of the things which make for our own true honour, right judgment, wise discretion, reverence for God, thought of the future judgment. For the remembrance that we shall one day stand at the bar to answer for ourselves compels us to follow the footprints of Justice. Thus does religious reading not only sharpen the intellect but ever tend to make men scrupulous in the performance of their duties.

'Let me pass on to that most generous frugality of his private household[634] which procured the means of such abundance in his gifts, of such plenty at his banquets, that even the kingdom will not call for any new expenditure in this respect greater than the old. Generous in his hospitality, most pitiful in his compassions, while he was thus spending much, his fortune, by a heavenly reward, was ever on the increase.

[Footnote 634: 'Veniamus ad illam privatae Ecclesiae (?) largissimam frugalitatem.' 'Ecclesiae,' if it means here 'the Church,' seems to spoil the sense. Can Cassiodorus mean to compare the household of Theodahad to a 'private Ecclesia?']

'The wish of the people should coincide with our choice of such a man, who, reasonably spending his own goods, does not desire the goods of others[635]. For moderation in his own expenditure takes away from the Sovereign the temptation to transgress the precepts of justice and to abandon the golden mean.

[Footnote 635: 'Talem universitas debuit optare, qualem nos probamur elegisse, qui rationabiliter disponens propria, non appetat aliena.' And this of Theodahad!]

'Rejoice then, Conscript Fathers, and give thanks to the Most High, that I have chosen such a ruler, who will supplement my justice by the good deeds which spring from his own piety. For this man is both admonished by the virtue of his ancestors and powerfully stimulated by the example of his uncle Theodoric.'

4. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We announce to you, Conscript Fathers, the Divine favour which has been manifested unto us, in that our sovereign Lady[636], who is renowned throughout the whole world, has with generous affection made me partaker of her throne, so that she may not lack loyal support and I may be fittingly clothed with the purple of my ancestors.

[Footnote 636: 'Dominam rerum.']

'I know that this elevation of mine was the object of the wishes of the community. Your whispers in my favour might have been a source of danger, but now your openly expressed acclamations are my proudest boast. You wished that God should bestow upon me this honour, to which I for my part should not have ventured to aspire. But if I have, as I trust I have, any influence with you, let me prevail upon you to join with me in perpetually hymning the glorious praises of our Lady and Sister. She has wished to strengthen the greatness of our Empire by associating me therein, even as the two eyes of a man harmoniously co-operate towards a single act of vision. Divine grace joins us together: our near relationship cements our friendship. Persons of diverse character may find it an arduous matter thus to work in common; but, to those who resemble one another in the goodness of their intentions, the difficulty would rather be not to work in harmony. The man devoid of forethought may fear the changing of his purposes; but he who is really great in wisdom eagerly seeks wisdom in another.

'But of all the gifts which with this regal dignity the Divine favour has bestowed upon me, none pleases me more than the fact that I should have been thus chosen by that wisest Lady who is herself a moral balance of the utmost delicacy, and who made me first feel her justice before advancing me to this high dignity. For, as you know, she ordained that I should plead my cause against private persons in the common judgment-hall[637]. Oh wonderful nobility of her mind! Oh admirable justice, which the world may well tell of! She hesitated not first to subject her own relation to the course of public justice, even him whom, a little after, she would raise above the laws themselves. She thoroughly searched the conscience of him to whom she was about to hand over the dignity of kingship, that she might be recognised as sovereign Lady of all, and that I, when tested, might be advanced by her to the throne.

[Footnote 637: 'Cujus prius ideo justitiam pertuli ut prius [posterius?] ad ejus provectionis gratiam pervenirem. Causas enim, ut scitis, jure communi nos fecit dicere cum privatis.' We have here, no doubt, an allusion to the punishment which, as we learn from Procopius, Amalasuentha inflicted on her cousin for his various acts of injustice towards his Tuscan neighbours.]

[Sidenote: Praises of Amalasuentha.]

'When shall I be able to repay her for all these favours: her who, having reigned alone during the minority of her son, now chooses me as the partner of her realm? In her is the glory of all kingdoms, the flower of all our family. All our splendour is derived from her, and she reflects a lustre not only on our ancestors, but on the whole human race. Her dutiful affection, her weight of character, who can set forth? The philosophers would learn new lessons if they knew her, and would acknowledge that their books fail to describe all her attributes. Acute she is in her powers of reasoning; but with royal taciturnity she knows how to veil her conclusions in secrecy. She is mistress of many languages; and her intellect, if suddenly tested, is found so ready for the trial that it scarcely seems like that of a mortal. In the Books of Kings the Queen of the South is said to have come to learn the wisdom of Solomon: but here a woman speaks, and Sovereigns listen to her with admiration. Infinite depths of meaning are fathomed by her in few words, and she, with utmost ease, expresses what others can only after long deliberation embody in language[638].

[Footnote 638: 'Et summa felicitate componitur quod ab aliis sub longa deliberatione componitur.' 'Ab aliis' probably refers to Cassiodorus himself. The contrast between his elaborate and diffuse rhetoric, and the few, terse, soon-moulded sentences of his mistress is very fairly drawn.]

'Happy the commonwealth which boasts the guidance of such a mistress. It was not enough that already liberty and convenience were combined for the multitude[639]: her merits have secured the fitting reverence for the person of the Sovereign. In obeying her we obey all the virtues. I, too, with such a counsellor, fear not the weight of the crown; and I know that whatever is strange to me in my new duties I shall learn from her as the safest of teachers.

[Footnote 639: 'Minus fuit ut generalitas sub libertate serviret.']

'Acknowledge, noble Sirs, that all my power of increased usefulness to the State comes from this our most wise Lady, from whom I may either gain wisdom by asking questions, or virtue by following her example.

'Live happily: live in harmony by God's help, and emulate that grace of concord which you see prevailing between your Sovereigns.'

5. KING THEODAHAD TO HIS MAN THEODOSIUS[640].

[Footnote 640: 'Theodosio homini suo Theodahadus rex.' Does 'homo suus' mean a member of his Comitatus? We seem to have here an anticipation of the 'homagium' of later times.]

[Sidenote: The followers of the new King must live justly.]

'By my accession to the throne I have become lord of the whole nation and guardian of the general welfare. I therefore command that all who belong to my private household shall vindicate their rights only in the courts of law, and shall abstain from all high-handed modes of obtaining redress. Only that man must henceforward be called mine who can live quietly subject to the laws. My new dignity has changed my purpose; and if before I have defended my rights with pertinacity, I shall now temper all my acts with clemency[641]; since there is nothing exceptional about a Sovereign's household, but wheresoever, by the grace of God, our rule extends, there, as we fully confess, is something which it is our duty to defend. Augment therefore my renown by your patience, and let me hear praises rather than complaints of the actions of my servants.'

[Footnote 641: 'Mutavimus cum dignitate propositum, et si ante justa districte defendimus, nunc clementer omnia mitigamus.' A pretty plain confession of Theodahad's past wrong-doing, and one which was probably insisted upon by Amalasuentha in admitting him to a share in the kingship.]

6. KING THEODAHAD TO PATRICIUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND QUAESTOR.

[Sidenote: Patricius appointed Quaestor.]

'In conferring upon you the office of Quaestor we look first to character, and we find in you that love of justice which is all important in a representative of the Prince. Then we look at the qualities of your intellect, and we find in you that flow of eloquence which among all mental accomplishments we value most highly. What does it profit to be a philosopher, if one cannot worthily set forth the results of one's investigations? To discover is natural to man; but to set forth one's discoveries in noble language, that is indeed a desirable gift. Therefore we bestow on you for this thirteenth Indiction[642] the fasces of the Quaestorship, desiring you to consecrate your time to the study of the laws and the responsa prudentum, and to spread abroad our fame by the eloquent manner in which you shall communicate our decrees to the Cities and Provinces under our sway, and speak in our name to the representatives of foreign nations.'

[Footnote 642: 534-535. As Athalaric died Oct. 2, 534, the appointment of Patricius cannot have taken place on the usual day, Sept. 1.]

7. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'After announcing to you our own accession, one of our first cares was to choose a Judge whose style of speaking might dignify the State. Such a Judge have we found in Patricius (Patrician by his name already), whom we hereby appoint to the office of Quaestor. He studied eloquence at Rome. Where could he have studied better? For while other parts of the world have their wine, their balm, their frankincense, which they can export, the peculiar product of Rome is eloquence.

'Having thus learned his art, he practised it at the bar with singular moderation. No heat of strife hurried him into abuse of his competitors. Seeking only to win his client's cause, he calmly and courteously set forth that client's rights without sacrificing his own dignity of demeanour.

'Thinking that this man has pleaded long enough, we now appoint that he shall sit as Judge, having made diligent enquiry as to his character. In this, and in all other matters, we wish to follow the example of the Emperors who have gone before us, in so far as they followed the paths of justice[643].'

[Footnote 643: 'Velle nostrum antiquorum principum est voluntas, quos in tantum desideramus imitari quantum illi justitiam sunt secuti.']

8. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO JUSTINIAN, AUGUSTUS.

[Sidenote: Present of marbles from Justinian to Amalasuentha.]

'Delighting to receive from your Piety some of those treasures of which the heavenly bounty has made you partaker, we send the bearer of the present letter to receive those marbles and other necessaries which we formerly ordered Calogenitus to collect on our behalf. All our adornments, furnished by you, redound to your glory. For it is fitting that by your assistance should shine resplendent that Roman world which the love of your Serenity renders illustrious.'

9. KING THEODAHAD TO JUSTINIAN, AUGUSTUS.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

[On the same subject as the previous letter, and in nearly the same words. Calogenitus apparently is dead.]

'We have directed the bearer of this letter to exhibit (?) those things for which Calogenitus was previously destined; so that, although that person is withdrawn from this life, your benefits, by God's help, may still be brought unto us.'

10. QUEEN AMALASUENTHA TO THEODORA, AUGUSTA[644].

[Footnote 644: There is something in the tone of this letter which suggests that Theodora was known to be pregnant when it was written.]

[Sidenote: Salutation to Theodora.]

'We approach you with the language of veneration, because it is agreed on all hands that your virtues increase more and more. Friendship exists not for those only who are in one another's presence, but also for the absent. Rendering you therefore the salutation of august reverence, I hope that our ambassadors, whom we have directed to the most clement and most glorious Emperor, will bring me news of your welfare. Your prosperity is as dear to me as my own; and as I constantly pray for your safety, I cannot hear without pleasure that my prayers have been answered.'

11. KING THEODAHAD TO MAXIMUS[645], VIR ILLUSTRIS AND DOMESTICUS.

[Footnote 645: This Maximus does not appear to be mentioned by Procopius. He may be the same Maximus who took refuge in one of the churches after Totila's capture of Rome in 546 (De Bello Gotthico iii. 20), and who was slain by order of Teias in 552 (Ibid. iv. 34); but that person was grandson of an Emperor, and it seems hardly probable that Cassiodorus would have spared us such a detail in the pedigree of Theodahad's kinsman. We seem also to be entirely without information as to the Amal princess who was the bride of Maximus.]

[Sidenote: Maximus appointed to office of Primicerius (Domesticorum?)]

'It is the glory of a good Sovereign to confer office on the deserving descendants of illustrious families. Such are the Anicii, an ancient family, almost on an equality with princes[646], from whom you are descended. Gladly would we decorate the descendants of the Marii and Corvini if time had permitted their progeny to survive to our own day. But it were inconsistent to regret the impossibility of enjoying this privilege if we neglected the opportunity which we do possess in your case.

[Footnote 646: 'Anicios quidem pene principibus pares aetas prisca genuit.']

'Therefore we bestow upon you from this fourteenth Indiction[647] the office of Primicerius, which is also called Domesticatus. This office may appear somewhat less than you are entitled to by your pedigree, but you have received an honour which is greater than all the fasces in being permitted to marry a wife of our royal race, a distinction which you could not have hoped for even when you sat in the curule chair. Comport yourself now with mildness, patience, and moderation, that you may show yourself worthy of your affinity with us. Your ancestors have hitherto been praised, but they were never dignified with such an alliance. Your nobility has now reached a point beyond which it can climb no further. All that you do henceforward of a praiseworthy kind will but have the effect of rendering you more worthy of the matrimonial alliance which you have already achieved[648].'

[Footnote 647: 535 to 536.]

[Footnote 648: 'Laudati sunt hactenus parentes tui, sed tanta non sunt conjunctione decorati. Nobilitas tua non est ultra quod crescat. Quicquid praeconialiter egeris, proprio matrimonio dignissimus aestimaris.']

12. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: The same subject.]

'We do not think that the fact of a man's having received the Consulship early in life should shut him out from holding office of lower rank in his maturer years[649]. As the Tiber receives the water of smaller rivers which merge their names in his, so a man of Consular rank can serve the State in less conspicuous ways, yet still be Consular. Therefore we have thought fit to bestow on the Illustrious and Magnificent Patrician Maximus, the Primiceriatus which is also called Domesticatus, from this fourteenth Indiction, that the lowliness of the honour may be raised by the merit of the wearer. He is an Anicius, sprung from a family renowned throughout the whole world. He is also honoured with the affinity of our own illustrious race. Receive him, welcome him, rejoice at these nuptials, which bind me closer to you, now that you have in your ranks one whom I can truly call a relation.'

[Footnote 649: Flavius Anicius Maximus was Consul in 523.]

13. KING THEODAHAD TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[This letter may probably be referred to the Spring or Summer of 535. Theodahad, soon after the deposition or death of Amalasuentha, has apparently invited the Senate to Ravenna, an invitation which they have respectfully declined. He chides their suspicions of him.]

[Sidenote: Summons to Ravenna. Suspicions of the Senators.]

'After we had dismissed the venerable Bishops who brought your message, without taking exception to your requests, though there were some things blameworthy among them, we received tidings that the City of Rome was agitated by certain foolish anxieties, from which real evil would grow unless the suspicion which caused them could be laid to rest.

'I fear that I cannot complain of "popular levity" if your illustrious body, which should set an example to all others, should give way to such fond imaginings. If Rome, which should govern the Provinces, be so foolish, what can we expect of them?

'Divine grace, however, prompts us both to pardon your faults and to grant your requests. We owe you nothing, and yet we pay you[650]; but we trust to be rewarded by hearing not our own praises but yours. Put away these unworthy, these childish suspicions, and behave as becomes the fathers of the people.

[Footnote 650: 'Nihil debemus et solvimus.' Have we here an echo of St. Augustine's thought, 'Reddis debita nulli debens?']

'In desiring your presence at our Court, we sought not your vexation but your advantage. It is certainly a great privilege to see the face of the Sovereign, and we thought to bestow on you, for the advantage of the State, that which used to be counted as a reward. However, not to deal harshly with you, we shall be satisfied with the attendance of certain individuals from your body, as occasion may require, so that on the one hand Rome may not be denuded of her citizens, and on the other that we may not lack prudent counsellors in our chamber. Now return to your old devotion, and serve us, not as a matter of fear, but of love. The rest shall the bearer of this letter explain unto you.'

14. KING THEODAHAD TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

[The occasion of writing this letter, which we may perhaps refer to the early part of 535, is apparently that some Gothic troops have been sent to Rome, and the people have broken out into clamours against them, or petitioned for their removal.]