The Letters of Cassiodorus
be at once given up, under penalty of a fine of 10 lbs. of gold
(L400), and the King's severe displeasure for the master who disobeys
this command.
'And do not you, oh Senators, be too severe in marking every idle word
which the mob may utter amidst the general rejoicing. If there is any
insult which requires notice, bring it before the "Praefectus
Urbis"--a far better and safer course than taking the law into your
own hands.'
[This letter, a very interesting and sensible one, is somewhat spoilt
by a characteristic Cassiodorian sentence at the end:--
'Men in old time used always to fight with their fists, whence the
word _pugna_, "a pugnis." Afterwards iron was introduced by King
Belus, and hence came _bellum_, "a Belo."']
31. KING THEODORIC TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.
[Sidenote: On the same subject.]
Gives similar good advice to that contained in the previous letter to
the Senate.
'The Circus, in which the King spends so much money, is meant to be
for public delight, not for stirring up wrath. Instead of uttering
howls and insults like other nations [the populace of Byzantium?],
whom they have despised for doing so, let them tune their voices, so
that their applause shall sound like the notes of some vast organ,
and even the brute creation delight to hear it.
'Anyone uttering outrageous reproaches against any Senator will be
dealt with by the Praefectus Urbis.'
32. KING THEODORIC TO AGAPITUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECTUS URBIS.
[Sidenote: On the same subject.]
'The ruler of the city ought to keep the peace, and justify my choice
of him. Your highest praise is a quiet people.
'We have issued our "oracles" to the "amplissimus ordo" (Senate) and
to the people, that the custom of insulting persons in the Circus is
to be put under some restraint; on the other hand, any Senator who
shall be provoked to kill a free-born person shall pay a fine. The
games are meant to make people happy, not to stir them up to deadly
rage. Helladius[238] is to come forth into the midst and afford the
people pleasure [as a pantomimist], and he is to receive his monthly
allowance (menstruum) with the other actors of the Green Faction. His
partisans are to be allowed to sit where they please.'
[Footnote 238: See Letter i. 20.]
[Was there not some division in the Green Faction itself concerning
the merits of Helladius and his rival Theodorus?]
33. KING THEODORIC TO AGAPITUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECTUS URBIS.
[Sidenote: Arrangements for the Pantomime.]
'Our Serenity is not going to change the arrangements which we have
once made for the public good. We told Albinus and Albienus[239] to
choose the most fitting person they could find as Pantomimist of the
Greens. They have done so [choosing probably Helladius]. He shall have
his monthly allowance, and let there be peace.'
[Footnote 239: Ibid.]
34. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAEPOSITUS.
[Sidenote: Only the surplus of corn to be exported.]
'It should be only the surplus of the crops of any Province, beyond
what is needed for the supply of its own wants, that should be
exported. Station persons in the harbours to see that foreign ships do
not take away produce to foreign shores until the Public
Providers[240] have got all that they require.'
[Footnote 240: 'Expensae publicae' perhaps = curatores annonae.]
35. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAEPOSITUS.
[Sidenote: Unreasonable delays. The sucking-fish and torpedo.]
'This extraordinarily dry season having ruined the hopes of our
harvest, it is more than ever necessary that the produce should be
brought forward promptly. We are therefore exceedingly annoyed at
finding that the crops which are generally sent forward by your
Chancellor from the coasts of Calabria and Apulia in summer have not
yet arrived, though it is near autumn and the time is at hand when the
sun, entering the southern signs (which are all named from showers),
will send us storm and tempest.
'What are you waiting for? Why are your ships not spreading their
sails to the breeze? With a favourable wind and with bending oarsmen,
are you perhaps delayed by the _echeneis_ (Remora, or sucking-fish)?
or by the shell-fish of the Indian Ocean? or by the torpedo, whose
touch paralyses the hand? No; the echeneis in this case is entangling
venality; the bites of the shell-fish, insatiable avarice; the
torpedo, fraudulent pretence.
'The merchants are making delays in order that they may seem to have
fallen on adverse weather.
'Let your Magnitude put all this to rights promptly, otherwise our
famine will be imputed, not to bad seasons, but to negligence[241].'
[Footnote 241: For a fuller translation of this marvellous letter, see
Introd. p. 18.]
36. KING THEODORIC TO THERIOLUS, VIR SPECTABILIS.
[Sidenote: Guardianship of children of Benedictus.]
'We wish you to take the place of the late Benedictus in the city of
Pedon.
'As we never forget the services of the dead, we wish you to undertake
officially the guardianship of the sons of the said Benedictus.
'We always pay back to our faithful servants more than we have
received from them, and thus we do not go on the principle "equality
is equity," because we think it just to make them _more_ than an equal
recompence.'
37. KING THEODORIC TO CRISPIANUS.
[Sidenote: Justifiable homicide.]
'Murder is abominable, but it is right to take into account the
circumstances which may have provoked to homicide. If the slain man
was trying to violate the rights of wedlock, his blood be on his own
head. For even brute beasts vindicate their conjugal rights by force:
how much more man, who is so deeply dishonoured by the adulterer!
'Therefore, if it be true that the man whom you slew had wronged you
as a husband, we do not agree to the punishment of exile which has
been inflicted upon you. Nor will we uphold the action of the
_Vicarius_ or of his _Officium_, who, as you say, have impounded the
money paid by your _fidei-jussor_ (guarantor) Agnellus. Also, we will
protect you against the hostile assaults of Candax [next of kin to the
murdered man?] in future. But your allegation as to the provocation
must be fully established by legal process.'
[It may be remarked that Candac, King of the Alani in Moesia, is
mentioned in the pedigree of Jordanes ('Getica,' cap. 4).]
38. KING THEODORIC TO BAION, A SENATOR[242].
[Footnote 242: See remarks on this letter in Dahn, Koenige der Germanen
iv. 147-8. Some MSS. read Coion or Goinon, as the name of the Senator
to whom it is addressed.]
[Sidenote: The young Hilarius to be allowed to enter on possession of
his property.]
'We are told that you are keeping in your own hands the administration
of the property of your young nephew [or grandson] Hilarius against
his will, and not for his good, but yours. Restore it at once. Let him
dispose of it as he likes. He seems to be quite able to enter upon the
lordship of his own. The eagle feeds her callow young with food which
she has procured for them, till their wings grow. Then, when their
flight is strong and their nails sharp, she trains them to strike
their own prey. So with our young Goths: when they are fit for
soldiership we cannot bear that they should be deemed incapable of
managing their own concerns. "To the Goths valour makes full age. And
he who is strong enough to stab his enemy to the heart should be
allowed to vindicate himself from every accusation of incapacity."'
[Notwithstanding his Roman name, Hilarius is evidently a Goth.]
39. KING THEODORIC TO FESTUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND PATRICIAN.
[Sidenote: The nephews of Filagrius to be detained in Rome.]
'We are always delighted to grant just requests.
'Filagrius (Vir Spectabilis), who has been long absent from his home
on our business, seeks to return to Syracuse, but at the same time
asks that his brother's sons may be kept for their education's sake at
Rome. Do you attend to this petition, and do not let the lads go till
we send you a second order to that effect. No one ought to murmur at
being detained in Rome, which is everyone's country, the fruitful
mother of eloquence, the wide temple of all virtues. Ulysses would
very likely never have become famous if he had lingered on at home;
but Homer's noble poem most chiefly proclaims his wisdom in this fact,
that he roamed among many cities and nations.'
40. KING THEODORIC TO ASSUIN (OR ASSIUS), VIR ILLUSTRIS AND COMES.
[Sidenote: The inhabitants of Salona to be drilled.]
'War needs rehearsal and preparation. Therefore let your Illustrious
Sublimity provide the inhabitants of Salona with arms, and let them
practise themselves in the use of them; for the surest safeguard of
the Republic is an armed defender.'
The necessity of drill and practice is shown by the early combats of
bullocks, the play-huntings of puppies, the necessity of first
kindling a fire with very little sticks, and so forth.
41. KING THEODORIC TO AGAPITUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS, PRAEFECTUS URBIS.
[Sidenote: Enquiries into character of the younger Faustus.]
'The dignity of the Senate makes it necessary to be unusually careful
who is admitted into that body. Let other orders receive middling men:
the Senate must receive none but those who are of proved excellence.
'Therefore let your Illustrious Magnificence cause those enquiries to
be made concerning Faustus, the grown-up son of the Illustrious
Faustus, which the Senate hath ordered to be made concerning all
persons who are to be enrolled in its council[243]. In thus confirming
and ratifying the proceedings of the Senate we are in no degree
trenching on the accustomed authority of that sacred order.'
[Footnote 243: 'Quae circa referendos curiae priscus ordo
designavit.']
42. KING THEODORIC TO ARTEMIDORUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND PATRICIAN [509 OR
524].
[Sidenote: Artemidorus to be Praefect of the City.]
'We are especially bound to reward merit. Everyone who does us a
service makes a very good investment. You have long had what was
formerly considered more precious than great dignity--near access to
our person. Much as we loved you, we somewhat retarded your advance in
order that you might be the more richly adorned with all virtues when
you came to honour. Your birthplace, your lineage, your merit, all
declare you worthy of the promotion which we now bestow upon you,
declaring you for this third Indiction[244] _Praefectus Urbis_. You
will thus have the function of presiding over the Senate, a far higher
office than that of ruling the Palace or arranging private houses. The
value of the object committed to a person's care increases the dignity
of the post. It is much more honourable to be caretaker of a diadem
than of a wine-cellar. Judge of our esteem for you by the preciousness
of the body over which we are thus calling you to preside.'
[Footnote 244: Either 509-510 or 524-525; more probably the former.]
43. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Promotion of Artemidorus.]
[Announcing the elevation of Artemidorus to the post of Praefectus
Urbis.]
'Artemidorus, though entitled from his relationship to the Emperor
Zeno to expect great promotion at the Court of Constantinople, has
preferred to share the fortunes and attach himself to the person of
Theodoric, who has often been refreshed after the cares of State by an
hour of his charming converse. Though he might have aspired to the
highest dignities of the Court, he has hitherto been satisfied with
the comparatively humble post of Superintendent of the Public
Spectacles [as Tribunus Voluptatum?]. Now, as Praefectus Urbis, he is
to preside over and become a member of your body. Welcome him.'
44. KING THEODORIC TO THE PEOPLE OF ROME.
[Sidenote: On the same subject.]