The Letters of Cassiodorus
their own holders were unable to discharge[196]. All these duties you
discharged with absolute freedom from corruption, following your
father's example in receiving, from those who hoped for your favour,
nothing but the obligation to serve them, and bestowing on petitioners
all that they had a right to ask for without traffic or reward.
[Footnote 196: 'Addimus etiam quod frequenter Quaesturae vicibus
ingravato otii tempus adimit crebra cogitatio, et velut mediocribus
fascibus insudanti, illa tibi de aliis honoribus principes videntur
imponere, quae proprii Judices nequeunt explicare.' This is probably
the clearest account that is anywhere given of the peculiar and
somewhat undefined position held by Cassiodorus during the greater
part of the reign of Theodoric.]
[Sidenote: Intimacy with Theodoric.]
'Moreover, men know that the conversations which you were honoured by
holding with the King occupied a large portion of your days, greatly
to the public welfare[197], so that men of leisure have no right to
expect that their requirements shall be met by you, whose day was thus
occupied with continuous toil[198]. But in truth this will redound yet
more to your glory, if amid so many and such severe labours you
succeed in writing that which is worthy to be read. Besides, your work
can without wounding their self-love instruct unlettered persons who
are not prepared by any consciousness of eloquence for the service of
the Republic[199]; and the experience which you have gained by being
tossed to and fro on the waves of stormy altercation, they in their
more tranquil lot may more fortunately make their own. Again (and here
we make an appeal which your loyalty cannot resist), if you allow
posterity to be ignorant of the numerous benefits conferred by your
King, it is in vain that with benevolent eagerness he so often granted
your requests. Do not, we pray, draw back once more into silence and
obscurity those who, while you were sounding their eulogies, seemed
worthy to receive illustrious dignities. For you then professed to
describe them with true praises, and to paint their characters with
the colours of history[200]. Now if you leave it to posterity to write
the panegyric on these men, you take away as it were from those who
die an honourable death the funeral oration to which, by the customs
of our ancestors, they are entitled. Besides, in these letters you
correct immorality with a ruler's authority; you break the insolence
of the transgressor; you restore to the laws their reverence. Do you
still hesitate about publishing that which, as you know, satisfies so
many needs? Will you conceal, if we may say so, the mirror of your own
mind, in which all ages to come may behold your likeness? Often does
it happen that a man begets a son unlike himself, but his writings are
hardly ever found unequal to his character[201]. The progeny of his
own will is his truest child; what is born in the secret recesses of
his own heart is that by which posterity will know him best.
[Footnote 197: 'Regum quinetiam gloriosa colloquia pro magna diei
parte in bonum publicum te occupare noverunt.' It is difficult to
translate the expressive term, 'gloriosa colloquia.']
[Footnote 198: 'Ut fastidium sit otiosis exspectare quae tu continuo
labore cognosceris sustinere.' I cannot translate this literally.]
[Footnote 199: 'Rudes viros et ad Rempublicam conscia facundia
praeparatos.' Surely some negative has dropped out of the latter
clause.]
[Footnote 200: 'Tu enim illos assumpsisti vera laude describere, et
quodammodo historico colore depingere.']
[Footnote 201: 'Contingit enim dissimilem filium plerumque generari,
oratio dispar moribus vix potest inveniri.']
[Sidenote: Gothic History.]
'You have often, amid universal acclamation, pronounced the praises of
kings and queens. In twelve books you have compiled the History of the
Goths, culling the story of their triumphs[202]. Since these works
have had such favourable fortunes, and since you have thus served your
first campaign in literature, why hesitate to give these productions
of yours also to the public?'
[Footnote 202: 'Duodecim libris Gothorum historiam _defloratis
prosperitatibus_ condidisti.' By an extraordinary error this sentence
has been interpreted to mean that Cassiodorus wrote his history of the
Goths after their prosperity had faded; and some writers have
accordingly laboured, quite hopelessly, to bring down the composition
of the Gothic History to a late period in the reign of Athalaric. It
is perfectly clear from many passages that Cassiodorus uses
'deflorare' in the sense of 'picking flowers,' 'culling a nosegay.'
See Historia Tripartita, Preface (twice); De Instit. Divin.
Litterarum, cap. xxx; and De Orthographia, cap. ii (title). I doubt
not that careful search would discover many more instances. It is only
strange to me that Cassiodorus should, by the words 'defloratis
_prosperitatibus_,' so naively confess the one-sided character of his
history.]
[Sidenote: Cassiodorus consents to publish.]
So pleaded my friends, and to my shame I must own that I was
conquered, and could no longer resist so many prayers; especially when
I saw myself accused of want of affection. I have now only to crave my
readers' pardon; and if they find rashness and presumption in my
attempt, to blame my advisers rather than me, since my own judgment
agrees with that of my severest critic.
All the letters, therefore, which I have been able to find in various
public archives that had been dictated by me as Quaestor, as Magister
[Officiorum], or as Praefect, are here collected and arranged in
twelve books. By the variety of subjects touched upon, the attention
of the reader will be aroused, and it will be maintained by the
feeling that he is rapidly approaching the conclusion of the letter.
I have also wished to preserve others from those unpolished and hasty
forms of speech into which I am conscious that I have often fallen in
announcing the bestowal of dignities, a kind of document which is
often asked for in such haste that there seems scarce time for the
mere manual labour of writing it. I have therefore included in my
Sixth and Seventh Books _Formulae_ for the granting of all the
dignities of the State, hoping thus to be of some service to myself,
though at a late period of my career, and to help my successors who
may be hard pressed for time. What I have thus written concerning the
past will serve equally well for the future, since I have said nothing
about the qualities of the individual office-holder, but have made
such explanations as seemed suitable concerning the office.
[Sidenote: Reason of the title Variarum.]
As for the title of all twelve books, the index of the work, the
herald of its meaning, the expression in briefest compass of the whole
performance, I have for this chosen the name VARIAE. And this, because
it was necessary for me not always to use the same style, since I had
undertaken to address various kinds of persons. One must speak in one
way to men jaded with much reading; in another to those who skim
lightly over the surface, tasting here and there; in another (if one
would persuade them), to persons who are devoid of a taste for
letters, since it is sometimes a proof of skill to avoid the very
things which please the learned. In short, the definition given by our
ancestors is a good one: 'To speak fitly is to persuade the hearers to
accept your wishes for their own.' Nor was it at random that the
prudence of Antiquity thus defined the three modes of speaking:--
[Sidenote: The three styles of composition.]
(1) The _humble_ style, which seems to creep along the ground in the
very expression of its thought.
(2) The _middle_ style, which is neither swollen with self-importance
nor shrunk into littleness; but being placed between the two, and
enriched by a peculiar elegance, is contained within its own true
boundaries.
(3) The _supreme_ style, which by exquisite phraseology is raised to
the very highest pitch of oratory.
The object of this distinction is that the various sorts and
conditions of men may each receive their appropriate address, and that
the thoughts which proceed from the same breast may nevertheless flow
in divers channels. No man is entitled to the name of eloquent who is
not prepared to do his duty manfully with the triple strength of these
three styles, as one cause after another may arise. It must be added
hereto that we have sometimes to speak to Kings, sometimes to the
Officers of the Court, sometimes to the very humblest of the people.
To the last we may allowably pour out our words with some degree of
haste, but the other addresses should be deeply pondered before they
are delivered. Deservedly therefore is a work entitled VARIAE, which
is subject to so much diversity in its composition.
Would that, as we have received these maxims from those who have gone
before us, so our own compositions could claim the praise of having
reduced them into practice. In sooth we do with shamefacedness
promise that the Humble style shall be found in us; we think we may
without dishonesty covenant for the Middle style; but the Supreme
style, which on account of its nobility is the fitting language of a
royal Edict[203], we cannot hope that we have attained unto.
[Footnote 203: The editors waver between 'quod est in edicto' and
'quod est in edito (constitutum).']
But since we are to be read, let us abstain from further unlawful
canvassing for the votes of our readers. It is an incongruous thing
for us to be thus piling up our own discourses about ourselves: we
ought rather to wait for your judgment on our work.
BOOK I.
CONTAINING FORTY-SIX LETTERS WRITTEN BY CASSIODORUS IN THE NAME OF
THEODORIC.
1. KING THEODORIC TO EMPEROR ANASTASIUS.
[Sidenote: Persuasives to peace between Italy and Constantinople.]
'It behoves us, most clement Emperor, to seek for peace, since there
are no causes for anger between us.
'Peace by which the nations profit; Peace the fair mother of all
liberal arts, the softener of manners, the replenisher of the
generations of mankind. Peace ought certainly to be an object of
desire to every kingdom.
'Therefore, most pious of princes, it accords with your power and your
glory that we who have already profited by your affection [personally]
should seek concord with your Empire. You are the fairest ornament of
all realms; you are the healthful defence of the whole world, to which
all other rulers rightfully look up with reverence[204], because they
know that there is in you something which is unlike all others[205]:
we above all, who by Divine help learned in your Republic the art of
governing Romans with equity. Our royalty is an imitation of yours,
modelled on your good purpose, a copy of the only Empire; and in so
far as we follow you do we excel all other nations.
[Footnote 204: 'Vos totius orbis salutare praesidium, quod caeteri
dominantes jure suspiciunt quia in vobis singulare aliquid inesse
cognoscunt.' 'Suspiciunt' seems to give a better sense than the other
reading, 'suscipiunt.']
[Footnote 205: 'Quia in vobis singulare aliquid inesse cognoscunt.']
'Often have you exhorted me to love the Senate, to accept cordially
the laws of past Emperors, to join together in one all the members of
Italy. How can you separate from your august alliance one whose
character you thus try to make conformable to your own? There is
moreover that noble sentiment, love for the City of Rome, from which
two princes, both of whom govern in her name, should never be
disjoined.
'We have thought fit therefore to send A and B[206] as ambassadors to
your most serene Piety, that Peace, which has been broken, through a
variety of causes, may, by the removal of all matters of dispute, be