The Letters of Cassiodorus
firmly restored between us. For we think you will not suffer that any
discord should remain between two Republics, which are declared to
have ever formed one body under their ancient princes[207], and which
ought not to be joined by a mere sentiment of love, but actively to
aid one another with all their powers. Let there be always one will,
one purpose in the Roman Kingdom. Therefore, while greeting you with
our respectful salutations, we humbly beg that you will not remove
from us the high honour of your Mildness's affection[208], which we
have a right to hope for if it were never granted to any others.
[Footnote 206: 'Illum atque illum.' I shall always render this phrase
(which shows that Cassiodorus had not preserved the names of the
ambassadors) as above.]
[Footnote 207: 'Quia pati vos non credimus, inter utrasque
Respublicas, quarum semper unum corpus sub antiquis principibus fuisse
declaratur, aliquid discordiae permanere.']
[Footnote 208: 'Poma meute deposcimus ne suspendatis a nobis
mansuetudinis vestrae gloriosissimam caritatem.']
'The rest of their commission will be verbally conveyed to your Piety
by the bearers of these letters[209].'
[Footnote 209: For some remarks on the date of this letter, see
Introduction, p. 23. The mention of interrupted peace, which evidently
requires not mere estrangement but an actual state of war, points to
the year 505, when Sabinian, the general of Anastasius, was defeated
by the Ostrogoths and their allies at Horrea Margi; or to 508, when
the Imperial fleet made a raid on the coast of Apulia, as probable
dates for the composition of the letter. Its place at the beginning of
the Variae does not at all imply priority in date to the letters which
follow it. It was evidently Cassiodorus' method to put in the
forefront of every book in his collection a letter to an Emperor or
King, or other great personage.
As for the tone of the letter, and the exact character of the relation
between the Courts of Ravenna and Constantinople which is indicated by
it, there is room for a wide divergence of opinion. To me it does not
seem to bear out Justinian's contention (recorded by Procopius, De
Bello Gotthico ii. 6) that Theodoric ruled Italy as the Emperor's
lieutenant. Under all the apparent deference and affectation of
humility the language seems to me to be substantially that of one
equal addressing another, older and with a somewhat more assured
position, but still an equal.]
2. KING THEODORIC TO THEON, VIR SUBLIMIS.
[Sidenote: Manufacture of purple dye.]
'We are informed by Count Stephen that the work of preparing the
purple for the sacred (_i.e._ royal) robes, which was put under your
charge, has been interrupted through reprehensible negligence on your
part. There must be neglect somewhere, or else the wool with its
milk-white hairs would long before now have imbibed the precious
quality of the adorable _murex_. If the diver in the waters of
Hydruntum[210] had sought for these murex-shells at the proper season,
that Neptunian harvest, mixed with an abundant supply of water, would
already have generated the flame-bright liquid which dyes the robes
that adorn the throne. The colour of that dye is gay[211] with too
great beauty; 'tis a blushing obscurity, an ensanguined blackness,
which distinguishes the wearer from all others, and makes it
impossible for the human race not to know who is the king. It is
marvellous that that substance after death should for so long a time
exude an amount of gore which one would hardly find flowing from the
wounds of a living creature. For even six months after they have been
separated from the delights of the sea, these shell-fish are not
offensive to the keenest nostrils, as if on purpose that that noble
blood might inspire no disgust. Once this dye is imparted to the
cloth, it remains there for ever; the tissue may be destroyed sooner
than part with it. If the murex has not changed its quality, if the
press (torcular) is still there to receive its one vintage, it must be
the fault of the labourers that the dye is not forthcoming. What are
they doing, all those crowds of sailors, those families of rustics?
And you who bear the name of Count, and were exalted high over your
fellow-citizens on purpose that you might attend to this very thing,
what sacrilegious negligence is this which you are manifesting in
reference to the sacred vesture? If you have any care for your own
safety come at once with the purple[212], which you have hitherto been
accustomed to render up every year. If not, if you think to mock us by
delay, we shall send you not a constrainer but an avenger.
[Footnote 210: Otranto.]
[Footnote 211: Vernans.]
[Footnote 212: Blatta.]
'How easy was the discovery of this great branch of manufacture! A
dog, keen with hunger, bounding along the Tyrian shore, crunched the
shells which were cast up there. The purple gore dyed his jaws with a
marvellous colour; and the men who saw it, after the sudden fashion of
inventors, conceived the idea of making therewith a noble adornment
for their kings. What Tyre is for the East, Hydron[213] is for
Italy--the great cloth-factory of Courts, not keeping its old art
(merely), but ever transmitting new improvements.'
[Footnote 213: I presume the same as Hydruntum (Otranto).]
3. KING THEODORIC TO CASSIODORUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND PATRICIAN[214].
[Footnote 214: Father of the Author.]
[Sidenote: Praises of the father of Cassiodorus.]
Extols in high-flown language the merits of the minister who in the
early and troublous days of Theodoric's reign conciliated the wavering
affections of the suspicious Sicilians[215], governed them so justly
that not even they (addicted as they are, according to Cicero, to
grumbling) could complain; then displayed equal rectitude in the
government of his own native Province of Bruttii and Lucania (hard as
it is to be perfectly just in the government of one's own native
place); then administered the Praefecture in such a way as to earn the
thanks of all Italy, even the taxes not being felt to be burdensome
under his rule, because so justly levied; and now, finally, as a
reward for all these services, is raised to the distinguished honour
of the Patriciate.
[Footnote 215: 'In ipso quippe imperii nostri devotus exordio, cum
adhuc fluctuantibus rebus provinciarum corda vagarentur, et negligi
rudem dominum novitas ipsa pateretur.']
4. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Introducing Cassiodorus (Senior) on his accession to the honours of
the Patriciate.]
[Sidenote: Great deeds of the ancestors of Cassiodorus for three
generations.]
Compliments to the Senate, of which Theodoric wishes to increase the
dignity by bestowing honours on its most eminent members.
Recital of the services and good qualities of Cassiodorus[216]:
[Footnote 216: Father of Cassiodorus Senator.]
(_a_) as 'Comes Privatarum;'
(_b_) as 'Comes Sacrarum Largitionum;'
(_c_) as Governor of Provinces.
(General reflections on the importance of a governor being himself a
virtuous man).
'Having been trained thus to official life under the preceding King
[Odovacar] he came with well-earned praises to our palace.'
(_d_) His eminent career as Praetorian Praefect and modest demeanour
therein.
Services of previous members of his family. Fame seems to be always at
home among the Cassiodori. They are of noble birth, equally celebrated
among orators and warriors, healthy of body, and very tall.
His father, _Cassiodorus_[217], was 'Tribunus et Notarius' under
Valentinian III. This last was a great honour, for only men of
spotless life were associated with the Imperial 'Secretum.' A
friendship, founded on likeness, drew him to the side of Aetius, whose
labours for the State he shared.
[Footnote 217: Grandfather of Cassiodorus Senator.]
_Embassy to Attila._ 'With the son of this Aetius, named Carpilio, he
was sent on no vain embassy to Attila, the mighty in arms. He looked
undaunted on the man before whom the Empire quailed. Calm in conscious
strength, he despised all those terrible wrathful faces that scowled
around him. He did not hesitate to meet the full force of the
invectives of the madman who fancied himself about to grasp the Empire
of the world. He found the King insolent; he left him pacified; and so
ably did he argue down all his slanderous pretexts for dispute that
though the Hun's interest was to quarrel with the richest Empire in
the world, he nevertheless condescended to seek its favour. The
firmness of the orator roused the fainting courage of his countrymen,
and men felt that Rome could not be pronounced defenceless while she
was armed with such ambassadors. Thus did he bring back the peace
which men had despaired of; and as earnestly as they had prayed for
his success, so thankfully did they welcome his return.'
He was offered honours and revenues, but preferred to seek the
pleasant retirement of Bruttii in the land which his exertions had
freed from the terror of the stranger.
His father, Cassiodorus[218], an 'Illustris,' defended the coasts of
Sicily and Bruttii from the Vandals, thus averting from those regions
the ruin which afterwards fell upon Rome from the same quarter.
[Footnote 218: Great-grandfather of Cassiodorus Senator.]
In the East, Heliodorus, a cousin of the Cassiodori, has brilliantly
discharged the office of Praefect for eighteen years, as Theodoric
himself can testify. Thus the family, conspicuous both in the Eastern
and Western World, has two eyes with which it shines with equal
brilliancy in each Senate.
Cassiodorus is so wealthy that his herds of horses surpass those of
the King, to whom he makes presents of some of them in order to avoid
envy. 'Hence it arises that our present candidate [for patrician
honours] mounts the armies of the Goths; and having even improved upon
his education, generously administers the wealth which he received
from his parents.
'Now, Conscript Fathers, welcome and honour the new Patrician, who is
so well worthy of a high place among you.'
5. KING THEODORIC TO FLORIANUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.
[Sidenote: Interest reipublicae ut sit finis litium.]
'Lawsuits must not be dragged on for ever. There must be some
possibility of reaching a quiet haven. Wherefore, if the petitioners
have rightly informed us that the controversy as to the farm at
Mazenes has been decided in due course of law by Count Annas, and
there is no reasonable ground for appeal[219], let that sentence be
held final and irreversible. We must sometimes save a litigious man
from himself, as a good doctor will not allow a patient to take that
which is injurious to him.'
[Footnote 219: 'Nec aliqua probatur appellatione suspensa.']
6. KING THEODORIC TO AGAPITUS, PRAEFECTUS URBIS.
[One of the MSS. reads _Pontifici_, but this is clearly wrong. The
language is not at all suitable to be addressed to a Pope, and there
was no Pope Agapetus till 535, nine years after the death of
Theodoric.]
[Sidenote: Mosaics ordered for Ravenna.]
'I am going to build a great Basilica of Hercules at Ravenna, for I
wish my age to match preceding ones in the beauty of its buildings,
as it does in the happiness of the lives of my subjects.
'Send me therefore skilful workers in Mosaic' [of which kind of work
we have a very good description as follows].
_(Cassiodorus on Mosaic)._
'Send us from your city some of your most skilful marble-workers, who
may join together those pieces which have been exquisitely divided,
and, connecting together their different veins of colour, may
admirably represent the natural appearance[220]. From Art proceeds
this gift, which conquers Nature. And thus the discoloured surface of
the marble is woven into the loveliest variety of pictures; the value