The Letters of Cassiodorus
[Footnote 257: 'Quod si eos vel ad honores transire jura vetuerunt,
quam videtur esse contrarium, Curialem Reipublicae, amissa turpiter
libertate, servire? et usque ad conditionem pervenisse postremam quem
vocavit antiquitas _Minorem Senatum_.']
[Did the alleged Curials, in such a case, wish to have their curiality
or their quasi-ecclesiastical character established? Who can say?]
19. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE GOTHS AND ROMANS, AND THOSE WHO KEEP THE
HARBOURS AND MOUNTAIN-FORTRESSES (CLUSURAS).
[Sidenote: Domestic treachery and murder.]
'We hate all crime, but domestic bloodshed and treachery most of all.
Therefore we command you to act with the utmost severity of the law
against the servants of Stephanus, who have killed their master and
left him unburied. They might have learned pity even from birds. Even
the vulture, who lives on the corpses of other creatures, protects
little birds from the attacks of the hawk. Yet men are found cruel
enough to slay him who has fed them. To the gallows with them! Let
_him_ become the food of the pious vulture, who has cruelly contrived
the death of his provider. That is the fitting sepulchre for the man
who has left his lord unburied.'
20. KING THEODORIC TO THE SAJO UNIGILIS (OR WILIGIS).
[Sidenote: Provision-ships to follow movements of Theodoric's Court.]
'Let any provision-ships [_sulcatoriae?_] which may be now lying at
Ravenna be ordered round to Liguria (which in ordinary times supplies
the needs of Ravenna herself).
'Our presence and that of our Court (Comitatus) attracts many
spectators and petitioners to those parts, for whose maintenance an
extra effort must be made.' [See Dahn, 'Koenige der Germanen' iii.
282.]
21. KING THEODORIC TO JOANNES THE APPARITOR.
[Sidenote: A concession too timidly acted upon.]
'The King has conceded to the Spectabiles Spes and Domitius a certain
tract of land which was laid waste by wide and muddy streams, and
which neither showed a pure expanse of water nor had preserved the
comeliness of solid earth, for them to reclaim and cultivate.
'The petition of the _Actores_ of Spes sets forth that the operation
is put in jeopardy by the ill-timed parsimony of Domitius, which
throws back the labourers to the point from which they set out at
first[258]. Therefore let Domitius be stirred up to finish his part of
the work, or if he thinks that too expensive, let him throw up his
share of the concession and allow his partner to work it out.'
[Footnote 258: 'Cum jam in soli faciem paulatim mollities siccata
duresceret, celatamque longa voracitate tellurem sol insuetus
afflaret.' I cannot understand these words. I suppose there was a hard
cake of clay left when the water was drained off, which was baked by
the sun, and that there should have been further digging to work
through this stratum and get at the good soil beneath; but the wording
is not very clear.]
[We find in this letter a good motto for Theodoric's reign: 'Nos
quibus cordi est in melius cuncta mutare.']
22. KING THEODORIC TO FESTUS, VIR ILLUSTRIS AND PATRICIAN.
[Sidenote: Ecdicius to be buried by his sons.]
'The sons of Ecdicius, whom at first we had ordered to reside in the
city, are to be allowed to return to their own country in order to
bury their father. That grief is insatiable which feels that it has
been debarred from rendering the last offices to the dead. Think at
what risk of his life Priam implored the raging Achilles to give him
back the body of his son.'
[Apparently the sons of Ecdicius, not Ecdicius himself, had fallen
into disgrace with Theodoric, or incurred some suspicion of
disloyalty, which led to the rigorous order for their detention in
Rome. See Dahn iii. 279-280.]
23. KING THEODORIC TO AMPELIUS, DESPOTIUS, AND THEODULUS, SENATORS.
[Sidenote: Protection for owners of potteries.]
'It befits the discipline of our time that those who are serving the
public interests shall not be loaded with superfluous burdens. Labour
therefore diligently at the potteries (figulinae) which our Royal
authority has conceded to you. Protection is hereby promised against
the wiles of wicked men.' [What was the nature of the artifices to
which they were exposed is not very clear.]
24. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.
[Sidenote: Arrears of taxation due from Senators.]
'We hear with sorrow, by the report of the Provincial Judges, that you
the Fathers of the State, who ought to set an example to your sons
(the ordinary citizens), have been so remiss in the payment of taxes
that on this first collection[259] nothing, or next to nothing, has
been brought in from any Senatorial house. Thus a crushing weight has
fallen on the lower orders (_tenues_, _curiales_), who have had to
make good your deficiencies and have been distraught by the violence
of the tax-gatherers.
[Footnote 259: 'Primae transmissionis tempus.']
'Now then, oh Conscript Fathers, who owe as much duty to the Republic
as we do, pay the taxes for which each one of you is liable, to the
Procurators appointed in each Province, by three instalments (trina
illatione). Or, if you prefer to do so--and it used to be accounted a
privilege--pay all at once into the chest of the Vicarius. And let
this following edict be published, that all the Provincials may know
that they are not to be imposed upon and that they are invited to
state their grievances[260].'
[Footnote 260: See Dahn, 'Koenige der Germanen' iii. 153 and 112, n.
5.]
25. AN EDICT OF KING THEODORIC.
[Referred to in the preceding letter.]
[Sidenote: Evasion of taxes by the rich.]
The King detests the oppression of the unfortunate, and encourages
them to make their complaints to him. He has heard that the powerful
houses are failing to pay their share of the taxes, and that a larger
sum in consequence is being exacted from the _tenues_[261].
[Footnote 261: Here follows a sentence which I am unable to translate:
'Superbia deinde conductorum canonicos solidos non ordine traditos,
sed sub iniquo pondere imminentibus fuisse projectos nec universam
siliquam quam reddere consueverant solemniter intulisse.' I think the
meaning is, that the stewards of the Senators (conductores) arrogantly
refused to allow the money paid to the tax-collectors (canonici
solidi) to be tested, as in ordinary course it should have been, to
see if it was of full weight. The 'imminentes' are, I think, the
tax-collectors. I cannot at all understand the clause about 'universam
siliquam.']
To 'amputate' such wickedness for the future, the letter last
preceding has been addressed to the Senate; and the 'Possessores sive
curiales' are now invited to state their grievances fully and
frankly, or else ever after hold their peace and cultivate a habit of
patience.
26. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sidenote: Regulations for corn-traffic of Southern Italy.]
A difficult letter about the corn-merchants of Apulia and Calabria.
1. The corn which they have collected by public sale is not to be
demanded over again from them under the title of 'interpretium'
[difference of price].
2. Similarly as to the Sextarius which the merchant of each Province
imports. No one is to dare insolently to exact the prices which have
been always condemned.
3. Fines of L1,200 on the Praefect himself, and L400 on his _officium_
(subordinates), are to be levied if this order is disobeyed.
4. If the 'Siliquatarius' thinks right to withhold the monopoly (of
corn) from any merchant, he must not also exact the monopoly payment
from him.
5. As to the Aurarii [persons liable to payment of the _lustralis auri
collatio_[262]], let the old order be observed, and those only be
classed under this function whom the authority of antiquity chose to
serve thereunder.
[Footnote 262: This appears to have been a tax levied on all traders,
otherwise known as the Chrysargyron. See Cod. Theod. xiii. 1. Aurarii
is therefore equivalent to Licensed Traders.]
27. KING THEODORIC TO ALL THE JEWS LIVING IN GENOA.
[Sidenote: Rebuilding of Jewish Synagogue.]
The Jews are permitted to roof in the old walls of their synagogue,
but they are not to enlarge it beyond its old borders, nor to add any
kind of ornament, under pain of the King's sharp displeasure; and this
leave is granted on the understanding that it does not conflict with
the thirty years' 'Statute of Limitations.'
'Why do ye desire what ye ought to shun? In truth we give the
permission which you craved, but we suitably blame the desire of your
wandering minds. _We cannot order a religion, because no one is forced
to believe against his will._'
28. KING THEODORIC TO STEPHANUS, 'SENATOR, COMES PRIMI ORDINIS, AND
EX-PRINCEPS OF OUR OFFICIUM[263].'
[Footnote 263: Are we to understand by this expression the Officium of
the Praetorian Praefect?]
[Sidenote: Honours conferred on Stephanus on his retirement from the
Civil Service.]
Praises him for all the good qualities which have been recognised by
successive Judges under whom he has served--his secrecy, efficiency,
and incorruptibility.
He is therefore, on his retirement from active service, raised to the
honour of a 'Spectabilis,' and rewarded with the rank of 'Comitiva
Primi Ordinis.' As a substantial recompence he is to have all the
privileges which by 'divalia constituta' belong to the 'ex-principes'
of his Schola, and is guaranteed against all damage and 'sordid
burdens[264],' with a hope of further employment in other
capacities[265].
[Footnote 264: Curial obligations.]
[Footnote 265: 'Fixum tenuisti _militiae probatae_ vestigium.
Spectabilitatis honorem, quem _militiae sudore_ detersis justa
deputavit antiquitas praesenti tibi auctoritate conferimus ut laboris
tui tandem finitas _excubias_ ... intelligas ... Tibique utpote
_militiae_ munere persoluto.' The term 'militia' is employed here, as
in the Codes, of 'service in a bureau.']
29. KING THEODORIC TO ADILA, SENATOR AND COMES.
[Sidenote: Protection to dependents of the Church.]
[Notice the Senatorial rank borne by a man with a Gothic name.]
'We wish to protect all our subjects[266], but especially the Church,
because by so doing we earn the favour of Heaven. Therefore, in
accordance with the petition of the blessed Eustorgius[267], Bishop of
Milan, we desire you to accord all necessary protection to the men
and farms belonging to the Milanese Church in Sicily: always
understanding, however, that they are not to refuse to plead in answer
to any public or private suit that may be brought against them. They
are to be protected from wrong, but are not themselves to deviate from
the path of justice.'
[Footnote 266: 'Quia Regnantes est gloria, subjectorum otiosa
tranquillitas.']
[Footnote 267: For Eustorgius, cf. Letter i. 9.]
30. KING THEODORIC TO FAUSTUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
[Sequel to last letter.]
[Sidenote: Freedom from taxation granted to Church of Milan.]
'Our generosity to an individual does not harm the public, and there
is no reason for putting any bounds to its exercise.
'The Defensores of the Holy Church of Milan want to be enabled to buy
as cheap as possible the things which they need for the relief of the
poor; and they say that we have bestowed this favour on the Church of
Ravenna.
'Your Magnificence will therefore allow them to single out some one
merchant who shall buy for them in the market, without being subject
to monopoly, siliquaticum, or the payment of gold-fee[268].'
[Footnote 268: Auraria pensio. See note on ii. 26.]
[It is easy to see how liable to abuse such an exception was. Who was
to decide when this merchant was buying for the Church and when for
himself; when the Church was buying for the poor and when for her own
enrichment?]